Bergamont EnCore 9.0 - Review

Geometry



The EnCore's numbers show that it only has one goal in mind, and that's racing enduro. A 65º head angle, a roomy top tube with a decent range in between sizes, and a steep 75.3º effective seat angle. In my opinion, the 430mm chainstays are a little on the short side for larger frame sizes and the capability given by the rest of the bike's layout and the 1240mm wheelbase on my XL test bike.

The bottom bracket is also low with a -14mm drop that is then sagged 30% into the 165mm travel. I found that the 175mm crankarms specced on the L and XL frames meant that my flat pedals were a little close to the ground and obstacles for my liking. If I had this bike long-term, I would change to a slightly shorter crank length, or I'd be tempted to swap the flip-chip into the higher geometry setting for more clearance and slightly improved seated position, then use an angle set to adjust the head angle accordingly.




Details



Attention to detail and color matched componentry seems to be a must in today's market, and every manufacturer worth their salt should have this dialed in nowadays. The EnCore comes with Bergamont's own lock-on grips, 'Always Vollgas!' stem cap, a logo'd seat clamp and an SDG saddle.




The frame isn't neglected either, with internal cable routing and rubber bungs at the exit ports, internal dropper routing, ISCG 05 tabs and removable top chain guide mounts. The chainstay also sees integrated metal chain suck protection and a rubberized chainstay guard.





Suspension




A 170mm/165mm mix of travel is moving closer and closer towards downhill bike territory, and anybody who has raced an EWS likely wouldn't turn down the offer of a full 200mm DH bike on many of the stages. The suspension layout is a four bar linkage with the main pivot nestled close to the chain line, from here a carbon chainstay extends to the 142mm wide axle with a 'DW Split Link' style pivot. Alloy seatstays connect this pivot to the carbon rocker that drives the shock from above. It's interesting to see the use of carbon for the two frame components mentioned above; maybe we will see more carbon from on this bike in the future?

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There's a lot of rotation at the top shock mount causing a small amount of friction; a needle bearing could be used in place of the standard shock bushing for people who want maximum suspension sensitivity.

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3 Questions With Jonas Von Der Horst, Bergamont Engineer

Paul Aston: With 170mm travel up front, and 165mm at the rear, enduro bikes are moving closer towards downhill bike in terms of travel, geometry, and capability. Do you see the EnCore as a mini DH bike or is it pure enduro?

Jonas Von Der Horst: Our defined objective for the EnCore was to engineer a pure enduro bike with outstanding downhill performance. This reflects our principle to always build bikes which provide you with the widest possible range of application. We are sure, the EnCore, with its adaptable geometry, can be used from DH oriented weekend trail-tours, its main purpose of enduro races up to bike park usage. But yes, the 8.0 you've tested with the 170mm at the front shows the best DH properties in our EnCore lineup.


Aston: We noted that the EnCore's chainstay and rocker link is carbon, but the rest of the bike is alloy. Do you see alloy as a superior material for this type of bike or are we likely to see a full carbon bike in the future?

Von Der Horst: We wanted to build a rough, long lasting bike. Enduro means crashes and rocks striking the tubes and other critical carbon areas. The rocker is not a critical part, easy to change and not in the line of fire. Here we could save some weight by using carbon. The chainstay is well protected by rubber guards on both sides. Using carbon on the chainstay made it possible to have it as short as it is without using heavyweight forged parts or strong bent tubes (with more risk of cracking) at the yoke area.


I am far away from riding like Joe Nation or Ed Masters. But every time I am in unknown terrain which normally shows clear limits to my riding skills, the EnCore helps me to push these limits. The geometry and suspension setup helps non-racers to feel good and self-confident almost wherever they are. The setup of the shock is in the open mode is very soft, which means sensitive and active, following the ground in every detail but ramping up at the end so there will be no hard bottom out. Next one for sure is the racer, slack angles, long reach, short chainstay, agile and stable as they like it. Our racers normally like harder tunes on the shock to have better feedback and being more stable in berms and so on, they are stronger and fitter than most of us, they can push the bike different. On the fork, they can use the low and high-speed compression to fine tune, the 9.0 and the Team version have the Rock Shox Monarch plus with 3 position compression adjuster. If you put it to mid pedal position, you get exactly the same feeling like having a harder compression (The M-M tune you have tested). In MY17 the bike comes with even more options and shocks that will be presented at Eurobike. The above-mentioned use in bike parks mostly is similar from the tune to the racers profile, a little bit harder on the tune so all possible with the bike.

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Climbing


The EnCore is a commendable climber, considering its weight of 32lbs with tubes (I saved around 200g grams by going tubeless, although this wasn't exceptionally reliable - see Technical Report). The seated position is one of the better out there, but being a tall rider I still wanted to be a little farther forward. After a good balance between the front and rear suspension was achieved, the bike could climb efficiently with the three-position compression lever in open mode. That said, I often had to reach down to flick the switch to prevent me sagging too far over the rear axle on steep climbs and having a floaty front wheel – I feel this is an industry-wide, first-world problem for a rider needing an XL frame, though.




Descending

The EnCore is poised and ready to take on all but the most extreme of terrain, and that is what it did: Long days in the saddle, trail center loops and European bike parks were no problem. The suspension layout means that suspension is still supple when braking, the geometry is rounded, and the frame is not too stiff for good comfort and tracking.

The Fox Float could be extended out to 180mm travel without buying additional parts, this could help you when getting extra aggro and isn't a bad idea for enduro race gnar, especially when you're tiring towards the end of a long stage. I don't think that the difference between the Performance gray stanchion coating and the Kashima is noticeable and keeping on top of the cleaning and oiling the seals is much more worthwhile than paying extra for that golden goodness. One personal frustration is that this FIT 4 version of the 36 loses the pinch bolts and option for a 20mm axle - I thought the idea of bulking up to a 36mm stanchion was for extra stiffness then taking away the pinch bolts will allow more flex?




The high-volume Monarch Debonair shock controls the 165mm of rear travel, and the bike has a similar feel to the NS Snabb I reviewed last year. Progressive towards the end of the stroke, and with enough Bottomless red bands installed in the Debonair can, it was super supple at the beginning, but it tended to wallow too much for my liking in the middle of the travel. This mid-stroke flop is great when charging head-on into the chop when you want the wheel to get out of the way of incoming impacts, but it feels unstable and a little overactive in bermed corners and on faster, smoother sections. I spoke to the Bergamont engineers about this, and they forwarded another shock with a medium rebound / medium compression tune, opposed to the medium rebound / Low compression that came as standard. This change made more of a difference than I expected from changing one letter, but the addition of more low-speed compression calmed the damping down and let the bike hold its position in the corners, and it settled down in the midstroke.




Technical Report

Overall, the Bergamont's bits did a great job. The cockpit was close to my liking with a 780mm Answer handlebar and 60mm stem that I changed to a slightly shorter, 50mm Renthal piece. The slim but comfortable Bergamont branded lock-on grips lost a bar end plug in a crash. Shimano XT gearing gets on with the job in hand, and the Magura stoppers are becoming one of my favorite for their massive power, although the MT5 versions were a little noisy.






• Prime Peinture - The gray primer style finish of the EnCore was a love-hate opinion at the trailhead. Personally, I liked it, but it did start to look grubby, especially in the nooks and crannies of the linkage.





• Wide Load - I can see some of the advantages of pivot placement being around the rear axle, but the total width of a 142mm hub, bearings, caps, quick-release axle and the derailleur is quite frankly ridiculous. I want narrower rear ends for less chance of smashing rocks and stumps. This could partly be solved by an Allen-key tooled axle.


Pinkbike's Take:

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Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews Enduro Bikes Bergamont Bergamont Encore