South Africa’s the leader in MTB stage races, but it is also adopting enduro racing with fervour. Fast catching on around South Africa, this discipline attracts a new breed of rider: from XCO and DH. Does that mean you need another bike in your garage? We’d say yes (as you can never have too many), but the bank manager might having something to say about that…
One bike with three personalities: the bike geeks at Momsen in Port Elizabeth have cooked up a lightweight enduro racer in the final instalment of their Project BLACK series. The murdered out VIPA frame takes a central role once more, transforming almost fluidly from an 8.35kg weight weenie build, to a 9.60kg World Cup XCO race rig and now to a 10.82kg enduro bike. That is pretty versatile by anyone’s definition.
Enduro requires speed; on the downhill’s, climbs, flats and twisting tight turns. This is singletrack, on speed. A light bike is most desired, but with enough travel for the rider to tackle jumps with confidence. The trick is that the bike should still be able to climb, and climb well. Read on to see how the Momsen men achieved this.
Equipped with a Rockshox Revelation 130mm fork and a Cane Creek DB Inline rear shock, the dynamics of their low leverage ratio suspension design and frame geometry engineered with Patrick Morewood makes this devour jumps, berms and rock gardens with ease. The 80mm of rear travel don’t feel that way on the trails: that is down to the black magic worked by Patrick Morewood and Victor Momsen.
SRAM’s XX1 drivetrain with KMC’s superlight X11SL chain are bolted to the carbon frame, fitted with Momsen Design’s DOWNer 60mm Carbon stem, 715mm wide UP/DOWN carbon handlebars dressed with their Race Silicone grips add race-winning bling to the build. To make this bike stand out even more as a serious enduro machine, they have equipped it with a Rockshox Reverb dropper seatpost, SRAM’s XO Trail brakes, and the now ubiquitous fender, a Momsen Design carbon model. The saddle’s a Fizik Thar, and they’ve completed the build with grippy Arisun/Momsen Tubeless Ready (TLR) tyres mated to Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Arch EX wheels with 3.30 hubs.
This isn’t just an enduro bike built from equipment lying around in their offices. The enduro build has been a pet project of Victor Momsen and his staff who’ve themselves embraced enduro racing and riding. They’ve built this to be the bike they shred with, they love riding and one we’d love to ride and race too. We now understand why Momsen calls the VIPA a “superbike” – it does just about everything, and does it with South African style and flair for performance.
Really? You can't be serious this time. Just delete the post and let's all pretend it didn't happen.