Mondraker has redesigned its Podium XC hardtail, subscribing to the theme of performance through the pursuit of lightness, to create what's surely one of the best lightweight mountain bikes ever.
Designed around a 100mm front fork, the 2021 model year Podium features a reshaped carbon-fibre frame and is targeted at dedicated XC racers.
The most notable statistic is the size medium frame weight, which is only 775g. That places this new Mondraker mountain bike very much at near the top of lightest production hardtail frames, undercutting its rivals from Orbea (the Alma at 830g) and Specialized’s Epic hardtail (790g).
Beyond the extraordinarily low frame mass, Mondraker has also updated the Podium’s geometry. All four frame sizes have similar head and seat tube angles, which are respectively slacker and steeper than before.
The new Podium carbon has a 68.5-degree head angle, which is 1.5-degree slacker than before, allowing for a more technically capable descending bike. Mondraker’s Podium has a steeper effective seat tube too, which at 74.5-degrees, is 2-degrees greater than before.
Mediating the new frame angles is a longer front triangle, improving the Podium’s stability and better balancing the rider’s mass when descending and cornering.
Very forward thinking geometry
On a size large, the new Podium has 470mm of reach, which is a notable 33mm more than last year’s frame. This is the latest evolution of Mondraker’s forward geometry design theme, which has its roots in downhill racing, with former world champion, Fabien Barel.
All new Podiums run 100mm forks, 740mm width handlebar and roll Maxxis Ikon tyres that are 29x2.2in in size.
Pricing for the new Podium range starts at £3,799, for the standard Carbon variant, which manages to weigh an impressively light 9.3kg.
If you are looking at a premium build, that would be the Podium Carbon RR SL, which is built with a SID Ultimate RL fork, SRAM XX1 AXS drivetrain and Mavic Crossmax XL wheelset.
At only 7.8kg, this top-spec version of Mondraker’s new XC racing hardtail is nearly flawless, if counting grams are your unit of analysis. It prices at £7,899.
