BMC Trailfox TF03 SLX (2014)

150mm travel 29er. Lovin' It!

Pros

- Well designed frame
- Component list

Cons

-

Review

The BMC Trailfox 29 is a new range of bikes from the Swiss company which match big travel to big wheels. This model is the entry level version, the TF03, and as such features an alloy frame and Shimano SLX components.

It isn't easy to engineer 150mm of travel into a 29" wheel frame, but BMC has managed to pull out a few tricks to make this possible. Some ingenious engineering around the bottom bracket area has allowed BMC to use very short chainstays - an important aspect when building a bike bike with slack angles.

Another quality of the frame is the low bottom bracket height, which has been dropped almost 1 cm from previous incarnations of this model. All this should make the Trailfox an eminently fun and capable bike particularly on high speed descents.

The component list is well thought out, with Shimano SLX drivetrain and, no surprise, a DT Swiss wheelset, which should prove strong and reliable. Total weight is claimed at just over 14kg which is very good for an alloy bike of this size.

If you are looking for an all-mountain bike welcome to the new world, it looks like big travel and big wheels are going to become more popular as manufacturers build designs that can accommodate the qualities of each. This is a bike to check out.