Bike Check: Alexis Cheneviers Trans-Vesubienne Yeti SB100

Alexis Chenevier would possibly simply be probably the most spectacular all-round mountain biker you’ve by no means heard of. A former XC racer turned technical endurance specialist, he’s dominant on the area of interest French scene made up of a string of significantly robust races just like the Trans Vesubienne and the Epic Enduro that push each your health and your bike dealing with to the bounds – he received the Trans Vesubienne six consecutive occasions, solely to be dethroned by Emeric Turcat in 2019 and 2020, having to accept second each years.

In a latest interview, he admitted that he would like to attempt the BC Bike Race, however does not have the assist to race internationally. That is the opposite factor that makes him so spectacular – there isn’t any cash chasing these races, no media protection, no parade down the Champs Elysee. He does it just because he loves it. Over the previous couple of years, he has smashed quite a lot of full-time athletes, all of the whereas holding down a job as a wheel engineer at Mavic, or not less than he was till not too long ago as he has fallen casualty to the turbulent times at the legendary French brand a month in the past and is presently searching for a brand new job. We caught up with him simply earlier than he took on the Trans Vesubienne to see how he units up his race bike for this type of problem because it definitely is not your commonplace XC race bike.

Mavic weren’t simply his employer, but in addition his sponsor – he’s working a pre-production set of carbon Crossmax SLR wheels with a 25mm inner width rim.

With no sponsor for his drivetrain and brakes he runs workhorse Shimano XTs, however with Brake Authority pads and discs (180mm entrance, 160mm rear).

The one a part of his drivetrain he’s supported for is the crank – a Raceface Subsequent SL to maintain the burden down. For this race, he ran a 30t chainring paired to a typical 10-50t Eagle XX1 cassette on the again. The non-driveside of the crank and each bar ends are full of tyre plugs as light-weight tyres on these trails have a nasty behavior of selecting up punctures, which have determined the race on multiple event.

He runs a Raceface cockpit, with a low-rise Subsequent SL bar, trimmed right down to 750mm and a 60mm stem – not your commonplace XC racing setup, even when the stem is flipped to maintain the stack top down. Whereas he does not measure every component of the cockpit he’s very specific about their place and it normally takes him just a few rides with a brand new bike to get them in simply the correct place. The saddle is a minimal Selle Italia X-LR, perched atop a 150mm drop Fox Switch put up. In a considerably uncommon transfer, he runs the shock distant on the right-hand aspect of his bars.