In case you hadn’t heard the big news today, Trek has just released its new go-fast XC race bike; the Supercaliber. Having been in development for four years, it’s a significant bike for Trek, not least because of its totally unique IsoStrut suspension design. To celebrate the launch of its new World Cup XC weapon, Trek has partnered up with the very talented Jolanda Neff from the Trek Factory Racing team, in order to create a video to help introduce the bike to the public. Launch videos with pro riders are standard fare for big bike brands, but this wasn’t exactly what we were expecting…
Not only do we love Neff’s superb acting skills, we’re also digging the fact that a big American brand like Trek isn’t taking itself too seriously in this video. This approach isn’t unlike those whacky videos that Specialized put out last year to market the new Stumpjumper and Turbo Levo, and we gotta say, we like it! Mountain bikes are fun, so it’s nice to see the marketing departments taking a lighter approach to their promotional videos.
Wanna know more about the bike itself? In a nutshell, this is Trek’s new flagship XC race bike, that is slotting right in between the Procaliber hardtail, and the Top Fuel XC/trail bike. The Supercaliber is also rolling on 29in wheels, but it uses a totally unique suspension design called IsoStrut, which partially integrates the rear shock into the top tube for a super clean and space-efficient setup (see the video below for a closer look at how it all works). This means Trek can fit two water bottles inside the mainframe – a particularly important feature for long distance XC riders and marathon racers.
2020 Trek Supercaliber Features
- New lightweight short-travel XC race bike
- OCLV Mountain Carbon frame w/Straight Shot downtube & Knock Block headset
- IsoStrut suspension design with Fox DPS air shock
- 60mm rear wheel travel
- Designed for 100-120mm travel forks
- 69° head angle
- 74° seat angle
- 430mm chainstay length
- Accommodates two water bottles inside the mainframe
- 1x specific frame design
- PF92 bottom bracket shell
- Control Freak internal cable routing system
- 31.6mm seatpost diameter
- Boost 148x12mm rear hub spacing
- 29in wheels only
- Max rear tyre clearance: 2.20in
- Sizes: Small through to XX-Large
- Price range: $6,500 – $13,750
Somewhat offsetting Jolanda’s superb performance, Trek also launched a boring marketing video on the Supercaliber. It’s actually quite useful to explain how the IsoStrut suspension works, so if you’re curious about how all the moving parts come together, check out the video just above. There’s a tonne of other cool details going on with this new race rig, so make sure you shoot on over to the full news story on the 2020 Trek Supercaliber here, which includes Aussie pricing, specs and geo for the new Supercaliber range.