A progressive XC hardtail, built to succeed on the technically challenging courses of modern cross country racing. Lightweight and a geometry designed to attack.
The goal for this project was clear: a bike optimized to win cross country races. With XC racing becoming faster and more technical at the same time, this is not an easy challenge. It needs a well rounded bike. Lightweight to cover the climbs as efficiently as possible, stiffness for those punchy efforts, damping to keep you pedaling over rough ground, and a geometry that lets you attack those technical features of modern tracks with confidence.
We could incorporate a lot of the knowledge from our SL1 frame into the HT29, combining damping and stiffness with a very competitive weight. But our geometry is anything but road inspired. We took the clues from our FS120 development and came up with a geometry that certainly does not hold you back on the climbs, but lets you attack technical descents with confidence.
Aerodynamics and mud shedding capabilities are often overlooked features, but certainly matter in XC racing. Every watt counts when sprinting for the win, and in high speed parts of a race, aerodynamic gains are quite significant. Even more important is not to carry unnecessary weight in the form of mud. So we designed our frame to be as slick as possible, with surfaces formed so mud falls off.
Revolutionary in the world of MTBs is also the inclusion of an integrated cockpit, getting rid of the cluttered cockpit so many MTBs sport. Why should MTBs not look good?
