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Kashi Leuchs Trek OCLV Fuel 100
Throwing fuel on the fireBy Paul Mirtschin
The Trek family believe that when you are onto a good thing, you stick to it. With most of its line of full suspension mountain bikes all sharing the same design, from Fuel to Liquid, it has to be a good thing. For the 2003 season, most of the Trek sponsored riders are on the new OCLV (Optimum Compaction Low Void) carbon fibre Fuel 100, a three-inch travel cross-country bike that has already seen success. Taking Trek's OCLV technology from its road line and transforming it into a full-suspension frame was not easy, but riders such as Kashi Leuchs and World Champion Roland Green seem to think it works.
At the start of the year, it wasn't looking good for Kashi, with the collapse of the Volvo/Cannondale team, but with a lot of legwork he managed to put together a sponsorship package that saw him riding as part of the Maxxis team, with bike sponsorship and support from Trek. Kashi's Fuel 100 is an off-the shelf 17.5" frame, suspended at the rear using a Fox Float RL to achieve its 3" of travel. Suspension up the front is courtesy of a 2002 Rock Shox SID SL fork, a dual air fork with 80mm of air sprung travel. Joining the fork to the frame is one of Chris King's finest, the no-threadset headset.
Kashi likes to steer, and allowing him to do this is a lightweight Easton bar with Tune bar-ends, held securely with a Thomson stem. Although some of the photos we received had Kashi's bike fitted with Shimano's XTR shifters and derailleur as the bike was still awaiting some of its final componentry, Kashi was awaiting arrival of his new SRAM X-0 shifters and mech. The cranks are Truvativ, as is the bottom bracket, and Kashi uses Time ATAC pedals. As one would expect, Kashi and the rest of the Maxxis team are all running on Maxxis rubber, tyre choice depending on the race conditions. Kashi's wheels are from Mavic; the Crossmax SL Disc, a lightweight tubeless wheelset based on Mavic's Crossmax design.
As it is a disc-only wheel, it makes sense to run disc brakes, and for this Kashi has gone with the Hayes HFX-Mag Plus. The HFX-Mag Plus is Hayes' lightweight XC brake, placing titanium and carbon fibre into its tried and true brake system. Seating duties go to Fi:zi'k, providing a nice, colour co-ordinated Nisene saddle, and will be mounted on one of Thomsons strong seatposts. Kashi is looking forward to a productive year, racing in all World Cups, the Sea Otter Classic, Roc d'Azur, at least three NORBA events, at least four Swiss Cups, plus other races in Germany, Sweden, Spain as well as France, where he lives with Swedish fiancée, former Junior World Champion, Helena Eriksson. He also hopes to expand his race program, dubbed Kashi Inc. by manager Martin Whiteley, to include other riders and to hopefully one day have his own team. PhotosImages by Kashi Leuchs
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Full specificationFrame: Trek OCLV carbon fibre Fuel 100 with Fox Float RC Cranks: Truvativ |
Wheels: Mavic Crossmax SL Disc Bars: Easton Pedals: Time ATAC | ||||||||
