Emily Batty's Trek Top Fuel Bike Check - Vallnord XC World Cup 2016
Emily Batty may have missed out on a medal at this year's summer Olympics in Rio by just a few bike lengths, but she has consistently proven herself a podium contender over the years. Batty's most recent Palmares include a bronze at the 2016 World Championships, a gold medal at this year's Canadian championships (her second national title to date), and the top spot in the 2015 Pan American Games. In short, Batty is always a threat for the win.
Here's a glimpse of her ride for this final round of the World Cup. Batty is known for her willingness to pare down her rig to the barest of essentials--opting, for instance, to ride a Trek Procaliber hardtail in Rio. Clearly, she's expecting something more from this course in Andorra, as she's brought along her Trek Top Fuel.
Represent. Just in case anyone was somehow foggy on this point: Yes, Batty is from Canada. Custom stickers came courtesy of Victory Circle Graphix. StemCaps.com supplied the custom cap.
Batty's bike is loaded with high-end kit, but it's also a largely off-the-shelf product. Examples? The Shimano XTR brakeset and Bontrager carbon Kovee Pro wheels.
It's not as if Batty's personal Top Fuel weighed much in the first place. At 21.76 pounds Batty's full-suspension bike was already a testament to just how far companies can dive down the rabbit hole while paring down every last ungrateful gram. But, clearly, there were still some grams to be slaughtered here. The paint had to go. This frame eschews the teal-colored paint you may have seen on Batty's previous race bikes in favor of a simple UV-inhibiting clear coat. Batty ran the same mean-lean finish on her hardtail at this year's Olympics in Brazil. And, no, we don't know how many grams were actually shaved here, but someone thought it was worth doing.
Some days you just wake up feeling like your bike's paint job weighs too much...
Remember the days when a cable would suffice? Well, for most of us, cables still do get the job done. Handily. But a whole lot of pros are running Shimano's Di2 drivetrains and Batty's no exception. She's running a single-ring XTR affair (with what appears to be a touchingly-humane 46-tooth bail-out cog) and an MRP upper guide.
The Di2 clickety bits are just the tip of the electronic iceberg. Batty's Fox suspension gets the same treatment.
It's all electric up in here.
Comfort is clearly not a key priority for someone who is going to redline it at the I-can-taste-vomit level for a couple hours straight. Consider the sandpaper grips.
How do you spell "aggressive"? Well, you could do it the way I just did....or you could slam your padding-free saddle all the way forward and pair it with a negative rise stem. It hurts just to look at it.
Fox cleaved a half pound off their already featherlight 32 cross-country forks this spring with the introduction of the 32 Step-Cast fork. Just how light is "lightweight" now? The 27.5 version of the Step-Cast 32 weighs a claimed 1,355 grams (2.98 pounds). While the fork contains the same Float air spring as its immediate predecessor, the Step Cast's shaved down chassis deserves credit for the weight loss. Batty is using a stock Step-Cast, albeit the top-rung ($1,569) model equipped with Fox's FIT iRD electronically-activated compression damper.
The Step-Cast 32 weighs less than three pounds and there's not a bit of carbon to be found on it. Impressive.
The back end of the Top Fuel is controlled with Fox's electronically-activated Float iRD shock--a single left hand remote controls the suspension.
MENTIONS: @trek / @foxracingshox / @shimano / @mdelorme / @vernonfelton / @EmilyBatty
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sometimes the sum of the parts is worth more than the parts themselves.
perhaps the electronic suspension tech gives her advantage worth more than saving a few grams?
We've seen plenty of Emily's "bikes" in the past.
Have to think that hurts power. Ladies always have long femurs so id imagine she'd need more setback than that. Maybe it helps keep the same outta the way more for the techy stuff? What do i know..
Women don't have longer femurs though - this from Wikipedia: "The femur is the longest and, by most measures, the strongest bone in the human body. Its length on average is 26.74% of a person's height,[4] a ratio found in both men and women and most ethnic groups with only restricted variation."
If you've ever seen people with looooong torsos and short legs on a road bike they are often well behind KOPS (lots of setback) just to keep their weight from being too far forward.