Custom world championship XCO bikes from Lenzerheide
Top end race bikes get even more decked out for Swiss world championships
Top international cross country racers are already on the best mountain bikes money can buy, or sometimes better. World Championships are a special occasion though, and it has become a tradition for teams to surprise their athletes with custom builds for the occasion.
Here’s five of the custom paint schemes and builds to watch for as you follow 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships from Lenzerheide, Switzerland this week.
Emily Batty and Trek Factory Racing XC team have full custom bikes for Lenzerheide, but the team is keeping aesthetics minimal to focus on speed. The stealth builds have while markings over barely covered raw carbon to keep the frames light as racers tackle the high mountain climbs.
Marc-Andre Fortier and Raphael Auclair have special edition Pivot Mach 429 bikes from the duo’s Pivot Cycles-OTE team. Both maple leaf themed bikes will be in action Friday during the Men’s U23 cross country race.
RELATED: Complete schedule: 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships
Mathieu van der Poel has a dutch tri-colour theme applied to his Canyon Lux CF SLX full suspension bike. Like Canyon’s custom paint schemes for it’s downhill racers, the brushwork was done by Painthouse Customs. Fellow Canyon rider Pauline Ferrand-Prevot also has a decked out new Canyon dualie, which she was showing off on her own Instagram page.
Nino Schurter has been revealing his custom Swiss flag patterned Scott-SRAM Spark part by part online. The reigning XCO world champion and Olympic gold medallist already has one win for the home crowd this week. Schurter was part of the Swiss team that won Wednesday’s XC Relay world championship title.
Jolanda Neff, also part of the winning Swiss XC Relay team and Maja Wloszczowska both have custom painted bikes from team sponsor Kross. Earlier versions of the prototype Earth full suspension race rig has been seen under Neff at World Cup’s already this year. For Lenzerheide world championships, though, both racers get special jungle cat theme bikes to help them hunt for the rainbow stripe jersey on Saturday.
