German company Bionicon were showing off their 2011 bikes at this year's Eurobike trade show, which included the 140mm-travel Reed and 160-180mm Alva.
All the bikes use a new Bionicon-designed fork which has been built to allow for fast, clean and straightforward maintenance via the use of two external lubricating ports.
These mean fork oil can be changed with no disassembly, using a syringe. There’s a lubrication circuit around the upper fork bushing, and a circular ‘gravi-lube’ system keeps a constant film of lubricating oil underneath the wiper seals.
Alva
One new bike that uses the fork is the Alva (formerly the Tesla), which will be available in 160mm- and 180mm-travel versions. The longer-travel bike will be available with either an air shock and fork (£2,900) or coil shock and fork (£2,800). Claimed weight for the coil version is around 15kg (33lb).
The 160mm version is available with air sprung suspension only, and comes in at £2,800. Both models will feature the company’s bar-mounted travel/geometry-adjust system, which takes travel down to 100mm.
The Alva Coil gets a new Bionicon fork, with an X-Fusion coil over shock out back
Reed
With less travel at 140mm, which can again be adjusted down to 100mm, the Reed is another new bike in Bionicon’s ‘Generation Two’ range, with both SRAM X9 (£2,800) and X0 (£3,800) specced bikes available. According to Bionicon, it’s the “ultimate Trans-Alp weapon”.
With travel adjustable between 140mm and 100mm, the Reed could be ideal for the UK
Did you know Bionicon do clothing too? Apparently they use the same fabric as Rapha – so it’s not cheap – but there are softshells, merino tops, T-shirts and more.