Trek Announces New 2013 Bikes

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Trek Announces New 2013 Bikes: by Guitar Ted
Although sneak peek images have been popping up on the internet for some time now, we have just gotten the “official” press release from Trek Bikes concerning some of the 2013 29″er line up. The news here is lighter Superfly and Superfly 100 models using a new carbon fiber manufacturing tech, and a new “All Mountain” hard tail model called “Stache”.

Apollo Development Project: Trek has implemented a self described “clean sheet” engineering and modeling process that they have instituted to manufacture their in-house carbon fiber frame products called the “Apollo Development Project”. Claimed to have been two years in the making, the design team at Trek in conjunction with engineers and the computer based FEA, (Finite Element Analysis), and CFD, (Computational Fluid Dynamics),tools completely changed the way Trek designed carbon fiber frames which affected some tweaks in manufacturing as well. In house testing in the computer realm first identified 8 different ideas for frames that then were tweaked in “thousands” of ways before actual prototypes were made and ride tested. Destructive testing, further refinements, and more ride testing finally whittled the final products down to the 2013 Superfly and Superfly 100 frames which Trek claims weigh 896gm and 1850gm respectively.


2013 Superfly Pro SL

Superfly Hard Tail: The Superfly hard tail line up now has two different carbon frame types with the top two models, (Superfly Pro SL and Superfly Elite SL), getting the new Apollo Design carbon frame while the next tier of Superfly models, (Superfly Comp, Superfly), retain the OCLV Mountain Carbon frames from the 2012 line. There will also be aluminum Superfly models in the line up for 2013 as well.

The Pro SL gets the full SRAM XX treatment with Bontrager Race X Lite tubeless ready wheels and the Elite SL gets a Deore XT group with Bontrager Race Lite tubeless ready wheels. Both models will feature through axles front and rear with 15mm and 142 X 12 taking over duties from traditional quick releases. Front suspension duties go to Rock Shox XX on the Pro SL and a Fox Terralogic for the Elite model and both feature the G2 offset of 51mm. The Superfly Comp goes to a mostly SRAM X-9 group with a Fox Float CTD fork and the Superfly gets the SLX treatment with a Rock Shox Reba RL and is the only one of the top four models equipped with a triple chain ring crankset. Both second tier models feature 15mm through axle forks and traditional quick release rear wheels.

Interestingly the range includes an XXL/23″ size for the larger folks out there. Internal routing on the frames gives an ultra-clean look as well.



Superfly 100: The upper echelon of Superfly 100′s are now the realm of the Apollo Design main frame Elite SL, Pro SL and SL models. The differences in the three models are in the seat and chain stays. The Elite SL gets the all carbon fiber treatment while the Pro SL adds an alloy chain stay set, while the SL gets both seat stay and chain stays in alloy. Obviously weights will differ on all three. There are also three all aluminum models in the Superfly 100 range with the AL Pro, AL Elite, and AL models rounding out the range.

The top three Superfly 100 models also receive “Stealth” shock routing, internal cabling, and the APB Convert rear pivot/axle. The aluminum Superfly 100′s get traditional externally routed cables, but the top aluminum model, the Superfly AL Elite, borrows the carbon fiber models lighter Flow Mold suspension swing link. The other two aluminum models use a magnesium swing link.

Spec follows the Superfly models with the Superfly 100 Pro SL getting the XX treatment, and the Elite SL getting the XT group. The SL model drops to an X-7/X-9 mix. The top model and entry level AL model get Rock Shox, everything else in the Superfly 100 range gets Fox forks. Through axles of the 15mm variety all around, of course.



Stache Hard Tail: The new model is called “Stache”, (could it be because Gary Fisher sports a fine handle bar stache himself? ), and is described as having “trail bike soul, hard tail punch”. Not quite as radical as some other AM/Trail hard tails we’ve seen, the Stache does pack some trail bike features that should separate the bike from traditional XC/Trail hard tail offerings. Trek has outfitted this two bike range with 120mm forks and “enclosed” 142 X 12 through axle rear drop outs for stiffness and durability. Other trail bike features on the Stache include ISCG 05 mounts, internal routing, and Shimano Shadow Plus rear mechs.



The range includes two models, the Stache 8 and Stache 7, both featuring 38 X 24 Race face cranksets and 10 speed cassettes out back. G2 geometry and dropper post routing. No word on chain stay length.

Stay tuned for any further news on these new models and other 2013 Trek 29″er offerings.
Twenty Nine Inches used images and information provided by Trek Bicycles in this post.


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