Nico Lau's Cube Fritzz - Enduro World Series 1

Enduro World Series, Chile

Nico Lau's Cube Fritzz

Nico Lau came into the inaugural EWS season as a bit of an unknown last year, something that certainly won't be the case at this year's kickoff in Chile. The Frenchman showed incredible pace aboard his Cube in 2013, coming through technical sections as fast or faster than the series champ Jerome and all around badass Jared Graves, but he's the first to admit that a lack of fitness hurt him in the long run. Regardless, it looked like he was on his way to taking a race win at the final stop in Finale Ligure, Italy, until a time penalty took him out of the running. What did he do after that? Exactly what any serious racer does: address his weakness. He packed up and spent much of the off-season training in the consistently warm weather of the Mediterranean, something that was difficult to get done in his hometown in northern France. The speed is obviously there - we've heard from a source who was present at a FOX suspension test camp that Nico was coming through rough, technical sections faster than Gee Atherton, an easily believable fact if you've seen him ride in person. Our money is on him troubling last year's top contenders on a regular basis if his fitness is on point, and he's looking to do exactly that aboard his Cube Fritzz.


Production Cube Fritzz Frame

Lau's Chilean race machine is assembled around a Cube Fritzz frame with 160mm of rear wheel travel and 650B wheels, and is actually an off the shelf aluminum frame that you can pick up yourself without needing to risk life and limb riding at Nico's pace. Aluminum? Yup, you read that right - he has spent the winter testing on the aluminum version and he'll take the slight weight penalty for what he told us is increased reliability. Remember, these guys are riding trails that have sections that are legitimately rougher and more technical than a lot of what we see during the World Cup downhill season, all on bikes sporting two or three inches less travel.



Suspension

FOX takes care of Nico's suspension, and his bike is equipped with a Factory-level Float X CTD shock and 34 fork combo, both of which get the full Kashima treatment. We were admittedly a bit surprised to see him not running the new FOX 36 in Chile, but he told us that he spent the entire winter testing on the 34 and is both very comfortable with its performance and has his settings dialed, so he's decided to go with what he knows rather than make any major changes. Having said that, we'll likely see him with a 36 on the front of his Fritzz at some point in the near future once he's spent time on it away from a race venue.

Although they do come stock on a surprising number of bikes sold in Europe, remote shock levers aren't something the we see a lot of in North America. They are certainly popping up more frequently on true enduro race bikes, though. And for good reason: being able to quickly firm up the back of your bike for an uphill sprint during a timed stage is near impossible if you were to have to reach down to flip a shock-mounted lever while breathing out your eyeballs on a technical section of trail. Having the ability to control it from your handlebar means that you'll do it more often and save more time. Don't think it's worthwhile? Lau took the win over Clementz by a single second at last year's Trans-Provence, a tiny margin after many days racing that could easily be down to Nico putting his Float X CTD into 'Climb' mode for a section that saw Jerome neglect to firm up his Jekyll's DYAD shock. That single second might have also been gained anywhere on the many miles of timed descents, but Lau and his peers look for every advantage possible, especially on the climbs.


Here's a setup that you don't see everyday: Lau has mounted the lever that controls his FOX D.O.S.S. seat post on the right side of his handlebar, well inboard of his shifter and tilted up so that it doesn't get in the way when changing gears. That means that there is a hell of a lot going on over there - braking, shifting, and adjusting seat height - and although Nico obviously has no issues with it, we suspect that our untrained right hand might struggle. There is no shifter on the left side due to the single 'ring setup, and this is where he has placed the CTD remote that he uses to adjust the amount of compression damping on his Float X shock, a choice that makes it clear that takes advantage of the CTD function quite a bit when the clock is running.


Photos: Matt Wragg

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