MTB

Eurobike 2011: 29ers from Giant, BMC and Focus

Plenty of new bikes still to share with you all from our visit to Eurobike last week. In this article we take a look at the latest from BMC and Giant.

BMC enters 29er market with two new bikes

Swiss company BMC has followed up the launch of its carbon Trailfox TF01 with two new 29ers, a hardtail and full-susser.

For hardtail fans the TeamElite TE29 shows the visual hallmarks that set BMC frames apart from the competition. An aluminium tubeset is triple butted for lightness and hydroforming is used to achieve the distinctive shapes, like the unique T-profile top tube.

If you’ve been waiting for BMC to do a full suspension 29er, the wait is now over, the SpeedFox SF29 has been released. It uses the company’s own dual-link suspension design and provides 100mm of travel. The frame features all the usual modern touches you’d expect, like a tapered head tube, post mount rear disc tabs, direct mount front mech and geometry adjusted for the bigger wheels.

Giant expands 29er range with new carbon models

Giant has embraced 29ers for 2012 in a big way. An updated shared across the range is the new OverDrive 2 headset. Here a fatter tapered 1 1/4-to-1 1/2 ” steerer tube pairs with a larger stem to further increase the stiffness of the front-end.

This is the Anthem X Advanced 1, with a full Shimano XT groupset and AluxX SL aluminium frame.

Anthem X 29er 0 here, with 29in wheels and 100mm of travel with a RockShox SID 29 RLT fork with 15mm bolt-thru axle.

Giant make some great hardtails and they look even better given the 29er makeover, and even better when made in carbon fibre. This is the much anticipated XTC Composite 29er, which has finally reached production. We were leaked snippets of the new bike some time ago, which got us all a little excited.

And for anyone who thinks Bikemagic is only interested in 29ers these days, here’s a Giant XTC Carbon with 26in wheels. Looks lovely doesn’t it?

Focus introduce 29er carbon hardtail

German firm Focus isn’t been left in the dark when it comes to big wheeled mountain bikes either. New from the company is the Raven 29er, which is one of the fastest looking carbon hardtails we’ve yet clapped our eyes on.

Take a closer look at the super flat and wide seatstays and large chainstays, designed to ensure maximum power transfer with a degree of compliance over the rougher stuff.

We also like the neat internal cable routing, a good example of how well done such a design can be. There’s the other usual features like a BB30 bottom bracket, tapered head tube and even cable mounts for a dropper seatpost.