- It works really well.
- You're sitting on the fence. - Fence-sitter! (thumping music) (relaxed music) My name is Sarah Moore and
we're here in my backyard of Squamish, British
Columbia, where we are wearing spandex and pushing watts for
the cross country field test. We're here to talk about
the Trek Supercaliber, which Trek says is an entirely new kind of cross country bike. We'll say it's a modern
reincarnation of the soft tail, not quite a hard tail and not
quite a full suspension bike, whether or not that Goldilocks positioning is just clever marketing
there's no denying that the Supercaliber is a
cross country race bike with 60 millimeters of rear
travel, a hundred millimeters fork and 29 inch wheels across all sizes. In fact, this is the same
bike that Yolanda Neff rode to victory in the Tokyo
test event last year. Let's get into the frame details. The Trek Supercaliber,
like most of Trek's bikes features the knock block,
it also has integrated cable routing and there's
room for two water bottles inside that main triangle. With a 69 degree head
tube angle the handling on the Supercaliber is
definitely on the sharper side. Partner that with a 74 degree effective seat tube angle, and you
have a cross country bike At five seven, I'm riding
Trek's medium-large, which is an 18 and a half size frame. And that medium comes from
the 440 millimeter reach, which they've paired
with a 70 millimeter stem with that 69 degree head tube angle and 430 millimeter chain stays. This wheelbase is 1,121 millimeters, which makes it the
shortest bike we have here. The Supercaliber 9.9
that we're testing here is available in five sizes. That's a 15 and a half through a 21 inch, but if you look at some of
the other Supercaliber models, you can also get it in a 23 inch size. And now let's talk about
these suspension design. There's definitely something different going on with this bike. This design doesn't have the
complexity or the hardware that a traditional suspension design does because the shock is structural. In theory, the design should
have less lateral flex. The size medium frame check
claims weighs 1900 grams and the size 18 and a half that we
have here, the medium large weighs in at 21 and a half pounds. To control that massive 60
millimeters and squished. There's a bar mounted
lockout, which controls both the fork and the rear
shock at the same time. Suspension duties are
handled by Fox's 32 fork on the front with a hundred millimeters and they work with Fox on
the IsoStrut design as well. You're not going to find a budget version of the Supercaliber, there's
just carbon everywhere on all of these different models. The frame start at $3,699. And to get a complete bike, you're starting at $4,799 US. For this test we've got
the Trek Supercaliber, 9.9. It retails for $9,499, US dollars. And for that amount, you'll
get Bontrager Kovee XXX wheels, Level Ultimate brakes with carbon levers, and you'll also get a SRAM
XX1 Eagle drive train. That's enough for the numbers. Let's talk about how this modern soft tail performs on the trail. (energetic music) - Okay, we're going to talk
about set up of course. And you installed the
Schwalbe control tires as we did on all the bikes
and use Trek suggested settings for suspension pressures, but you did have a question
when it came to sizing. Tell me about that. - Yeah. So as somebody who's
five-seven, a 177 centimeters, I can ride either the 17 and
a half or the 18 and a half. So I'm kind of right in the
middle of those two sizes and technically on paper,
I can go either way. So it's a little bit confusing when you're trying to choose that bike. Which one should you go for? I was really happy that I
went with the 18 and a half, but if you wanted to put a dropper post might not fit with the CP blanks. - Why did you choose the bigger bike? - I just figured looking at the numbers that the reach would be a
little bit more comfortable, a little bit more stable on this bike. - Especially for the terrain here. It's fairly rooty - Yeah. - And relatively steep. - And kind of compared
with the other bikes that it had in those
geometry numbers and figured that it would kind of fit in there. (upbeat music) - With just 60 millimeters
of rear wheel travel. The Supercaliber is the
shortest travel bike here. It looks like a hard tail as well. It looks like it must've been
a rocket ship on the climbs. Was that true? - Yeah. - Was it all worked out? - Yeah, I mean, you can like
wind through anything you want. It's super short wheel
base super head tube angle. - What is the head tube angle? - It's 69 degrees on this one. - So a degree slacker than the Canyon, but the bike still feels quite short. And like you could
sneak around the things. - Yeah, Like it's really easy to navigate very technical sections of climbs. You're in a really efficient
position for peddling. It just feels really
compact and comfortable. I mean, comfortable maybe is a little bit of an exaggeration for this
kind of race bike. (laughs) - It is a race bike after all But it's the position is
just very natural feeling and it feels like you can be
at one with the bike easily. - Okay. So I'm going to ask
you this question then, who wins in the battle
of tech, the Canyon Lux or the Trek Supercaliber. - I, for going with technical
climbing, I would say, even though the Canyon has more travel, you would think it would be more subtle. Would kind of get up over
those roots and stuff a little bit more easily. This bike, I think has
better climbing traction. Like you can just make your
way up things more easily. - Yeah, same tires,
- Yeah. - same air pressure in the tire. - Yeah. Trek does it a lot with
60 millimeters of travel and you know, it might feel like hard tail when you take it on gravel
climbs when you lock it out. But when you take it onto
more technical climbs, it is a bit more subtle. - Now there is one spot in
particular on our climb. It was pretty tricky wasn't, it? I think on enduro bikes,
I'm probably batting about 200 on this spot. - Yeah, so I, I call it like,
when I'm on my trail bike, it's like three in 10 climbs. - She has to beat me,
that's better than me. (laughs) (unintelligible) So three times at a time.
I'll actually make it. And then these bikes honestly,
on this Trek Supercaliber? It was like a no brainer like Ten and Ten. No problem. Just like turn in tight. Like didn't have to dab
or hold onto the trees. So you hold them under the
tree a couple of times. - My go-to move was the hold onto the tree as you go around the
tight twistback, there, there is a slippery rock there. - Ja, no, it's super
narrow, it's super awkward. And yeah. - I was struggling with
it on my slightly slacker, cross country bikes,
my down country bikes. And I watched her every single
time on the Supercaliber. Just go whoop, all the way around it. - Yeah, absolutely no problem. Like super, super impressive. - You didn't find that even on your other cross country bikes, did you? - No, I would say the Lux
and the Trek Supercaliber were the easiest bikes to make that kind of super tight corner around a tree. And then the other ones had to
anticipate a little bit more. - They took a little bit more brain power. (upbeat music) Okay, so Sarah, we know
that your 60 millimeter Trek hard tail or soft
tail or whatever it is climbs very well. That's a given, but tell
me about descending. - Yeah, so six millimeters, yes. But the handling is a little
more similar to the Canyon I would say for sure on
the descents, you know, a little bit more nervous. You gotta be a little bit more on it when you're coming down here. - So it sounds like the
Supercaliber and the Lux both require a little bit more brain power when things get technical and tricky. But tell me about some other things. Tell me what the cornering on this bike. What's that like? - Yeah so it feels like
you're really kind of low in the bike, it feels
really easy to kind of make quick movements on descends
and it's pretty fun to ride. Like it needs a little bit
more brainpower, like you said, and you need to be, it's
a little bit harder work. Like you're definitely working harder. You're not resting on the
descends on this bike at all. - Yeah. But it's really fun to whip around corners and it's just kind of like a sporty feel' it feels anything you put into it, it'll react really quickly. So that can be a good
thing if you're, you know, if you want that feeling or it could be a bad
thing, if you're tired. And that's when crashes happen. So I did manage to bottom out this bike, six millimeters of travel, you know, kind of went through the bike
and then through the tires. That being said, I think
Trek did a really good job of balancing out that
small bump compliance with that bottom out resistance. - It felt good everywhere
else, except for that one- - Exactly. Yeah. Like it wasn't like- - I'd give you borderline
choice, to be honest. (laughs) - Probably a borderline choice,
like when you're getting tired and, you know, not filming. And so yeah, they did a good job. It wasn't, you know, like
I was following this bike everywhere all the time,
it wasn't like there was a harsh bottom out, definitely
added more compliance across the smoother, you
know, little small bumps. (cheerful music) - All right. We're not getting out of here
without talking timed laps. Sarah, how did the Supercaliber do? - I had my slowest descending
time, get that out of the way, - Not off to a good start. - Not off to a good start. But then it tied for
second fastest overall. And it was actually one of the faster ones on the technical part,
the most technical part of the climb, we kind of
divided into two sections and there was the whole climb and then the technical climb and yeah, it did very respectably there. - Yeah. Tied for third overall
in the efficiency test, I was still a little over 10 seconds behind the Canyon Lux though. (upbeat music) - Components like not
a lot to complain about here at $9,500 US. - Right. - It's got, carbon wheels XX1 drivetrain, super lightweight suspension. So yeah, pretty solid spec. The one thing is maybe,
oh, 720 handlebars, a little bit narrow- - Yeah, a little skinny. - Little skinny. - I mean it is an actual
race bike but these days I personally would like to see something a little wider on there, but yeah. - A little bit more modern
and this is a project one bike so if you wanted this exact
same bike in Shimano XT, or if you wanted to add a dropper post, that would be super easy to do. You can also choose pretty
much endless colors. So pretty wild looking. - Yeah. - Color scheme. - Some really cool custom ones and you can kind of just mix and
match whatever you want. So yeah, that's an awesome feature that Trek offers as well. (restive music) - So pros. Yeah. There's great slow speed
handling on this bike, especially when you're climbing. It is kind of that good middle
ground between a hardtail and a full suspension at 60 millimeter. - Right, like those places where you don't really need a
hundred millimeter bike. - Yeah, so for the- - The terrain is fast though.
- right terrain. because it can be tiring. - Exactly. (restive music) - Tell us what you didn't like, Sarah. - When things get a little bit steeper, not quite as confidence, inspiring bike, and when things are a little bit rougher, it's also just, it's going to take you a little bit more time to recover. (restive music) - Who is this bike for, Sarah? - Yeah, it is for that pure racer. So if you're looking
to go fast and you're, I'd say if you're a really
good technical descender this bike could really work in your favor. So it might not be my number
one choice for rougher terrain. But if you want a bike that is, you know, kind of that middle
ground between a hardtail and a full suspension, it
definitely fits the ticket. - That's it for Trek 60
millimeter travel, Supercaliber, stay tuned for more reviews and
round table discussions from the CrossCountry field test. In the meantime, Tara, can we
change back into our Lycra? All right, let's go of here. (Soothing music)
