Mondraker Goes Aluminum Only on 2021 Summum Downhill Bike - Across the Pond Beaver
Despite being sighted in multiple locations at various points in the past 12 months, details have been thin on the ground for the updated Summum downhill bike. That wait is finally over, though, and Mondraker has revealed the details of the bike we've been seen being tested under its team riders since Lenzerheide last year.
The Summum has plenty of race-winning pedigree, with Laurie Greenland taking its most recent victory at Val di Sole last year. As such, Mondraker didn't feel the need to overhaul the bike completely, but a number of key changes have been implemented.
The Summum has plenty of race-winning pedigree, with Laurie Greenland taking its most recent victory at Val di Sole last year. As such, Mondraker didn't feel the need to overhaul the bike completely, but a number of key changes have been implemented.
Details
Frame material: Aluminum
INtended use: Downhill racing
Rear travel: 200mm
Wheelsize: 29" (27.5" and mullet builds also available)
Head angle: 63.5°
Price: From €4,199
More info: Mondraker.com
Frame material: Aluminum
INtended use: Downhill racing
Rear travel: 200mm
Wheelsize: 29" (27.5" and mullet builds also available)
Head angle: 63.5°
Price: From €4,199
More info: Mondraker.com
The bike in its prototype stage.
The looped seat stay mast is gone, replaced by a more conventional bottom bracket junction.
The biggest tweak is the frame material - all three specs of the Summum are now aluminum only with no carbon options available. While this does probably increase the weight of the bike, Mondraker claims it offers a "fast, active and natural riding experience". Apparently, Mondraker's World Cup riders found the aluminum bikes more responsive, and that's what pushed Mondraker towards using the material for the final construction. The tubes of the bike have also been slimmed down, bringing its silhouette more in line with the Foxy and SuperFoxy.
Welds are back for Mondraker's downhill bike.
A new upper suspension link has no window (the old link was an open triangle).
There has also been a big overhaul with wheelsize, and these frames have been predominantly designed around 29" wheels. All the full builds, apart from the S and M sizes of the base Summum, come with downhill's largest wheels and those two exceptions come with 27.5" front and rear. Both Brook MacDonald and Laurie Greenland were racing on mullet bikes towards the end of last year, and that's also an option for Summum riders, but they'll have to go via the frame only route.
There's no chainstay adjustment on this latest Summum model.
There have also been some geometry changes too. For starters, the bike is slightly steeper, with the head angle now sitting at 63.5°, up from 63° on previous models. The seat angle is also steeper to make room for a bigger rear wheel. The biggest change comes in the reach where the bike has grown by around 30mm per size. Mondraker's Forward Geometry was one of the big driving factors behind modern geometry so it's no surprise that the Spanish brand continues to stretch out its bikes in 2020.
Also on the geometry front, there's no longer any adjustment available for this bike. Previous Summums had the option to lengthen and shorten chainstays, but the new models have them set at 450mm, the size both Laurie and Brook were running last year. Suspension kinematics have also been given a small tweak and the bike's 200mm rear travel is now a bit more progressive for the biggest hits of high-speed World Cup racing. The full geometry is below:
3 models of the bike will be available with the Summum 27.5 and 29 forming the base level and the Summum R and Summum RR above them. A frame only option is also available. Prices start at €4,199. More info, here.
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Granted, you can't get one right now, but it's on the site.
It would be neat to have a head to head comparison chart of all the $5k DH bikes available currently with a check box next to "In stock" versus "SHIPS ON..."
Steel bikes are usually still more expensive though.
I know because for ages I've been eyeing up a steel HT for my next bike.
PS. How have I never heard of Curtis. Dang!
Sure, you can say something like a Colnago Master is "exclusive" but that's just because someone is willing to pay for it. Marino would probably build you nearly the same frame for 300 bucks.
In that respect the exclusivity that I pertain to is by definition "shutting out all others from a part or share".
So if we take the total amount of "real" MTB's available, the steel part or share will be in the significant minority compared to the aluminum, which makes them more exclusive. What you're referring to is desirablility, not exclusivity.
How many options there are compared to aluminum or plastic is apropos of nothing.
As for Curtis, they're quite the legends in the steel custom mtb and bmx market. I always thought their Racelite should be soo much fun, it is hard to resist
If you want uplift riding you need to go a bit out of town, I think Bollekollen is the closest decent one but I don't think you can rent bikes
A few months later the first XR650 turns up with all the parts off that Alpine 160, and I see that Orange frame is suddenly up for sale. It's the same bike, just choose alu or steel.
That's NOT a bad thing in my eyes. I loved that old Orange, and I love my current BTR. A bike that merges the 2 sounds amazing.
What BTR do you have? I've got a large Ranger for 26" wheels. Loved the process of having it tweaked to my preferences (geometry, colour, extras etc), absolutely love how it turned out. I currently don't feel like it is holding me back enough to justify getting a full susser. But obviously I'm always looking at what's around and the Curtis looks amazing. Considering what I can get away with on a hardtail, I see no use for 160mm rear travel. But if they could make something like a Five (evo) that should probably complement what I have and still be fun within what I see myself ride regularly.
Nearest uplift is Bollekollen (near borås), then kesberget (vårgårda). Both cable pulley lifts. Nearest proper lift is vållasen (near helsingborg).
You can see all of them on my small YouTube channel (also are and järsvö) www.youtube.com/user/JohnJohn1327
Enjoy!
Maybe in reach but doubtful in front center.
Often trail bikes are longer due to a steeper head angle.
No the reach is usually longer on a trail bike.
With such a slack HA dh bike front center and wheel base gets out of hand quickly...... so top tube and reach numbers are usually slightly less than the same mfgs trail bikes.
Not to mention that on real downhills the rider is further rearward a large percent of the time which also makes the reach feel long
Step 2: Make frames aluminium and keep prices almost the same
Step 3: Profit
I´d bet we´ll see more AL with other manufacturers soon.
I never had a problem with threaded (BSA)....if you use good tools you can unscrew really tight BBs....(tools like Pedro's External Bearing BB Socket + leverage).
And to teach you something new....instaling pressfit with hammer is not good practice...use correct press and adaptors (otherwise you can damage bearings and/or BB hole in frame).
I am happy that you like your press fit...but there is a reason why manufacturers go back to threaded BBs....and that is anoying creaking
Personally I dont buy that as it does not make much sense to me. If anyone may have any idea as to why a bendable metal is more responsive than a stiff thin tubing of carbon, then Id like to hear it.
I'm guessing the carbon was too stiff (see www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1380399148727271). Its sooo much easier/cheaper to iterate on an aluminum frame and tune the flex than carbon. Carbon probably has a much wider range of tuning you can ultimately do, but how do you chug through ten prototypes with expensive carbon molds?
www.pinkbike.com/photo/17427775
They used carbon sheets to tune the flex/stiffness of their new demo (back in the day they developed their new Demo in secret, then dumped it on Brosnan and Gwin with no tuning or input from them, just surprise!. You can be 100% sure that Bruni had a lot more to say on what went into this new bike) until they got it right, then translated the extra carbon into aluminum. Additive manufacturing like this is so much cheaper/faster for prototyping.
To me they just made it sound like "Aluminum was always the best. We dont want to R&D carbon this iteration." Or Im over thinking it.
But I would be just as happy with Alu frame as with carbon if frame doesn't brake too fast....
Carbon IS stronger than aluminum gram per gram. Absolute strength isn't the only thing that makes a good dirtbike frame. The aluminum 1997 CR250 is probably the most bombproof MX frame of all time, but it's widely regarded as one of the worst because it's way too rigid and vibrates like crazy.
F1, Le Mans, crazy racing boats, $10k MTB's all use carbon frames. It's pretty obvious that Carbon is fantastic for making frames, when money is no object. Yamaha, Kawi ect. might not like their sales numbers if they make a carbon framed 450 and it costs twice as much as the competition.
Probably because carbon DH frames aren't overbuilt to the degree that Aluminum MX frames are. Compare any steel framed MXer with an aluminum framed one. The aluminum frames are like 2-3X as wide. Aluminum is more brittle, so they need to be overbuilt as a fail-safe
KTM's and Husqvarnas are lighter than the Japanese bikes nowadays, using steel frames, because they don't need so much extra material.
They could totally make a carbon MX frame with similar dimensions to an aluminum frame and it would be lighter and stronger than aluminum. BMW's most expensive/fastest motorcycle, the $80,000 HP4 Race does okay with a carbon frame. Various Ducati Superlegera models use carbon frames too.