It was great seeing Evie carve up the course yesterday on her SC. She was really in a zone.
Mona Mitterwallner took the U23 title also on a Supercaliber.
Here’s a pic of my SC the day before Leadville taking it for a quick spin to make sure everything was ready for race day. I’ve got an ICE Friction chain on for race day. Was able to run a 1 liter bottle in the main cage and a 500 mL in the second cage during Leadville.
Ledville and other long events are the type of races I think the SC is made for and why I bought it. But clearly it does well in the rowdy stuff too !!!
How did you get on at Ledville?
Leadville was great. I did the Stage Race and the LT100 two weeks later. The SC was ideal for the course. In 2019 I rode a Niner Air 9 RDO HT, which was a couple of pounds lighter (no dropper on the Niner). The SC was consistently faster on the descents and held it’s own on the climbs. Over the course of the 3 day Stage Race, and also during the LT100, I felt less fatigued on the SC. I used the same wheels and tires on both bikes, so it made for a pretty fair comparison.
For the LT100, 2021 was a tougher day compared to 2019 with more wind, hotter temps, and a softer course. In 2019 I finished 420th out of about 1500 starters. This year I moved up to 305, but my time was about the same, which speaks to the tougher day on the course. Powerline at Mile 80 remains a stiff challenge and will be on my mind preparing for 2022.
There were a lot of Supercalibers on the course this year, so clearly a popular choice for Leadville riders.
Separately, a good friend of mine who I talked into getting a Supercaliber last fall, was volunteering at Leadville. He was riding at Breckenridge (easy cruise, nothing aggressive) and his rear seat stay snapped. He must have had a hairline crack from something prior. Since then he has been in contact with Trek and they are replacing the rear triangle under warranty. Apparently there are some others who did have the same failure.
TREK warranty is really good and fast. I had a new P1 frameset and shock within a month I’d think a rear triangle would take less
Which SC do you have?
My Supercaliber was a Project One build with Cosmos paint and Eagle AXS. From what I can see Cosmos isn’t available anymore but the Amplified Alchemy would be somewhat similar. The Cosmos is pretty cool and I’ve gotten a lot of comments on it when out riding or racing.
I made a few changes afterwards. I wasn’t super happy with the Bontrager Kovee XXX 35 bar as I found it pretty stiff and harsh, so I swapped to an Enve M5 bar and stem. I really liked this change and made it a lot more comfortable on super long XC days on rocky/rooted trails. I also immediately put on Enve M525’s wheels and never rode the Pro 30’s it came with. I kept them as a spare wheelset. Finally, I made a deal with the shop to swap out the SRAM Guide Ultimate brakes for a set of Shimano XTR’s. I’ve got XTR’s on all my other bikes so wanted to stick with what I was most comfortable with.
I’ve put a lot of miles on it riding XC trails and also a lot of lot gravel days. I did have to replace the bottom bracket at the end of last season due to a persistent creaking, but it has not reoccurred since. I’ll likely get the suspension serviced this winter once the snow falls.
Your chain should be black. Other than that nice looking bike!
Did someone experience with the Quarq shockwiz on their SC? I’m not sure where to mount the shockwiz on the rear shock. Mounting it on the sleeve under the shock seems like the best place, but no idea how to attach it.
btw, love the bike!
Does anyone know anything about the rear shocks? I have a 2022 9.6 on order. delivery Feb, and notice it is cheaper than the UK price of the frameset! I had assumed there was only one Supercal frame so the only difference can be the shock???
shocks are functionally the same. the kashima one comes with a remote lockout. the black one comes with a lockout lever. no difference in bikes effectively the same.
My 2022 9.8 has the black shock and a remote lockout.
I think it’s simply about the Kashima coating?
Same with my 2021
OK, so either Trek have no interest in selling the frames or Kashima is horrifically expensive? I suspect the former applies.
Just have to hope the price doesn’t get bumped up even more between now and delivery.
you can PM ‘mitch@trek’ on MTBR - he’s the Trek community manager there. he can help straighten it out.
there’s no need for shockwiz on this bike. no compression adjustment and rebound is easy to set. no need to mess with it.
Whats the real world feedback on rear tire clearance for this bike? I was heavily considering but just now noticed Trek only clears it for a 2.2 tire which is fairly ridiculous for a modern XC bike. Im sure Trek is being conservative to over their ass, have people tried a 2.25 or 2.35? I really like running that 2.35 Ikon for a rear tire.
The Bontrager XR2s that come with the bike are really big for a 2.2 - bigger than the 2.35 Rocket Rons I have on (admittedly on narrow 23mm ID rims). I’m pretty sure you’ll fit 2.4s in there.
Just checked, and the latest specs show you can put a 2.4 in there: https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/mountain-bikes/cross-country-mountain-bikes/supercaliber/supercaliber-9-8/p/28580/
I´m running 2.4 Aspens atm, fits perfectly fine!
Random question for you SuperCal owners, is it a noisy bike?
The reason I ask, is that was at my local XC park this weekend and there were a couple off pretty quick young guys hot lapping their SuperCal’s and they were super noisy. Lots of clunks and bangs. I wondered if it’s just the transfer/effect of the stiffness? They look like a fast and very efficient bike. Beefier than you’d expect.
no, it’s not noisy at all. They’re probably not running enough shock pressure.
