XC Tech Trends That Will Decide Cross-Country Olympic Gold

The 2024 Paris Olympics are here and cross-country mountain biking is one of the first events of the Games.

The world’s best XC riders have been battling it out all year on the World Cup circuit, in preparation for the biggest race of the year, but what tech can we expect to see on their bikes on race day?

In this video, we cover the latest tech trends sweeping through the XC pits, as well as speculating on what some teams and riders might pull out of their hats in search of that winning edge.

What is the most interesting XC tech trend you’ve seen this season?

Let us know in the comments below.

#xc #mtb #olympics

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:18 Electronics Everywhere
02:49 More Travel & Bigger Forks
04:04 Dropper Posts
05:07 Larger-Volume Tyres & Inserts
07:25 What Weight Saving?

Credits:
Piotr Staron / Getty Images
Steve Wobser / Getty Images
Billy Ceusters / Getty Images
Attila Kisbenedek / Getty Images
NurPhoto / Getty Images

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[bikeradar]

Are XC bikes too complicated now? Let us know what you think to today's machines 👇

[alvinnieves]

When it comes to adding weight I've always looked at it from a adding function along. Some of these additions do make sense.

[johnlesoudeur]

PFP apparently prefers manual operation of her suspension..."She likes to decide when she wants to stop the suspension while Tom is used to this electronic system and he likes it a lot." Pinkbike Sarah Moore: Tom Pidcock & Pinarello's MTB Product Team on Developing a Pure XC Race Bike & More.

[antoinedoinell]

i hate the electronic direction bikes are going.

[HLDefender]

130 front and 120 rear will be the new XC norm . Flight Attendent makes longer travel set ups more efficient via tuning the algorithms

[mikej]

I like that the XC courses are more reflective of an average trail riding situation. It requires more than a good set of legs to win a race. What about wireless brakes? I thought the concept was considered a while ago?

[NewPolishScientist]

All we need now is electronic legs to pedal this full electronic bike

[Penofhell]

BMC is Swiss not Swedish. Usually only the USA and Canada people make that mistake, but they also gave trouble placing France on a map.

[MTBrDad]

In regard to electronics I don’t mind one bit seeing them being used on race bikes in actual races. It seems like overkill for the avg joe like me and countless others. Electronic shifting does seem to be the future though as you can get into SRAMs for not much more than their mechanical.

[NiohNiohYT]

Love how all drool over electronics and yet Shimano with their long not updated mechanical XTR has proportionally to use *incomparably* more wins, and how Shimano is the choice of virtually all pros that have the choice of picking their own drivetrain (the rest are team sponsored by SRAM). Also love how Olympic gold was won using Suntour, neither Fox nor Rockshox. Sure it's mostly about the rider but it does raise a good point when it comes to component choice. Also it just shows that 120mm travel and 2.4 tires mean virtually nothing, and are just recent trends that on average to their use (so proportionally, since most use 2.4 now) do NOT win more races.

Again, yes it's about the riders, but also some of these riders including Pidcock, intentionally choose 2.2 tires, 100/90mm travel stiff aggro bikes, like it was the case before.

[catastrophic]

I am officially DONE with XC tires. I have lost count of how many Rekons and Aspens I have destroyed on the most mundane of trails. Using Specialized Eliminators, they climb better (yes), they descend better and I'm yet to puncture one.

[petersilie]

Looking at this year's amazingly demanding XCO courses, I thought that it might be time to split up XC alltogether in two categories. One that's more on the rough and challenging side, with really challenging technical climbs as well - I'd call it "Trail racing".
And a faster, less dangerous category, with allover easier courses. Focusing more on pure endurance and power.

[pschilder]

Why does everything have to be electric these days???

[kyletriesfitness]

If they have flight attendant locking out the shock why couldn't they run longer travel say 140mm without losing efficiency?

[frienduro]

100% BS on XC bikes needing more travel for World Cups. The more travel is so the bike industry can SELL more bikes to average riders

Go listen to the Pinkbike interview with Pinarello. Pros are complaining about being forced to ride 120mm bikes

They pros don’t need trail bikes

[Klunker]

I’d rather die from an electric bike than from a shark.

[sampah]

Lmao. As if any of the sponsored XC riders would agree at all with your title if they were to confess in privacy. As long as (mechanical or electronic) parts of whichever brand are minimally reliable and durable, it is solely up to rider to perform. Pidcock and PFP, the Thomus-Maxon riders (Flueckgfinger, Keller) etc with purely mechanical drivetrain beat s**t of other riders almost most of the times. If brands want to sell their products, the best way to convince the market is by doing promotion via influencers who are non-pro riders who benefit from the convenience, not performance of the products in their day to day ride. Don't use athletic performance to convince the market.

[robhaskins]

How about this for a novel idea. Run the course barefoot to be a true Purist. Anything with wheels is simply cheating gravity. E=Mtb²

[zygmuntthecacaokakistocrat]

MTB = F1? There's the small matter of a paved surface to travel on. Try again.

[danjames]

Funny isn't it?
Think of a 100mm x.c. from the early days. Toe straps, canti brakes, skinny bars, steep geometry and elastomer forks. Probably way less capable than a gravel bike of today.
Of course 'new' sells. But if the price of these bikes means beginners are put off, the bottom will fall out of the market.
Of course, competition organisers could he really brave. Let's have hardtail 'analogue only' race categories...forcing the hands of manufacturers to see what a 100-120mm hardtail is really capable of.