We were fortunate to be able to attend the official ‘coming out’ party for this new racing carbon fiber hardtail effort from BMC, the BMC teamelite TE01 29. We will be riding this sexy beast tomorrow, so expect more details after Sea Otter, but here are some pics and stats of what to look for in this 2013 race bike. It is a sweet looking scoot and appears to get beyond the me-too carbon that we have been seeing lately. How will it ride? Stay tuned.
- A target frame weight below 1kg. The Med size frame weighs 990g/2.2lbs with all frame hardware.
- BMC designed it to have 429mm chainstays, a slacker 70* head tube angle and a lowish BB with 2.55″/65mm of drop.
- Vertical compliance was a focus point and lab tests show the TE01 29 hit the mark they were shooting for.
- Adding to that comfort is a 200g seatpost that was designed just for this bike in a 27.2mm diameter.
- BB stiffness. This frame beats the stiffness of the 26″ version at the BB.
- Low stack height
- Custom designed anti-chain suck device built into the frame that adjusts for 2×10 and 3×10.
- Full XO group and very nice parts besides…more on that later.
- New 2013 Fox F32 100mm Float fork (to be debuted at Sea Otter as well)
- 3 year frame warranty, upgradeable to 5 yr (by registering with BMC), and crash replacement.
- $5499.00 retail, available end of May (projected, but pretty certain, we were told).
Press material also claims stays are designed to flex max 30 mm. Could this be a Dos Niner without shock ?
Come on, test ! test ! test ! test! test !
Pretty please ?
Interesting that it doesn’t have internal cable routing. Seems like an oversight as most carbon frames have this now…
@ Ojos Azules: You may have read, but there already is a review on the alloy framed BMC Teamelite TE1 on TNI: http://twentynineinches.com/2012/02/01/bmc-team-elite-te29-x-o-short-term-test/
… if the TEO1 29″ is anything like it (and it most likely is :-)), then this will be one fast and fun riding machine!
But let´s wait for GG to bring us his ride impressions.
@Stevo:
Why would that be a oversight ?
This is a race frame. Serious racers (read: WC) change their setup all the time, depending on the race course.
Internal routing may look nice, but it’s real pain to replace, repair or adjust frequently.
Just take a look at Niner – their carbon frames have serious shifting problems because of poor internal routing. Niner even recently issued special shifting kit to improve shifting performance.
Hopefully the top tube lengths weren’t as strangely long as the aluminum version. Internal routing is for triathletes 🙂 Wish the red was only removable stickers. Gloss black is it!
I hope some day they sell the frame alone. Either that or someone else make a carbon 29er with 429mm chainstays…and charge less than 2 grand. Even then if I ever buy one I’ll be too afraid to appear slow on any section in front of anyone on any trail
@Ojos. There’s not a lot of room for movement between the rear wheel and the seat tube. If they are indeed getting 30mm of flex, it’s likely from the entire system, including the tires, wheels, seat stays, the 27.2mm specially formulated seatpost, and seat rails.
BTW, that seatpost sounds interesting. how about providing some specifics on that during the review?
re: the seatpost
must be a similar concept to th enew syntace p6 hiflex, check this out:
http://29in.ch/post/3940808691/syntace-p6-carbon-and-p6-hiflex-compared