HIGH-END XC RACE BIKES
When the Olympics come around, we often see a host of new cross-country bikes hit the MTB scene. The Games attract the widest global audience for any sporting event, so it’s the ideal opportunity for manufacturers to debut their latest and greatest XC rigs on the sporting stage. This year, the Olympics have been postponed, but that doesn’t mean that brands have let it prevent the release of their newest models, and as such 2020 has been a vintage year when it comes to great new race bikes.
This test has been designed with no compromises. We’ve picked four bikes that would, under normal circumstances, have been raced on the Izu cross-country course at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Skinny tyres, efficient suspension and lightweight components are all still essentials for XC speed. The discipline has moved with the times, though, so head angles are slacker than a few years ago and reaches are longer, to ensure that not every descent is a white-knuckle ride. After all, there’s no point in going up the hills fast if you can’t get down the other side with the utmost confidence. Reflecting this, we’re increasingly seeing dropper posts available on XC bikes, either as a stock part or an optional point-of-sale upgrade. Of the four bikes here, three came to us with a dropper fitted, while the fourth will happily take one.
These race machines have been tested over the course of the summer, with each bike being pulled out of the workshop for all-day epics, bar-chewing, on-the-limit evening blasts and back-to-back comparative loops. This way, not only can we be sure they can go the distance, but also that we’ve made sure their every nuance has been revealed.
THE LINE-UP
NS SYNONYM RC 1 £6,299.99
NS may not be the first brand you think of for cross-country race bikes, but the Synonym is definitely in the lead when it comes to new-school XC geometry, with a shape that would put most trail bikes to shame. With XC getting gnarly, this could be a real advantage. Although it’s the cheapest bike here, the Synonym still packs in some top-flight kit, including Factory-level suspension from Fox, go-fast Maxxis tyres and a carbon dropper post from KS.
ORBEA OIZ M-TEAM £6,518
higher tier of carbon fibre to their Oiz range this year, with a slight adjustment to its geometry too. The Squidlock lever gives three-position control over the Fox fork and shock’s compression circuits, so you can firm them up on the
