We take a closer look at some of the top bikes at the start of the 2024 UCI Downhill World Cup
The UCI Downhill World Cup kicked off this weekend at Fort William, Scotland, drawing in the fastest riders from around the world.
Specialized Gravity’s Loïc Bruni took the top step in the Elite Men’s race with a time of 4 minutes and 4 seconds, pipping Troy Brosnan by 1.8 seconds.
The Elite Women’s race was won by the YT Mob’s Vali Höll, who beat Nina Hoffmann by half a second, with a time of 4 minutes 41 seconds.
Against the odds, the sun beamed down making for dry conditions on the mountain, though strong winds caused a few issues.
We hit the pits to seek out the most intriguing bikes and the latest tech from the race.
Here are our highlights.
Martin Maes’ Orbea Wild
We didn’t expect to see an electric mountain bike at Fort William, let alone one without a motor or battery. But that’s exactly what Martin Maes was riding.
Maes’ modified Orbea Wild has no battery in the down tube and there’s a black cover over the bottom bracket area, where an ebike motor would usually be.
It’s hard to speculate what might be hiding, but we’d guess there are extra weights in the bottom bracket to mimic the unsprung mass ratio of the motor-equipped bike.
A Bosch power button still features on the top tube, showing the bike’s previous intended use.
The bike is similar to the production Wild, with Orbea saying the head angle has been changed on the front triangle to accommodate a larger fork.
A custom linkage is also used to correct the bike’s geometry and increase the suspension travel from the standard bike.
Maes rode the bike with a mullet setup. This isn’t possible on a standard Wild, but his custom linkage makes it so.
Due to the large leverage ratio, Maes was running a 550lb coil on the rear shock, matched to 72psi in his 50th anniversary Fox Factory 40 fork.
The bike had an aluminium frame. The rear chainstay sported a chunky, wraparound protector to silence the drivetrain through the many rock gardens at Fort William.
Dakotah Norton’s Mondraker Summum
Dakotah Norton’s ape-hanger handlebar was the talk of the paddock, with 75mm of rise making for an extremely high front end on his Mondraker Summum.
The bar is made by Mondraker’s in-house component brand OnOff, but isn’t available to purchase.
Mondraker says it hasn’t ruled out putting the bar into production and will decide depending on its reception.
Norton’s Summum features the gold 50th anniversary 200mm Fox Factory 40 fork, paired with a DHX2 rear shock in the frame, which controls 203mm of travel.
Mounts on the rear triangle enable metal plates to be added for cross-bar support, so Norton can adjust the stiffness of the bike’s rear end.
There are also many flip chips that enable Norton to adjust the BB height, reach, head angle, chainstay length and how progressive the rear shock curve is.
Norton is using e*thirteen’s unreleased Sidekick chain-decoupling hub. This is said to work in a similar fashion to Ochain’s Spider device, giving better articulation of the suspension by removing the influence of the chain.
The bike has Shimano’s Saint drivetrain and Saint brakes – something we haven’t seen much of, with many riders choosing Shimano’s XTR brakes instead.
It also appeared Norton was using a pair of prototype pedals, with rumours suggesting these are test mules for Yoshimura’s first clipless mountain bike pedal.
Matt Walker’s Saracen Myst
Matt Walker was on board Saracen’s new Myst downhill bike, which launched only last week
The Myst’s rear shock has been relocated to the bottom of the frame and now dissects the seat tube.
Saracen says this lowers the centre of gravity, helping to increase cornering speed.
Walker’s bike is nearly identical to the production model Myst. However, his bike features a flip chip in the top shock mount, allowing for adjustment of the leverage curve without needing to re-tune the shock.
The Madison Saracen mechanics say this is to cope with the varying tracks on the UCI Downhill World Cup calendar.
Walker’s Myst is built with a 50th anniversary Fox DHX2 shock and a full Kashima-coloured Factory 40 fork at the front.
Being sponsored by Shimano, Walker’s bike features a Pro finishing kit and a Saint drivetrain.
But unlike Norton, Walker opted for Shimano’s XTR enduro brakes.
The bike sported DT Swiss FR 1500 wheels, with Norton running a Maxxis Minion DHR II on both the front and rear.
Charlie Hatton’s Atherton AM200
After winning his first world championship in Fort William last year, Charlie Hatton’s Atherton AM200 features plenty of subtle rainbow embellishments to mark his success.
The AM200 uses an additive frame construction, with carbon fibre tubes glued to 3D-printed titanium lugs.
Many manufacturers, including Pivot and Specialized, have adopted a similar design for their downhill bikes because it speeds up research and development, and bikes can be made cheaper and quicker.
The bike is built with Fox’s 50th anniversary 40 Factory fork, with the gold-coloured lowers matching the Kashima-coated stanchions and the frame decals.
A DHX2 shock controls the Dave Weagle-engineered 6-bar linkage and gives the bike 200mm of rear suspension travel.
Hatton uses limited-edition, purple Hayes Dominion A4 brakes and Galfer Shark rotors.
The bike featured a SRAM X01 DH drivetrain with Ochain’s non-adjustable spider.
Ochain’s system sees polymer inserts placed in a free-floating chainring that allows for a degree of slack before the pedals engage the drivetrain.
This is said to give a chainless feel to the bike and improve suspension kinematics by reducing pedal kickback.
The bike has a Stan’s Flow EX3 wheelset with world-champion livery. Hatton ran Continental Kryptotal tyres.
Finishing off the rainbow theme is a Proxim 450 saddle, sitting on top of an FSA K-force carbon fibre seatpost.
Joe Breeden Intense M1
Joe Breeden has made some rather unusual additions to his Intense M1, most notably a rear lockout.
It’s uncommon to see left-hand shifters on mountain bikes these days, with the majority of people running 1x drivetrains.
But the SLX shifter on Breeden’s M1 is part of a rear-shock lockout for the Öhlins TTX22 M.2 shock, created specifically for Breeden by J-Tech suspension tuning.
Breeden says he’s using a lockout because he wants something to stiffen the bike up on flat sections for more efficient sprinting.
An Öhlins DH38 M.1 fork supports the front of the bike, offering Breeden 200mm of travel.
The handlebar has more custom touches, with foam-backed, saucer-shaped plastic guards at the end of the grips.
These appear to be home-grown tech and are likely to reduce fatigue, like flanged grips.
Lead weights have been riveted to the down tube. These are likely to lower the centre of gravity and increase the unsprung mass ratio.
Breeden’s bike was fitted with Lewis LHT Ultimate titanium brakes and a TRP EVO 7 derailleur. The bike featured e*thirteen’s Helix GR crankset.
His wheels use e*thirteen Flux Carbon DH rims, with the rear laced to the brand’s yet-to-be-released Sidekick hub.
These were booted in Continental Kryptotal tyres.