06.03.2020

Bikecheck – BERGSTROM AXV // JR Racing Edition

Tomorrow is finally the day and I will have my first E-MTB race and this at the world’s first UCI E-MTB World Cup. Just in time for this first race in Monaco my new Bergstrom AXV was ready. The base for my bike was the AXV 869, which was then rebuilt with team parts and the products of my suppliers.

I don’t know exactly what to expect at my first UCI E-XCO World Cup, I tried to assemble an allround bike, which is with 21.5kg relatively light for an e-bike with 150mm travel. It may be, that after my first race and my first experiences I will make some minor changes

The heart of the bike is the new Bosch Performance Line CX with a large 625Wh battery and the super practical Kiox display. The compact colored display is mounted centrally on the stem and shows me as a rider all important data on different data pages: For example battery status, range, cadence, power, ridden kilometers and riding time. The display is operated by a control element on the handlebars.

In addition, the display can be connected to the smartphone and a heart rate belt by Bluethooth. For me as a racer, both the function with the heart rate belt and the integrated pwoermeter is really interesting.

 

For the stem, the handlebars and the brakes I rely on German engineering. The 87g light and 50mm short Grace Trail stem comes from Intend BC. The THEriser-E from Bike Ahead Composites is mounted on it, which was specially made for E-MTB use. With its 179g on 800mm width, this extra e-bike version is even lighter than most normal handlebars. For the cross country discipline, both Intend BC and Bike Ahead Composites produce even lighter parts. So it’s worth checking out their website and maybe upgrade your bike to support the production of high quality bike parts in Europe.

In my opinion, there is no better, stiffer and lighter handlebar/stem combination and it’s just amazing to look at them during training.

For the perfect grip on the handlebars I rely on the Racer’s Edge silicone grips from ESI Grips, like the previous years. The grips are certainly a bit undersized for an e-bike with 150mm travel, but I prefer the slightly softer grips over the rather hard grips that are screwed to the handlebars.

Like my stem, also the brakes come from Freiburg in Breisgau. I got to know and love the Trickstuff brakes last season. I never want to miss this brake performance again and I’m very grateful for the company’s support this year.

Originally I wanted to use the four-piston downhill brake from Trickstuff, but after an interesting discussion with Dag from Trickstuff we decided to use the same brake as on my cross country bike, namely the Piccola with the C21 two-piston caliper. The only adjustments we made are different brake pads and the size of the brake discs. I mounted organic brake pads with a steel plate, because they are a bit more heat resistant. Also, instead of the Dächle Ultra-Light I use the Dächle Heavy-Duty brake discs (203mm front / 180mm rear). This gives me enough brake power and with the Piccola brake levers on all my bikes I have the same brake feel.

If you still use your existing brakes, but want to have the Trickstuff brake feel on your bike, Trickstuff also offers upgrades with discs and brake pads for your brakes. You will feel that your braking power will improve massively.

Since the Shimano Di2 was introduced a few years ago, I’ve been a big fan of the electric drivetrain. So the electronic XX1 Eagle AXS from Sram is one of the highlights for me. With the electronic drivetrain shifting is always the same and with the wireless connection, mounting of internal cables is a thing of the past. With the chain and cassette I did not decide to use the top version. I use the cheaper Sram GX version. Due to the constantly high pressure on the drivetrain, it has to be changed a little bit more often on the e-bike and therefore the cheaper version is also better for my budget.

I am very curious how the Sram AXS will perform on my e-bike. The only adjustment I made is that I deactivated the multishift mode. This means, that the gears can only be shifted individually and not several at once. This way I want to prevent possible chain breaks.

For several years I’ve had a good partnership with the Swiss company DT Swiss and I’m very happy that DT Swiss will equip me with wheels and suspension elements this season as well.

Just in time for the race in Monaco last Monday I received the new EXC 1200 wheels with the new 180 hub with ceramic bearings and the newly developed EXP freewheel. I currently have a Racing Ralph in 2.35 width mounted on them from my tire supplier Schwalbe. Depending on the track and conditions, I will use different tire profiles and rubber compounds. Thanks to Schwalbe’s large selection I also have the possibility to vary with the tire width, but I will try to stick to two or three setups.

For the suspension I use the 535 One Platform with 150mm travel at the fork and shock.

For me the whole setup offers the ideal combination for E-XCO races or with more stable tires this is perfect for enduro use.

Cyclists are always very delicate when choosing saddles and changes always have to be considered very wisely. With the start of JR Racing I wanted to give the saddles from SQlab a chance, because I was extremely convinced about the philosophy and its possibilities to use different saddle widths for different seat cusp distances.

I ride with the 14cm saddle width and I can say, that the change was definitely worth it. In the past years I’ve never had any huge seating problems, but I’ve never felt one hundred percent comfortable on my saddles. The SQlab 612 Ergowave R Carbon is definitely a “gamechanger” for me, not only because it’s super comfortable, but also because I feel that my power transmission on the bike has become much better. If you don’t believe me, you should try it out for yourself. It’s worth it!

At the moment the saddle is still mounted on a dropper seatpost from Kind Shock. But I can’t wait to mount the newly introduced, dropper seat post from DT Swiss soon. It’s called D 232 One and is part of the recently presented 232 One Platform, which offers the optimal combination of fork, shock and seatpost for cross country racers.

If I feel that I don’t need a dropper seatpost on less technical tracks, I also have the possibility to mount THEseatpost-E from Bike Ahead Composites and ride another developed product for the E-MTB sector.

The beautiful bike, which was powder-coated and assembled by Bergstrom in Switzerland, is rounded off with a name sticker on the top tube by Pro Bike Sticker. But now I’m looking forward to many new experiences at my first E-XCO World Cup in Monaco. Soon you will get impressions of my first e-bike race in a new blog or on my social media.

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