#109 EVIE RICHARDS’ TREK SUPER CALIBER
A superlight blend of hardtail and full-sus, it for an Olympian
Bikes don’t get much more ‘super’ than those ridden at the Olympics, and we only just had time to grab these shots of Evie Richards’ XC race rocket before she flew out to Tokyo for the 2020 Games. That’s not the only thing special about this steed, though, which sports a unique suspension design, a race-honed carbon fibre frame and a cost-no-object build.
The Supercaliber first showed its face early in the 2019 season, although it was unannounced and shrouded in secrecy back then. Trek held their cards close to their chest, with the suspension layout kept under wraps for months. When the covers finally came off, it raised more than a few eyebrows. Blurring the line between hardtail and full-sus,
Trek’s ‘IsoStrut’ design uses a proprietary shock that’s structurally integrated into the top tube (1). It delivers 60mm of rear wheel travel – 55mm via the shock and 5mm through flex built into the chassis. When we took these pictures, the bike was set up for the XC World Cup in Les Gets, France, where Evie ran a volume spacer to make the shock more progressive, an air-spring pressure of 125psi and six clicks of rebound damping.
On the front end of her Supercaliber is the latest RockShox SID SL fork, launched last year. It may not look that different to the old SID, but as always with suspension, it’s what’s inside that counts. RockShox have shaved close to 100g off the weight of the damper alone, which might not sound like much, but cross-country is very much a weight game, with each and every gram needing to be accounted for. Evie is currently running no spacers in the fork, 79psi in the spring and eight clicks of rebound. Both the fork and shock can be locked out simultaneously using a RockShox TwistLoc remote mounted on the left-hand side of her handlebar (2) – something she’ll typically use multiple times each lap.
In recent years, XCO (Olympic Cross-Country) tracks have become increasingly technical, and bike set-up has changed accordingly. Not too long ago, dropper posts were a rare sight, but now it’s the opposite. Evie uses a wireless, electronic RockShox Reverb AXS post (3), which allows her to run a dropper without the faff of routing a cable through the frame. This is especially handy if she wants to switch back to a traditional post in a hurry – something her teammate Stéphane Tempier does at World Cups, between the short-track race and the main event. While a dropper adds weight, most racers see the benefit of the extra manoeuvrability on descents.
Take a stroll through the World Cup XC pits and you’ll see some wildly different cockpit set-ups.
Evie is one of those racers opting for a negative-rise stem (4), which allows for a more aggressive body position and aids in getting weight over the front wheel – crucial for maintaining traction on the steep climbs. Her stem is 75mm long, has a 25mm drop and is paired with a 680mm bar. Wireless SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS shifting adds to the clean look, with the cockpit completed by SRAM Level brakes and lightweight ESI foam grips.
Good tyre choice is crucial for XC racing. Too much tread and the bike will roll slowly; too little and you’ll be skating around on the descents as if they’re covered in ice. Casings, compounds, widths, pressures, inserts, sealant – It’s a fine balance between risk and reward. Bontrager XR3 tyres are the team’s all-round rubber option (5). However, XR Muds were Evie’s weapon of choice in Les Gets, where the wide-spaced knobs and skinny 2in width helped to cut through the slop and find traction in the treacherous conditions. It looked like it was an inspired selection, too, with Evie riding to a career-best third place. By the time you read this, she should have raced in Tokyo – we’ve got our fingers crossed for another great result! Price: £11,000 (Stock Supercaliber 9.9 XX1 AXS) Contact: www.trekbikes.com Also try: Specialized S-Works Epic, £11,500, www.specialized.com