Focus Bikes has joined the growing ranks of major bicycle brands offering a stock disc brake cyclocross bike with their new Mares Cross AX Disc.
The bike has an alloy frame and stocky carbon fork with mechanical Tektro discs. It’s built up with color matched components and a mid-level drivetrain spec of Shimano 105 and FSA Gossamer cranks. Perhaps the best part is that it’s MSRP is just $1,750 with an estimated street price of $1,600.
They’ve also got the new Cayo Evo, a heavily updated version of the Cayo road bike that’s a glimpse at the future for that model and the all-new Raven carbon 29er hardtail…
The frame has S-bend seat stays but no direct mount posts for either the front or rear brakes. The fork is a freakin’ bulldog.
Complete bike weight is 22lbs 6oz.
The new Raven 29er carbon hardtail comes in three trim levels. The top of the line 1.0, above, gets Crank Brothers wheels, full XTR and an FSA carbon cockpit.
The full carbon frame borrows the internal cable channels from their high end road bikes. The top tube thins down as it morphs into some incredibly wide, flat seatstays:
The angled dropouts give room for the rear brakes to mount inside the triangle, then move into some beefy chainstays.
We weighed the 3.0 (left) and 1.0 to show the range. Weights are 25lb 14oz and 22lb 4oz respectively. Spec on the 3.0 is Shimano XT Black, FSA cranks and Magura MT2 brakes with DT Swiss rims. Retail range is $3,150 to $6,950.
The Cayo has seen a lot of evolution over the past four years, first getting the hand-me-down Izalco frame from their top-end racing model and now a complete revision for the Evo, which will soon replace the standard Cayo.
The chainstays get a flat mid section with a nice Di2 wiring port sneaking out the back. The headtube has a nice ridge angling back and cornering into a ridge down the top tube. We’d have weighed it, but these were bolted down. MSRP is $4,300 for the Cayo Evo 2.0 with Ultegra Di2 and Fulcrum Racing 5 wheels.
