The Trans Balkan Race, a self-supported off-road slog through the Balkan mountain ranges from Slovenia south to Montenegro, is still going. But while the dot watching continues, the podium has been finalised with ultra-endurance star Justinas Leveika taking both the win and the fastest known time (FKT).
While the physical achievement of riding some 1,400 km with 27,000 meters of elevation, on 82% off-road surfaces, in a little over four days is unbelievably impressive, it’s that brown full-suspension bicycle with a Trek logo on the downtube that truly grabbed my attention (sorry, I can’t help who I am).
Indeed, it appears Trek is working on a full-suspension gravel bike, a category of bike that the likes of Niner have done before, but that was perhaps the Sega Game Gear of its time (niche reference to say the market wasn’t ready for it).
Either way, when a company the size of Trek is playing with concepts like this, it is worth paying attention to. Especially given you can be sure that competing brands are testing the idea, too (or at least will be now).
Look beyond the brown
From the photos, and the fact that Justinas Leveika is sponsored by Trek, there’s little doubt that we’re looking at an unreleased new bike. Sure, it could just be a prototype, but the fact that it’s seemingly a monocoque carbon frame suggests it’s far along in its development.
Escape Collective reached out to Trek for comment, and the company’s Gravel Product Manager, Matt Riley, providing a nicely worded no comment. "Trek is always in development with new products, and our professional riders are a huge part of our development process. When we have details to share with global riders, we will be happy to do so."
Meanwhile, and while congratulating Justinas on the win/record and enquiring about the bike, the Norway-based rider remarked, "The bike is a very fast one and I love it. Trek gave it to me and said go have fun, so that's what I did! 🤩"
Clear as the colour of the bike. So what do we know?
We know that adventure gravel bikes are quickly becoming the next big category for the big brands to set their sights on. And we also know that suspension doesn’t just add increased comfort and control to off-road riding (which saves energy and adds confidence), there are likely efficiency gains in it, too.
Furthermore, it’s evident this isn’t just a converted mountain bike. For one, the use of the SRAM Red XPLR crank suggests this frame has a bottom bracket width suited to a Road-Wide stance rather than a marginally wider mountain bike crank.
The fork on the front is a gravel-specific RockShox Rudy, and the geometry looks well balanced with the shorter suspension fork. There are rumours circling of longer travel suspension coming to gravel, and it wouldn’t be surprising if this frame is optimised around a fork that’s 10-20 mm longer than the current 40 mm travel status quo.
Also, the rear suspension layout proves this isn’t anything currently in Trek’s product range. The use of a flexstay with rocker-link-driven rear shock at the top tube has become a common trend amongst many of the latest cross-country mountain bikes, but Trek’s SuperCalibre race bike has a more proprietary and direct-drive shock (Trek calls it IsoStrut) in a similar spot. Perhaps this new bike isn’t just telling of what’ll be new in gravel, but in Trek’s cross-country race range, too.
The rear shock appears noticeably minuscule, likely providing somewhere between 40-60 mm of rear wheel travel, and further proving the idea that this is a gravel bike. For reference, the now-discontinued Niner MCR 9 RDO full suspension bike offered 50 mm of rear wheel travel.
The main pivot location, way above the clearly lowered bottom bracket, is an interesting one. It places the lower swingarm (chainstay) directly in the path of the chainring, and it’ll be interesting to see how Trek has balanced tyre clearance with chainring fitment – although the Continental Race King mountain bike tyres in use hint at it being competitively good. And given all that’s going on in that area, I’m going to speculate that Trek has settled on this bike being compatible with 1x shifting only.
Either way, that shock placement, along with a more horizontal top tube, clearly provides plenty of room within the main triangle for fluids and bags. It also keeps that shock fairly well protected from the elements.
Other details spotted include cable ports into the downtube, although I think I also see the rear brake hose disappearing into the headset. There’s, of course, a UDH. The rear brake is Flat Mount for easy compatibility with road/gravel groups. And it takes a regular round seatpost with an external clamp.
Full suspension gravel bikes are coming
The concept of full suspension gravel bikes has been bubbling at the surface for a number of years. Niner’s MCR 9 RDO came out in late 2019, and to be honest, it had a few too many maintenance compromises to have ever been a big hit. Still, the concept has real merit, especially in long-distance events and over severe terrain.
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