Bikes
Columbus Spirit HSS Tubes
Columbus’s Spirit HSS has shaping to improve its
performance compared to a round tube. Accord-
ing to Chris Merrill, president of Henry James
Bicycles (a supplier of Columbus tubes), a bi-oval
down tube adds some stiffness at the bottom
bracket area as well as the head tube to improve
the bike’s handling and efficiency.AS HARD AS Trek tried last year to keep its latest
mountain bike suspension tech under wraps—it
actually designed a custom fabric sleeve to hide
it—the Supercaliber XC bike on which it was
finally debuted was raced throughout the UCI
Mountain Bike World Cup by high-profile Trek
pro riders Jolanda Neff and Ellen Noble.
When the sleeve came off, the world was intro-
duced to IsoStrut, a shock integrated into the top
tube that doubles as a structural component of the
frame. To save weight and reduce lateral motion
in the rear end, Trek uses f lexing stays instead of
a more traditional pivot at the dropout. But the
custom Fox shock contains a tunable air spring
and a damper with lockout, so it’s nearly as adjust-
able as your current full-suspension bike. The
result is a frame that’s nearly as light and stiff as
a hardtail. But with 60mm of rear travel, it offers
the benefits of full suspension. It’s what separates
the Supercaliber from any other bike.
On XC-oriented singletrack, with rocks and
roots but no obstacles larger than you’d find
on a World Cup course, the ride is sublime. The21-pound bike pedals extremely well: There’s
almost no apparent bob under hard acceleration,
yet the suspension feels more active pedaling over
rock gardens and freewheeling down descents.
Even on trickier terrain, the 60mm of rear travel
never felt like a limiting factor.
Compared to an XC-race hardtail—I raced Mon-
draker’s Podium Carbon RR on the same course as
the Trek—the Supercaliber feels almost as respon-
sive under pedaling. I still reached for the remote
lockout switch—which fully locks out the fork and
shock—on crushed-gravel sections to maximize
my sprint, but everywhere else, the Supercaliber
felt quicker than the 20-pound hardtail. The bike’s
subtle suspension helped me stay on the power as
I pedaled through root-filled turns, giving me the
grip I needed to focus on spraying watts.
In its element, the Supercaliber is superb. Lock
it out and you get razor-sharp pedaling response
when you don’t need the suspension. The steer-
ing is sharp, and the bike maintains momentum
with ease. It’s everything you want from an XC
race bike—snappy and direct like a hardtail but
more capable. If someone riding a Supercaliber
beats you next season, take solace in the fact
that their bike is faster than yours.—Dan RoeTREK SUPERCALIBER 9 .9
PRICE: $9,499 / WEIGHT: 21.2 LB (L)Adapted
Suspension Tech
Trek knew it would
be tough to nail
everything about
the IsoStrut’s design
on the first try, so
it repurposed some
reliable technology
found in Fox forks.
The strut is coated in
Kashima, a top-notch
anodizing processing
that minimizes fric-
tion and uses fork-
style bushings and
wipers to keep the
mechanism clean
and smooth.0 The RS-1, the only steel model the
company offers, uses a Columbus Spirit
HSS tube set, which Mosaic founder Aaron
Barcheck says creates a comfortable ride,
with snappy handling, that’s a bit on the
stiffer side—the same qualities Mosaic
aimed to achieve in its titanium models.
That tubing combined with the custom
fit and geometry—which Barcheck nailed,
by the way—made for a harmonious rela-
tionship. The most important elements
of the bike came together to create a
transcendent ride that I’ve experienced
only a handful of times during my long
career testing bikes. The RS-1 is rich and
complex, bright and spirited, and it has
bite. It’s far from the smoothest bike I’ve
ever ridden (which is okay, because bikes
like that are boring to me), but it’s compli-
ant enough that I can ride it until I can’t
anymore—without feeling worn down.
I expected this bike to be good. I hoped
it would be great. But I didn’t expect it to
be one of the finest road bikes I’ve ever
ridden. It’s pleasing to look at, a pleasure
to ride, and full of surprises. A custom bike
this good in just six weeks? Yes, that’s a
very big deal.—Matt Phillips
88 BICYCLING.COM • ISSUE 1 | 2020