ARC8 EVOLVE FS

At sub 10kg, the ARC8 Evolve is a lean XC race machine – but is it mean enough to win?

- Alan Muldoon

NEED TO KNOW

• Sub 10kg XC race bike that rides like a trail bike
• With a 1,240g frame weight ARC8 can use burlier components like the 120mm Fox 34 fork
• Frame travel is 110mm stock, but can be reduced to 100mm and paired with a 100mm fork for a more traditional XC ride
• One-piece carbon bar/stem combo looks more enduro than XC race
• Frame available in two sizes: M and L

When it comes to XC racing, weight is of critical importance. The riders are lean, and the bikes have every ounce of excess fat trimmed back too. It’s all about optimising the power to weight ratio of rider and machine to increase their chances of success on race day.

But long before the start gun sets heart rates rocketing, rider prep starts in the off-season and at the same time bike engineers are looking at ways to minimise frame weight without compromising stiffness. It’s one thing sitting at a computer manipulating layers of carbon, but it’s a very different situation if you live in Taiwan and work directly with the factory. And that’s exactly what Jonas Mueller, the engineer and co-founder of ARC8 does.

And it’s by having a much better understanding of the manufacturing process, that ARC8 is able to make such impressively lightweight frames. At the launch of the Evolve FS in Massa Marittima, Italy, I was blown away by the sub 10kg XTR build with regular, albeit fairly lightweight, high-end components. No custom ultra-light kit with questionable durability needed to reach the impressive weights achieved in large part by the 1,240g frame weight.