Mountain bike brands are pulling out all the stops to make their bikes stand out at the games, and to give their athletes every advantage possible in the competition. Here are a few of the bikes we can expect to see at the starting line on July 26.
Mondraker Podium RR
Mondraker is set to have three athletes aboard their mountain bikes at the 2021 Olympics. Australians Bec and Don McConnell will be racing aboard custom painted Podium RR mountain bikes with colors “chosen because yellow (gold) represents the beaches, mineral wealth, grain crops and wool, while blue-green represents the ocean, forests, eucalyptus trees and pastures of the Australian landscape. Both colors are also the colors of the national flower, the golden wattle.”
Spanish rider Jofre Cullell’s bike is painted with colors from the country’s flag, and Spain also happens to be the home of the Mondraker brand too.
Mondraker says the athletes haven’t decided whether to ride full-suspension or hardtail bikes in the race so they’ve customized both Podium RR and F-Podium RR models for them to make the call on race day.
Norco Revolver
Haley Smith and Peter Disera will be representing Canada at the Olympics, and they’ll both be riding the Norco Revolver. The brand commissioned this custom paint job to mark the occasion, and used a creative method to add maple leaves to the design.
When Norco Factory Team XC riders Haley Smith and Peter Disera were selected to represent Canada in Tokyo, we wanted to do something to celebrate, and give these amazing athletes something special to commemorate their experience.
We transferred the excitement that comes with Norco’s first ever trip to The Games into the creative energy it took to imagine the visuals for these one-off Tokyo-bound XC machines.
Scott Spark RC
Kate Courtney shared photos of the Scott RC she’ll be racing in Tokyo in a special “Supersonic” colorway on Instagram earlier this month. The Spark RC was recently updated with a unique tucked shock design, a steeper seat tube angle, and 120mm of rear travel.
Specialized S-Works Epic
It’s not clear if Specialized-sponsored athletes will be racing the S-Works Epic “Speed of Light” edition at the Games, however this is easily the most high-tech build of the Epic available, and the timing of the limited edition release suggests it’s Tokyo-bound. The bike is available for purchase by mortals as well, for the jaw-dropping price of $15,000 ($7,000 for the frameset, which includes the fork and shock).
Trek Supercaliber
According to Trek, 50 athletes will be riding the brand’s bikes at the Tokyo Olympics, though it’s not clear how many of those are MTB competitors. Suffice it to say, we’ll be seeing the Supercaliber, wrapped in “First Light” colors a lot next week.
All-new First Light is a one-of-a-kind customized paint scheme inspired by the land of the rising sun, with hand-painted ribbons of color in divine shades of blue, pink, gold and red layered beneath a purple-tinted logo.
We’ll add to this post as more athletes, teams, and brands release photos of the mountain bikes headed to Japan.
Which one is your favorite?
