Can A 15 Year Old Bike Survive A World Cup XC Track

How much has cross-country changed? We're constantly getting told that it's getting gnarlier, faster, and more intense to the point where it's almost a different sport to what it was 15 years ago. Gone are the days where XC riders have no technical ability. These days, modern XC athletes are just as comfortable on the descents as they are on the climbs. What about the bikes? Can you tackle a modern-day cross-country course on a 15-year-old bike? Oh, my God. How the hell do I get up on that? What makes a modern World Cup cross-country track so much different to the ones that were raced 15 years ago? Well, just by taking a look at the bikes that were being used back then gives you a pretty good idea of how the demands of the sport have changed. Races were much longer than the intense hour-and-a-half format that we see today, sometimes lasting up to three hours. The climbs are longer, the descents are smoother, and because of that, the weapon of choice for most riders was actually hardtails. Of course, full suspension bikes like this were still around, and 15 years ago, this was actually considered cutting-edge. What is our retro bike then? Well, I've managed to pick up a Cannondale Scalpel from around 2010, I believe. I think this was the last model they made in a 26-inch wheel before they went to the full 29er. What makes this so much different from my modern Canyon Luxe? The most obvious difference, and I think the biggest between these two bikes, is the wheel size. It can't go unnoticed that this has got the 26-inch wheels as opposed to 29 on the Canyon. It was around 2010-2011 when we first started to see 29-inch wheels introduced on XC bikes. Jaroslav Kolhavi actually won the first World Cup on a 29er wheel in 2011. I don't think we can go any further talking about this bike without mentioning the lefty. This one is over 15 years old now, and I was told it's due a service. I think a polite way of putting it would say it feels very unique, so I'm a bit worried about how it's going to feel. What about my modern-day cross-country bike then? What makes it so much different to the Cannondale? This is my Canyon Luxe World Cup CFR, an absolute top-spec bike. Straight away, I've got 20 mil more of rear suspension travel on this. It's also got a remote lockout as well, so by the handlebar, I can open and lock the suspension when I want to. The other obvious difference is I've got the larger wheels on here, so it's a 29er with wider tires as well, so it's a 2.4-inch tire as opposed to the 2-inch on the Cannondale. I've got a dropper post on this one, and then there's the groupset as well, so it's SRAM Eagle T-Type XX. I've got a single chainring on the front, and the gear ratios go all the way from a 10 to a 52 tooth. We're here at the Lenzerheide World Cup located in the Swiss Alps. It's one of the most technical courses on the circuit. Steep climbs, punchy descents, and rock gardens that are a test even on the modern cross-country bike. Naturally, I'm going to try and get around it on a 15-year-old bike. Right, let's get on with a few laps on the Cannondale first to get it out of the way. This is the long climb on the course. Oh, I'm blowing. It's pretty hard. You see the speed that come up here on the TV. It makes it look flat. I've been overtaken. He's now on a 15-year-old bike though. I'm about to drop into the first descent. This is where I normally put a dropper post down. Grip shift. Sound lovely. Oh, the horns for me now. Oh, yes. It's quite steep in there. Tech zone. Hopefully, grab a gel from someone. Gel, please. No one there for me. I can't believe how long we used to run 26-inch wheels for. You feel every single root and rock. The way the light changes in the woods makes it so difficult to spot these rocks. I've just done my first lap on the Cannondale. It doesn't feel you have loads of confidence. There's a few things. Like I said earlier, the lefty just needs a service. It just blows for all its travel. How narrow the handlebars are. They're 600 millimeters wide, but with the bar end, I measured it up. The bit where I'm holding my hands is 550. Because I'm pushing to go so far, I'm bruising my hands on here. It's just the geometry, but also not having a clutch mech as well. The bike's so rattly. It makes you think someone's going to brake all the time. I've done one full lap now. I did two of the A-lines and I missed two of them. Go for another lap and see if I can get every A-line. It's fairly scary on this, but it feels really cool to be out on the track. Danke, Nino. I don't know what I feel like. I'm tired. Remember to unlock the suspension this time. If not, that makes a difference. This bit's a little bit gnarly on this bike. No clutch mech. Chain comes straight off. It's so oily. Oh my God. You know it's steep when the GoPro hits your saddle. I feel like I'm getting used to this bit more. I feel like, because I haven't ridden my other bike yet, this doesn't feel alien just yet. Back into the tech feed. Get a bottle for my team. I've just been past it. Chuck it into the cage. Now, this is the drop I'm scared for. This is the first A-line on the track that, well, I'd say the first one that looked scary. The other steep bit was really scary. It's just like a drop on this bike. The stem's so long. You've got the narrow bars. The seat's super high. This is a bit scary. I reckon we'll give it a shot. Keep blowing through all my travel no matter how hard I put it. We'll give it a go. Let's have a go. Can't be taking B-lines. Mainline drop. Normally, this wouldn't be anything but when you're on a bike like this, even these little drops feel a bit scary. Easy. Just lefty absorbing it all. I've got this flipping gear in, man. It's got 11-32 block on that. That's pretty standard to see professional road riders running 11-32 block these days. It's a very big gear even with the front chainring. Obviously, I'm super powerful, so no danger for me. Into the bar ends. Really going to pull on the bike out of the saddle. There's depth grip bar end style. Don't see Brendan Fairclough doing this knees-depth gripping. Try this inside. Oh, yes. This is another drop coming up. God, that 80-millimeter travel doesn't really do an awful lot. Little cut through there. That's the pro line. I think something Nino will be doing now. I feel weird having a dropper post back on in a bit. Kind of got used to having the saddle there just about to hit your goolies every time you do a descent. A bit scared for this because the wheels and the suspension, and the gears, and the handlebars, and the everything, just risking my life. How the hell do I get up on that? Oh, God. We'll move on. We'll try it on the canyon. I've just smashed out a couple of laps. I'm now going to set a time lap on the Cannondale. I'm a little bit nervous because even just cruising around the course, it feels pretty loose. To be pushing is going to be a bit scary. I've got my Garmin on, I've got the power meter pedals on, and I've got my heart rate monitor on, so we'll compare it to the lap time on the canyon as well. I'm going to set a time lap on the Cannondale. I'm a bit scared to ride it at race pace, actually. Yes, we'll see how we get on. Okay, three, two, one. Nice wheelie at the start. 370 watts normalized so far. Hit the A-line. The brake and shift with this grip shift is so annoying. Off the drop, give it a tweak. Oh, sneezing it. I'm blowing. Clip onto that line. I'm watching Manny Fumic. Inside lines, pro line. This climb is the hardest one. It's so rooty and steep. Gears are skipping a bit. Try and take this smooth line. No. Oh, no. I'm in the tape. I've lost my finesse. Back on. It's embarrassing. Can't be doing that when I'm racing here on Sunday or not. Oh, my God. I messed this whole section up. Pressure's got to me. Heart rate's at 179. I can't ride. Let's have a strong end to the lap. It's so rooty. My hands are killing from rubbing against the grip shift and powering. All right, coming into the end of the track now. Back to the arena. We're flying now. Into the final sprint. Across the line. After getting used to the course, I've set my time lap on the Cannondale. It's time to set a lap on the Canyon Lux World Cup now. Let's see how they compare. I've got the power meter on again. Three, two, one, let's go. Those SRAM AXS electric gears straight away feel so much better than the grip shift. It's easier with the dropper post. It's crazy how much more speed I can carry into the rough sections. Let's see if I can ride this all the way this time. Still blowing hard. I just feel like I'm going much faster. Across the line. What about the times then? I did a lap first on the Cannondale and I set a benchmark of 10.45. That was with an average heart rate of 176 and a max of 185 and a normalized power of 248. That's going fairly hard. The thing I noticed on the Cannondale, like I said, was just how much I couldn't recover on the descents. I then went and span a lap on the Canyon. I did a 10.14 on the Canyon and you'll see from the POV footage, there was a lot of traffic as well. I'd imagine I probably could've knocked another five to 10 seconds off that. Again, it was at a similar effort, so 179 heart rate, but with a lot less power. I only did a 223 normalized on that. Give or take, it was about 30, maybe 40 seconds faster on the Canyon if I didn't have any traffic. Like I said, the thing I noticed was just on the descents, I could relax so much more and recover. Coming into the next climb, I felt so much fresher that I didn't do on the Cannondale. I just felt absolutely exhausted the whole way around on the Cannondale because I just wasn't recovering. Yes, obviously, you can ride a retro bike on a modern-day XC course, but I think this video really highlights the innovation and change in mountain biking over the last 15 years. It was really cool to see. If you like the video, please leave a like and let me know what you think in the comments. I'll see you in the next one. Cheers.