Often times, carbon gets all of the attention, but as our
Senior Advanced R&D Engineer, Chuck Teixeira, says, "If you
haven't ridden an aluminum bike lately, you haven't ridden an
aluminum bike." And with its D'Aluisio Smartweld frame, the
Chisel Expert with one-by gearing is no exception.
Traditional welding methods create frame joints by
connecting tubes to cylinders, leaving the performance and
security of the connection up to the skill of the welder.
D'Aluisio (DSW), however, allows us to move the joint away
from the area of the highest stress, making for a lighter
frameset that's stiff, compliant, and incredibly strong—the
optimal characteristics of a hardtail XC rig. So what does
this mean for you? You'll be powering up climbs, shredding
singletrack, and everything in between on a bike that has you
questioning why alloy's gotten such a bad rap.
And to further improve this feel, the Chisel also features
our XC geometry, which took our previous XC race geo and added
some trail DNA to the mix. This equates to a longer top tube,
a shortened head tube, and a slacked out front-end, the result
of which is a tremendous increase in downhill stability, plus
a wider range of fit. And just as importantly, this doesn't
require any sacrifice of climbing proficiency.
The build on this Chisel features a SRAM NX Eagle 12-speed
drivetrain, powerful SRAM Level TL hydraulic disc brakes, and
25-millimeter-wide alloy wheels that are optimized for weight
and traction.