No mud collecting, shelf-like surface here. Mud will follow the smooth backside of the seat tube until it gets ejected to the ground, saving you a lot of weight by the end of a wet race.

Mountainbikes deserve nice and clean cockpits too. Already a proven solution on our road bikes, we now bring the ICH cockpit to the world of MTBs. The cables for the rear derailleur, rear brake and dropper post enter the stem below the handlebar and run internally from there.

The down tube has a similar aerodynamic, but efficient shape as our Escapee frame. Not only does it slice through the air with much less resistance, it also offers much less surface for mud to stick on it than the rectangular shape found on so many frames.

On the demanding courses of today's XC racing, a dropper post often is the smarter choice. Because dropper posts can be built much more reliable at a bigger diameter, we went for a 30.9 mm seat tube.

Even a hardtail can have shock absorption and damping capabilities. This got even more important with the growing popularity of dropper seat posts. A clever mix of materials and dropped seat stays make sure you stay controlled and driving the pace over rough ground.

While geometries evolve towards more capability in technical terrain, many hardtails still have head tube angles and stem lengths close to road bikes. Why would we limit the descending capabilities of our bike like that? Keep in mind that on a hardtail, in riding situation the head tube angle gets even steeper because there is only sag in the front. Our geometry is designed around a 70 mm stem length, compensated by a long reach and accompanied by a reasonable head tube angle, letting you attack no matter what the gradient is.