Pete caught up with Trek Factory Racing’s Katy Winton at the 2018 Whyte British Enduro Champs to take a closer look at her Slash 29.
Katy has been racing the Slash ever since she joined the Trek Factory Racing setup, and after a week of testing at home in the Tweed Valley, Katy and the bike “are pals again”.
Keep an eye out Miss Winton this weekend. If her and her bike weren’t pals, and a third overall in the EWS is the result, expect big things now that the friendship has been rekindled.
Katy is rocking a 15.5″ Trek Slash. Trek, incidentally, didn’t have a 15.5″ frame in their line-up prior to signing Katy and fellow pinner Casey Brown, both of whom are small in stature. Katy seems very happy indeed that they made the Slash 15.5″ frame a production model.
Recent testing sees Katy on a Trek-developed Rockshox air shock with a single token but with the recently-released RockShox Lyrik RC2 out front rocking a pair of (s)tokens.
No pressure then… Katy has long been a favourite for the win in the Borders, but expect her to be pushed hard by Bex Baraona all weekend.
Straight Shot downtubes mean big forks catch the frame. The Knock Block stops this becoming a reality but limiting the steering. Bontrager grips with no outer collar sit on Bonty 750mm carbon bars, telling a 50mm stem where to send the front wheel.
With the Trek boys in town to help Katy and Ruaridh get the most from their bikes, gradual changes were made to the new RockShox dampers, like the new Lyrik RC2 here, to tune more speed and control from the bike.
Custom stickers and custom SRAM Code brake levers. It might only be cosmetic, but a happy rider is a fast rider and Katy is definitely happy with her Slash 29.
Trek Factory Racing’s enduro wing are supported by SRAM, hence the Rockshox dampers, and full Eagle drivetrain, an XX1 chainset with a Quarq power meter seen and a 34t chain ring here. That said, note Katy runs Shimano XT SPDs.
No surprise to see the 50t XO1 Eagle cassette out the back. No fancy gold cassettes for the flying Scot.
It’s currently the driest its been for a long old while here in Scotland and the Tweed Valley has not escaped the sun’s attention either. Katy is running Bontrager SE5 Team Issue tyres front (22psi) and rear (24psi), tubeless, naturally, on Bontrager Line Elite 30 wheels.
