BMC Team Elite 01

Us dirty mountain bikers have a lot to thank our smooth-legged roadie cousins for. Sure, we could live without their seemingly genetic ability to look like they don’t enjoy riding their bikes, or the fact that we seem invisible to them when we pass on the black top. But when it comes to a passion for technology and development we’re not as super cool and special as we think. If you want to make something bleeding-edge light or increase the stiffness to weight ratio, then you could do a lot worse than check out the latest road tech. Heck, tapered steerers come from the road.

We might huck small buildings in a single bound but smoking an alpine corner at 100km or more needs a true tracking bike too.

The BMC Team Elite 01 is no skinny tyre weenie, but road-watchers will immediately pick up on the visual similarities between this sexy Swiss trail mistress and Cadel’s Le Tour winning BMC SLR01 road bike. Both share a glossy uni-directional carbon finish with sharp, red detailing, as is a feature of many BMCs over the years. But, it’s more than that. Seat stays that join the seat tube well below the top tube are now ‘classic’ BMC, while the straight but multisided and oversized tubes make the frame look more like a geometry lesson rather than a curvy left-brain expression session. There is a particular ‘business’ about any BMC that you can pick right away. The party comes after the business of victory has been attended to.

As the SLR01 is BMC’s all out road race machine, the Team Elite 01 is BMC’s light, go fast, power-meter wearing, Strava segment smashing cross-country weapon. Turn up to any Olympic format XC or elite level marathon race and it’s all about 29er hardtails. A few years ago the lightweight 100mm travel 26-inch dually was king, but no more. Now we expect quite a lot from the new generation of big-wheeled hardtail. Be light for sure, but also stiff under power. Be nimble at race pace in the singletrack but also comfy enough for 80-100km marathons and deliver the pilot from danger in steep and hairy spots along the way. Thanks bike! Quite a tall order eh?

At a real life 1,041g our medium sized TE01 frame is a very impressive starting point for a race bike. Hang an XT or X.9 group on this thing along with some half-decent wheels and you’ll be running out of excuses on the climbs pretty quickly. Our bike weighed under 10kg out of the box! The frame finish is first rate externally while internally the tubes are smooth and devoid of excess resin left over from manufacture. That said, light is only one element of any bike. Stiffness, ride quality and handling all add to the mix, and any one can be the downfall of an otherwise killer chassis.

BMC have bet the house on short chainstays; on a 29er anything under 440mm is generally considered to be short. The stays on the TE01 are just under 430mm! The rear wheel tucks right up into the bottom bracket and the seat tube has been moved forward to avoid interference—the new breed of direct-mount front derailleur makes this possible. If you ever have the chance to ask a bike designer where their new frame design starts, they will tell you that everything starts from the front derailleur. This dictates rear wheel clearance, where the seat tube must go, and where the bottom bracket is located. Direct mount front derailleurs are the 29er’s best friend, making what was previously impossible a reality. Wheelie lovers will rejoice in the TE01; the big wheels and tight stays make this a wheelie machine, even in my clumsy hands.

Sure enough the TE01 is a nimble beast on the trail too. The back end of the frame is comically oversized. The chainstay/bottom bracket junction is so large it warrants a double-take on first inspection. People blame rising carbon prices on demand for Boeing Airbus planes, but TE01 isn’t helping matters any. The down tube is equally colossal. Riders who like to really work their bike over the trail will simply love the TE01; it begs you to lift and pop over ruts and roots. The low weight, tight back-end and front to back stiffness make the TE01 easy to manhandle in an entirely complementary way. While it’s no play bike, it’s definitely up for fast and furious riding—the type where you go a little past your comfort zone because you’re caught in the moment. Throw it into a big corner at speed and it doesn’t flinch. Rutted descents don’t phase it either, as long as you remember it’s a sub-10kg hardtail with 100mm travel up front.

As mentioned earlier, the seat stays meet the seat tube well below the top tube. BMC has designed the abbreviated stays, seat tube and seatpost to flex and absorb vibrations as well as small bumps. BMC call this their Tuned Compliance Concept (TCC), and it comes directly from their road bikes. Why not borrow shock absorbing technology from bikes that are designed to be light, stiff and comfortable without suspension? Without a lab it’s not possible to tell which particular element of the TCC makes the most difference, but the overall effect is absolutely excellent. In total contradiction of the frame’s handling stiffness, the ride quality over rough trails is incredibly supple.

Comfortable

I’m a big fan of long and flexible seatposts, as they can really mute bumps when seated, and the TE01 comes with a skinny 27.2mm BMC post that’s specifically designed for this purpose. The post worked really well but even when standing, the back end of the BMC took the sting out of the trail, so the post can’t take all the credit. It only takes one ride to realise that this is one smartly designed frame.

Soft yet hard

There’s no shortage of other neat touches that show some real thought has gone into this bike. The cable guides on the chainstays are carbon and seamlessly moulded into the frame—no nasty drilled and riveted alloy bits here. All the cables run down the underside of the down tube; not as fashionable as internal routing but way more practical for maintenance. Speaking of maintenance, the rear derailleur runs full-length outer housing to keep it free from crud. There’s a chain catcher above the bottom bracket to protect it from chain suck and dropped chains—the plate can be moved to account for different chain ring sizes too. The direct post-mount brake tabs use replaceable metal threads just in case you ever have an unfortunate faux-par with the mounting bolts.

BMC offers the carbon Team Elite frame in two build levels; there’s the more affordable TE02 at $4,250 with a Fox fork and Shimano SLX running gear; or the SRAM X.0 equipped TE01 that we tested at $6,395. The spec on our sample varies a little from what you’ll see in your local bike shop (ours was a European build). In Australia we’ll still get SRAM X.0 running gear but where the Euro spec has cheaper X.9 triggers, we’ll get X.0—a nice upgrade as they offer a sharper, more defined shifting feel. The fork will be a RockShox SID RLT; it may add around 50g when compared to the 2012 Fox 29er fork but it’s still an entirely appropriate choice. The wheels will be SRAM Rise 40; they are in the 1,800g region and their main shortcoming lies in their tubeless compatibility—you’ll need full rubber strips, not just a layer of tape to get a reliable seal. Our TE01 will also run 3T cockpit parts rather than the Easton stem and bars that we used.

While the brand of the bar and stem will change from what we rode, the sizing won’t. BMC has built the geometry of this bike around a short stem and wide handlebar, which really goes against the grain of what you typically see on European designed bikes. BMC has modernised the geometry and rider position of the TE01, and I must say it’s for the better. The short stays help to make the bike very nimble, so the front-centre can be made longer and the head angle slackened to ensure the bike has a reasonable wheelbase. To compensate for the long and slack front, a short stem and wide bar is used. In this case the head angle sits at 70-degrees—it’s not in trail bike territory, but it’s certainly slacker than most race-oriented 29er hardtails in recent years. It’s all swings and roundabouts with the aim of arriving at a bike that fits a regular human in comfort, while hopefully offering better handling.

I chose to ride the medium size TE01, which in terms of top tube length is at the shorter end of what I would usually ride. Last year I rode a large frame in the BMC Speedfox 29 dually and it simply felt too big. According to BMC’s recommended sizing, I’m just short enough to squeeze onto the medium in TE01, and I’d suggest they are on the money. I only needed to swap the stubby 70mm stem with a slightly longer one and unsheath a lot of the nice carbon post. In this configuration I found the frame had oodles of standover, and the shorter front end (compared to the large) and wide bar meant I could really flick the bike around on the trail. Going a large would have mellowed the handling and boosted stability but overall the sizing and geometry seems to offer good flexibility.

When you consider that it is designed as a full-on race bike, you really couldn’t expect to have more fun than the TE01 delivered. It is deadly light and flies up hills as well as any alpine race thoroughbred should, but the stiffness and compliance of the frame turn any XC singletrack into a hammer fest. Fast and twisty ribbons of dirt – up or down – are what the TE01 dreams of at night. The responsiveness of the frame is amplified by the low weight and the leverage offered by the wide handlebar. You’ll want to sprint at every corner and throw the bike into it whilst making motorbike noises.

If you manage to avoid completely cooking yourself from childish singletrack antics, the TE01 is happy to slog it out too. As mentioned, their TCC system really does help when it comes to long days in the saddle. A few issues back I raved about the Whyte C29 for its low weight, stiffness and playful handling—the BMC does all that and also adds a supple ride to the mix. The Whyte really is a ‘jack of all trades’ machine, and while the BMC is more versatile than it should be, it’s definitely more of a race-day weapon. It could well be the perfect marathon racer and it’s most certainly a very hard act to follow.

Thumbs Up

Climbs like Spiderman

Stiff and direct but remarkably comfortable

Brilliant on XC singletrack 

Thumbs Down

Expensive for a hardtail

Basic wheel spec 

Specifications

Frame: BMC TCC Carbon

Fork: RockShox SID RLT 100mm travel

Headset: Integrated Sealed Bearing 1 1/8 - 1 1/2

Handlebars: 3T Extendo Carbon 740mm

Stem: 3T Team ARX 70mm

Shifters: SRAM X.0

Front Derailleur: SRAM X.0

Rear Derailleur: SRAM X.0

Cassette: SRAM X.0, 11/36 10-speed

Chain: SRAM X.0

Cranks: SRAM X.0, 22/36

Bottom Bracket: SRAM Press-Fit 30

Pedals: N/A

Brakes: SRAM X.0

Wheels: SRAM Rise 40

Tyres: Maxxis Ikon 2.20

Saddle: Prologo Nago Evo Ti

Seatpost: BMC Compliance

Weight: 9.88kg without pedals (Medium frame 1,041g)

Available Sizes: S, M (tested) and L

Price: $6,395

Distributor: Echelon Sports (07) 3902 1155 / www.echelonsports.com.au