Yeti revives the ASR, four-piston brakes in gravel and more

Our recap on the best tech stories of the week.

Adwitiya Pal

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Mar 23 2024

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Another week into the false spring and we’ve got some nice and shiny things to show you. So while you might have been away busy keeping your eyes peeled at every bit of action at Absa Cape Epic, here’s all the tech news you might have missed over the week, from Norco’s new trail e-bike to SRAM’s possible introduction of four-piston brakes to gravel.

Onguza showed off Nambian steel

The Namibian frame brand Onguza is the work of two-time Olympic rider, Dan Craven, and the brand is trying to change the perception of African handbuilt all-terrain bicycle frames. Each Onguza is hand-made in the town of Omaruru, near Mount Erongo, in midwestern Namibia by master frame builders Sakaria Nkolo and Petrus Mufenge, who possess a unique array of skills having worked on the Craven family farm for 25 years.

You can order a made-to-measure frameset, at $4,100. Otherwise, there are three production models also available for $1,500, namely The Goat gravel bike, The Holy Fire road plus design, and The Rooster hardtail mountain bike.

To learn more about these exotic Namibian steel bikes, read the full story here: Onguza proves Namibian steel is real.

SRAM could finally be bringing four-piston brakes to gravel

We are used to seeing four-piston brake calipers on almost all modern mountain bikes these days. But with the gravel scene adapting more and more elements from mountain bikes, starting with larger rotors and now suspension forks, it looks like the next step is increased braking power in the form of four-piston calipers.

And SRAM could be the one to do that, based on its latest patent which shows that these four-piston flat-mount calipers are shaped to offer twice the number of pistons but without intersecting or getting in the way of the mounting bolts or any axis. Now, does road and gravel need this much braking power? That’s a different subject for another day…

We’ve covered this cool new tech in more detail here: Are four-piston brakes finally coming to gravel?

Yeti revived the ASR for XC racing

Although the new ASR matches Yeti’s SB115 down-country bike for rear travel at 115mm, its engineers have completely revamped the suspension and kinematics for this model making a comeback after a decade. They have also managed to bring the weight down, in both the regular and the wireless-specific T-Series option with SRAM’s AXS groupset.

The ASR frame is also compatible with RockShox’s latest Flight Attendant XC autonomous electronic suspension, which we wrote about on our website last week. It also has a more progressive geometry than Yeti’s current ‘downcountry’ frame, 1.5-degree slacker head angle, and 15.4mm more reach than the SB115.

Read more about this new bike by clicking on our news story: Rethinking XC with Yeti’s new ASR. We’ve also had the opportunity to play around with it for a bit, so if you’re after first-ride impressions, you can read them by clicking here.

Norco unveiled its trail e-bike with two suspension travel options

2024 continues to be a big year for Canadian bike manufacturers Norco, who just after updating their Optic and Sight bikes has now launched the trail e-bike Fluid VLT. The bike has two options available: the VLT 130, with 140mm fork with 130mm of rear-suspension travel, and the VLT 140, which has a slacker geometry and adds 10mm of front and rear suspension travel.

Norco says that the VLT should be more capable on downhills than a down country bike, but it’s still not quite a kneepads-on-each-ride enduro bike. For power, they’ve gone 400Wh Bosch battery pack to provide intuitive pedal assist with minimal torque lag.

Check out this e-bike here: Norco’s Fluid VLT is a trail e-bike in two flavours.

We had a look at Daryl Impey’s Scott Spark RC 900 World Cup edition

Road cycling fans would need no introduction to Daryl Impey. The South African rider has battled at the forefront of road racing for many years, even donning the yellow jersey at the 2013 Tour de France. And as many pro road cyclists do, he’s completely immersed himself in mountain biking. In fact, he’s taken on arguably the toughest MTB stage race, the Cape Epic.

We’ve managed to have a close look at his steed of choice, the Scott Spark RC 900 World Cup edition, with Gen 1 SRAM AXS XO1, 100m Fox Transfer Dropper post, Rock Shox Sid Select, 120mm front and rear, and more race-spec tech. Have a look at this beauty yourself by clicking here.

Your guide to RockShox fork range 2024

RockShox is one of the biggest names in mountain bike fork realm. With so many suspension components on offer, we’ve produced a guide to run you through each of the models in the 2024 RockShox front suspension range, so you know what they're for, which specs they come in, and which one is best suited to your needs.

Check out all the 2024 RockShox fork models, details and specs here.

A beginner’s guide to everything you need to know about bike parks

For many, a trip to the bike park is an occasion that treats us to as much uplift-assisted descending as possible within a single day. Because of that, bike parks are fantastic places to build confidence and skills. But that’s not the only reason why a day at the bike park differs from your usual trail ride – it’s not a simple case of showing up and riding and the perfectly manicured trails pose fresh challenges to the new rider.

Read our in-depth guide to learn how to prepare and take on your first bike park day here.