ENDURANCE
Bombtrack Audax
£2,750 And now for something completely different…
Weight 11.13kg (L) Frame Columbus Cromor steel Fork Carbon Gears Shimano 105/Ultegra RX 48/32, 11-34 Brakes Shimano 105 disc Wheels WTB ST i25 650b Finishing kit Ritchey stem, bar and seatpost, Bombtrack Comp saddle, 650×47 WTB Horizon/Byway tyres
The Good
Luxurious ride quality; thrilling downhiller; very different
The Bad
Not light; roadie purists won’t approve; very different
47
The width in millimetres of the Audax’s WTB 650b tyres. The front Byway is lightly treaded, while the rear Horizon is virtually slick
105
Shimano 105 dominates, but there’s an Ultegra RX rear mech and the crankset is Bombtrack’s own with 48/32 chainrings
11.13
The weight of the Bombtrack Audax in kilograms. A steel frame is never going to be as light as a carbon – or an aluminium – frame
THE BOMBTRACK AUDAX, with its big-clearance steel frame, 650b wheels and huge, 47mm-wide road tyres, seems at odds with its long-distance ‘Audax’ moniker. However, it transpires it’s a bike that lives up to its roadie roots, but from a different perspective…
The heart of the bike is a tidy TIGwelded Columbus Cromor double-butted chromoly steel frame. It’s complemented by a full-carbon fork, which features twin mounts and mudguard mounts on the fork legs. It tapers down nicely from the chimney-shaped tapered head tube. The skinny steel tubes route cables and hoses externally, and the frame has both toptube ‘bento box’ mounts and twin downtube bottle placement, as you’d expect of a bikepacking machine. It also has a ‘proper’ bridge for rear guards and rack mounts.
It’s completed with a great mix of parts.
The Comp-level Ritchey 4-Axis stem and Streem II handlebar form a smart cockpit.
The bar has an ergo-shaped compact drop and nicely flattened top sections with a rearward sweep that puts your wrists in a comfortable position. I found it ideal for endurance riding.
The drivetrain’s also well thought-out, featuring a mix of Shimano 105, Ultegra RX and Bombtrack. The brakes, front derailleur and shifters are 105, and there’s a rarely seen clutchequipped Ultegra RX rear derailleur sliding up and down a broad 11-34 cassette. It’s driven by Bombtrack’s own well-finished crankset with an ‘adventure’-sized 48/32 chainring pairing. Gear changes were crisp and clean and the brakes smooth and progressive – and silent – even in some truly horrid weather conditions.
The wheels are based around WTB’s broad St i25 rims in a 650b size, built onto Bombtrack’s own cartridge-bearing hubs.
The tyres are also from WTB, in the form of its 47mm lightly treaded front-specific Byway tyre and virtually slick Horizon rear. The rims and tyres are tubeless-ready.
Yes, the Audax is practical, with its wealth of fittings, comfortable yet tough tyres and buoyant steel frame. It is, however, also an absolute blast to ride. The big-volume tyres make mincemeat of poor surfaces and the 650b wheels accelerate quickly in combination with the compact gearing. On climbs, those big tyres and smaller wheels require more of an aerobic effort than out-of-the-saddle dash. But that combo makes every downhill exhilarating, the tyres affording excellent grip and making every descent a test of courage rather than equipment. On the downside, the Bombtrack saddle, with its long, narrow and very firm shape, is at odds with the rest of the bike’s character.
If I was riding an epic, time-windowed event, Bombtrack’s leftfield approach would put the Audax high up on my list of bikes. It smooths horrid riding surfaces, is more than quick enough on rolling terrain and what you lose with its plodding climbing you’ll more than make up on the descents. If you’re the sort of endurance rider who’s interested in PBs and Strava KOMs, the Audax isn’t for you. But if you’re interested in every ride being fun-filled and in fine comfort, then look no further.
Verdict
A study in endurancebike design from those not constrained by expectations