Ghost's 170mm travel Cagua - Eurobike 2011

Aug 30, 2011
by Mike Levy  
Ghost Cagua
The Cagua, which takes its name from a stunning volcano in the Philippines, is a 170mm travel enduro machine that weighs in at a competitive 32lbs. Up front you'll find a custom, OEM only 170mm travel Fox 36 fork to match the bike's rear end, complete with a full length 1.5" steerer tube.

Ghost Cagua details:

• Rear wheel travel: 170mm
• Uses a custom 170mm travel Fox 36 w/ a 1.5" steerer
• Needle bearing upper shock mount
• Syntace 12 x 142mm X-12 rear axle
• Full length 1.5" head tube
• 66.5° head angle
• 75° seat angle


photo
The Cagua uses RockShox's Monarch Plus damper (left) that can be run with lower than average air pressure thanks to the bike's low leverage ratio, improving reliability and smoothness. The lower shock mount (right) is machined from a single piece of aluminum that also incorporates the Cagua's main pivot, seat and down tube junction, bottom bracket shell and the ISCG-05 chain guide tabs.


The Cagua is a brand new, 170mm travel enduro offering from Ghost that brings a little more travel to the party than most other bikes that are made for the same type of riding. This isn't a big hitting park bike, but rather a long legged enduro/all-mountain machine that, at a complete weight of 32lbs, is lighter than many other aluminum framed bikes of less travel. The bike's weight isn't the end of the story though, as Ghost has incorporated a number of slick features that add to its trail worthiness. The bike's rear suspension uses not only a low leverage rate that reduces stress on the damper and allows for smoother action, but also needle bearings in the upper shock mount to improve suspension action. The needle bearing equipped upper shock mount sees a rotation of roughly 40°, while the lower mount moves in the region of just 3° and doesn't require the same friction reducing measures.

Ghost is one of the few brands that makes use of a full length 1.5" head tube and is adamant that it is well worth the extra grams that it adds over the popular tapered design. Kudos must go out to them for spec'ing what they feel is correct and not following the current tapered head tube trend, instead aiming for out and out stiffness - the stock build includes a full length 1.5" steerer tube and stem - and the ability to make generous head angle adjustments by using offset cups on either one or both ends of the head tube (although an angle adjusting headset doesn't come stock).


photo
The bike's frame tubes feature extensive hydroforming that not only looks great, but also works to increase frame stiffness without adding weight. Ghost has included cable routing for dropper seat posts as well.


Ghost Cagua
A burly 12 x 142mm Syntace X-12 axle out back adds stiffness that a conventional quick release simply could never offer, and the rear brake mounts via 180mm post mounts - no tiny rotors out back on this bike.


Check out the Ghost website to see their entire lineup.


Stay tuned for more from Eurobike 2011


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33 Comments
  • 11 0
 Why? I just don't get it. 7 inches is a lot of travel for something that's not up to big hits. Aren't most of the enduro guys winning on 5-6 inch bikes? Does that extra inch of squish make it worth the extra inch of squish (having to deal with loss of energy through bob and such)?
  • 2 8
flag theskidkid (Aug 30, 2011 at 16:23) (Below Threshold)
 oh sweet! a wanna be trek slash
  • 5 1
 Take a minute to compare the two designs and you'll see that there are many major differences, not to mention that the four bar suspension design was being used long ago (as in decades) on other bikes.
  • 2 1
 @sireatshitalot: cause their marketing guys said "more is better"? 32 lbs that's 14.5 kg and that is a lot for nowadays enduro bikes. Really a lot.
And I better have some good 5-6 inch of travel than some 7 bad ones. Although I'm not saying the Ghost has a bad suspension, just general comment.
  • 1 0
 Indeed enduromaniac - apparently dirt mag sent a well set up (nico vouilloz's?) lapierre zesty with 5 inches of travel down the pleney run in morzine faster than an out-the-box 8"DH bike...
  • 3 0
 hahahaha... theskidkid compares everything to Trek bikes cuz it's all he knows...
  • 2 0
 You won't see them in the USA anytime soon, unless you personally mail-order one from Chain Reaction or somebody though. Ghost like many european and canadian brands run horst-links, and Specialized is gonna cry foul (even though they've been committing patent fraud themselves for years) over any brand trying to market a horst-link bike in the states without licensing it from them. The HL patent expires in a year or so regardless though, so by the early teens we'll start to see the HL pivot moving around to practically every brand that currently runs a seat-stay pivot (like Kona).
  • 1 0
 Specialized bought the patent right to the Horst Link many years ago after they originally expired.
  • 1 0
 Yeah but they only have rights to it for so long.
  • 1 0
 yeah! horst link coilair!
  • 3 1
 Specialized BOUGHT the whole patent from Amp-Research when Amp got out of the mickey mouse business of bikes to concentrate on automotive and motorcycles products. They (Amp) own the US patent on pickup bed extenders for example, a product much loved by owners of short-bed pickups. It has not yet expired, they've had the rights (as the patent owner) for over a decade now and there's still a year to go. The HL patent was first applied for back on Jan 21, 1992 but had two continuation patent applications filed one year exactly apart each time, and the 1994 one was finally granted in 1996. But the US patent law changed about that time and patents filed for before 1995 were valid for 20 years from the date of first filing or 17 years from the date of issue, whichever was later. 1996 + 17 = 2013.
  • 1 0
 Question: how is the monarch+ different from the vivid air? Everyone is so obsessed with the vivid air when the DHX air has been out for nearly a decade (not to mention marz), and the monarch seems to be running a piggy back now too.
  • 3 0
 the monarch+ and dhx air are very similar, but they are both very different from the vivid air.
  • 2 0
 Both the DHX Air and Monarch+ aren't really full DH air shocks; only the Vivid Air and the coming CCDB Air, are proper downhill shocks. IMO the DHX Air and Monarch+ are more aggressive AM/enduro shocks.
  • 1 0
 but how are they different? I know they have different intended uses
  • 1 0
 go on their websites and read for yourself
  • 1 0
 bottom line is the dhx air and monarch+ are like rp23/monarchs w/ piggybacks. the vivid air as completely different. it has this "hot rod" thing, and a bunch of other cool stuff that make it more like a rc4 than a dhx air
  • 3 0
 Hmmm, that's odd. I'm Filipino-Chinese, using the name of an active volcano from the Philippines is kinda interesting... Smile
  • 3 0
 im from the philippines and its the first time i've heard of this volcano, only here in pink bike, woohoo!
  • 1 0
 im filipino and spanish and ive been to this volcano haha
  • 1 0
 I really like this! I can almost see myself on this earlier than I could say being on a BMC Trail Fox 01. Downvote me if you want but I didn't happen to notice the full retail. Anyone?
  • 1 0
 needle bearings for the win! something every suspension bike should have, in my opinion.

www.enduroforkseals.com/id275.html
  • 1 0
 Poor bastard is running the reverb. Only a matter of time before that thing breaks and Rock Shox wont replace it.
  • 1 0
 does any1 know what chainguide/tensioner that is on the bike or any other1s that work with a dual chainring?
  • 1 0
 is this by one ghost industries
  • 3 0
 No. I believe One Ghost Ind. is US, based in OR; this' a German company if I'm not mistaken...
  • 1 0
 You're right, it's a german company...
www.ghost-bikes.com
  • 1 0
 gimme a santa cruz. done.
  • 1 0
 i will wait for the slash 9 me thinks
  • 2 1
 Only thing I would say with this bike, is hopefully there won't be any harsh bottoms, as that shock mount doesn't look like it could handle too many hardcore bottoms. Outside of that, the bike looks good. Finally a company made a true 8in rotor mount in back. Now why mars, RS, and Fox can't do that with their forks is beyond me. Adapters suck, and always have. So, in this case, rock on to this company!!!
  • 2 0
 Except 180mm isn't 8 inches. I agree with the adapter rant though.
  • 1 0
 Cauz with good braking power, 8in rotors are not always necessary and therefore a useless weight..

correction! its a 180mm rotor.. now it makes sense! Smile
  • 2 0
 big back brakes be bombastic







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