Bike Check: Mathias Flueckiger's Thomus Lightrider WC - Nove Mesto World Cup XC 2020
2019 was a breakthrough year for Mathias Flueckiger. After picking up his first win in Mont Sainte Anne in 2018, he took that momentum forward and won the first round in Albstadt then only finished outside the top 3 once all season. He'll have been champing at the bit to get back between the tapes and, 13 months later, he's finally getting the chance in Nove Mesto for the doubleheader this week.
He's on the Thomus RN team again this year and has already announced he has signed for another 2 years with the team to take him through to the Olympics and beyond. His season kicked off with Short Track yesterday evening where he finished 8th. For racers this year, that's job done. It guarantees him a front-row slot in the race tomorrow and, with no overall title this year, there's no loss of points to worry about either. We caught up with Mathias' mechanic Gavin Black just before the race to see how he sets up his bike for the high speed, sprint format.
He's on the Thomus RN team again this year and has already announced he has signed for another 2 years with the team to take him through to the Olympics and beyond. His season kicked off with Short Track yesterday evening where he finished 8th. For racers this year, that's job done. It guarantees him a front-row slot in the race tomorrow and, with no overall title this year, there's no loss of points to worry about either. We caught up with Mathias' mechanic Gavin Black just before the race to see how he sets up his bike for the high speed, sprint format.
Rider Name // Mathias Flueckiger
Age: 32
Hometown: Ochlenberg, Switzerland
Height: 1m 72cm (5' 8")
Weight: 62kg (137lbs)
Instagram: @mathflueck
Age: 32
Hometown: Ochlenberg, Switzerland
Height: 1m 72cm (5' 8")
Weight: 62kg (137lbs)
Instagram: @mathflueck
Model Name Details
Frame: Thomus Lightrider WC, 100mm travel
Shock: DT Swiss R232 One, 78 psi
Fork: DT Swiss F 232 One, 92 psi
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC 1200, 29"
Tires: Schwalbe Prototype, 1.1 bar (16psi) front, 1.2 bar (17psi) rear
Drivetrain: Shimano XTR 12 speed, 36T chainring
Brakes: Shimano XTR
Cockpit: Bike Ahead/Newmen, 710mm bar, 90mm stem.
Size: Small
More info: thomus.ch
Frame: Thomus Lightrider WC, 100mm travel
Shock: DT Swiss R232 One, 78 psi
Fork: DT Swiss F 232 One, 92 psi
Wheels: DT Swiss XRC 1200, 29"
Tires: Schwalbe Prototype, 1.1 bar (16psi) front, 1.2 bar (17psi) rear
Drivetrain: Shimano XTR 12 speed, 36T chainring
Brakes: Shimano XTR
Cockpit: Bike Ahead/Newmen, 710mm bar, 90mm stem.
Size: Small
More info: thomus.ch
Some full shots at alternative angles.
Mathias is apparently very sensitive to changes in his set up and his shock settings get fiddled with the most. For the short track in Nove Mesto he was running 78 psi, 12 rebound clicks from closed and no tokens.
For his fork set up this weekend, he's running 92psi, 9 clicks of rebound from fully closed, fully open compression and no volume spacers.
In most XC races we'd expect Schwalbe riders to be running a Racing Ray front and a Racing Ralph rear but the Nove Mesto short track course had plenty of tarmac sections so Mathias opted for a lower profile prototype Thunder Burt instead.
A super-slimline chain guide provides a little extra security for Mathias' chain.
This lockout lever normally sits on top of the bars but Mathias' mechanic, Gavin Black, has modified it to be underslung.
A Garmin mount is integrated into Mathias' spacers.
Mathias' 90mm Newmen stem has a -17° rise. It's fully slammed for this race but he sometimes will raise it by 5mm depending on the track.
His Bike Ahead flat bar is 710mm wide and has an 11° backsweep.
Flueckiger was one of the early adopters of dropper posts in XC (remember his homemade carbon dropper from 2015?). Droppers will now be on most bikes this weekend in Nove Mesto and this KS seatpost with 100mm travel is Flueckiger's choice.
A hefty 36T chainring fitted for the Short Track race, although Mathias will likely use a smaller ring on Thursday's race.
A standard 10-51 cassette on the rear.
Author Info:
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Not sure if that's the case here, but those pressures with ultralight casings at Nove Mesto would certainly suggest the use of something other than just tire sealant.
Might work for trails here in Nova Scotia where so many of the technical features are granite, you could get away with Maxxis Hookworms for a lot of the trails (but the rest of them are covered in roots....).
(edit) could be running that ridiculously low tire pressure to help smooth out the small bumps
On the suspension, I'd bet he uses the lockout/pedal mode on the shock/fork a lot. Locked out on pavement, pedal going uphill, and fully open going down to get traction. With no tokens in either one, both set up with a pretty fast rebound, the fork with fully open compression, and DT Swiss stating the progression curve on both fork and shock are linear, the traction is probably pretty good set up that way.
With respect to the tire pressures, dude only weighs 137lbs, so 16/17psi doesn't seem totally crazy. I'm 210lbs and run ~22psi front and ~24psi rear on 2.35" XC tires set up tubeless.
So yeah, it's not 12spd. As in it's old and there's a newer mechanical group out there.
What roadies want is smaller jumps between gears. A week ago I was pulling (by drafting) a train of MTBs along a road and honestly the jumps between gears was noticeable and an inbetweener would be useful. For actual TMB riding I do want the 10-50T cassette and know what the benefits are, but on the other hand I can see the benefits of smaller jumps when on the road.
On the other hand, people claiming what huge jumps we have with 12spd cassettes, that's just bullshit. MTB cassettes have had the same ratios and jumps ever since 9spd cassettes became the norm, larger cogs were just added from there. And the jumps between gears have stayed relatively constant and are between 20 and 15 %. Except for the horribleness that is the Sram 52T cassette. That thing should be just banned (or the lower 11 cogs changed as well).
Not sure if it moves but I've assumed it does. The main pivot is pretty much vertically over the BB so you can assume the chainstay length, and the chain guide is mounted to the main pivot with a short lever. I took the chainstay length to be 438mm (Scott Spark RC), 100mm travel and the chain guide is fixed approx 15mm forwards of the main pivot centre. With those numbers, the chain guide will be 3.4mm lower at bottom-out, so no.
Tl;dr. The mechanic probably adjusted it with the suspension bottomed out to avoid that.
Please Pinkbike, bring us more content like, this, but not from brands like this.
• Bearings instead of just the idiotic bushing only mount (to save a few grams) on the Spark.
• No mud/water/puddle groove underneath the shock.
• Better cable hosing for rear shock.
• Better cable routing for the rear derailleur (no cabels hanging underneath BB).
• Cable routing through the headset.
If this is a modified open model, is it really a problem when it looks better than the Spark?