When you think of a trail bike, you probably picture a fairly aggressive full suspension bike, with heavy-duty tubing, chunky forks, and enough suspension travel to rival that of a full-blown enduro race bike, but not Andi Sykes!
Fed up with lugging around the extra weight of a traditional trial bike, Andi looked elsewhere for a frameset for his do-it-all, ride-anywhere, UK MTB, but even he didn’t expect his gaze would land on a svelte alloy XC frame!
The Specialized Chisel FS isn’t your typical trail bike; it's actually not your typical alloy MTB. First of all, the complete bike is fairly affordable, yet despite the accessible price point, the weight is very respectable. Although geared at XC riders and racers wanting lightweight performance on a budget, it’s clear that Specialized’s gravity-fuelled engineers had a hand in the development of the Chisel FS, which sports fairly progressive geometry, a steep seat angle, and plenty of reach.
When Andi first saw the Chisel FS, it was the bright pink paintwork that grabbed his attention, but he soon realised that the geo wasn’t far off his current trail bike, yet the Chisel FS was significatly lighter! Sure, the Chisel has just 110mm of rear wheel travel, but for someone who is happy to ride a hardtail, that’s more than enough. Right?
Up front, Andi has fitted a 130mm travel Fox 34 fork, 10mm more than the standard Chisel FS spec, but bang on what the Chisel FS Evo comes fitted with. The rest of the build is a good mix of hard hitting trail components, like the new Pembree CNC alloy stem and 40mm rise silver bar, matched to a smattering of lightweight, but durable XC components.
HUNT Proven Race XC wheels with steel spokes offer a great balance of low weight and strength, and are perfect for flying down off-piste descents before sprinting back up the fireroad for another spin. The 30mm internally wide, front and rear specific rims are shod with Goodyear tyres offering low rolling resistance with surprising levels of grip.
One of the more eye-catching features on Andi’s build are the beautifully CNC-machined, 4-piston, Lewis brakes. While these are usually seen on enduro and downhill bikes, it’s hard to argue that they don’t look great on this build.
Rounding it all off is a MudHugger bolt-on mudguard, an essential piece of kit for this time of year.
Let us know what you think of Andi’s ‘trail’ bike over on our socials, and hit this link to learn more about the HUNT Proven Carbon Race XC wheelset.
