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Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

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Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

Even though the Momsen VIPA is still in prototype form, that didn’t stop Nico Pfitzenmaier from racing it to victory in the 2013 Cape Epic Masters category. That earns Nico the title of the 2nd most stage victories in the 10 year history of the Cape Epic, second only to Christophe Sauser. Nico raced to victory with his partner as team Bridge beating out  the 2012 winner and Olympic MTB champ Bart Brentjens in the process. Not only did Team Bridge win the Masters division, they also came in 11th overall besting factory teams including Scott Swiss Power MTB – not bad for the bike’s first outing.

According to Victor Momsen, Nico has been a fan of the hardtail, though after riding the VIPA at Momsen’s HQ, he was convinced to ride the dually for the Cape Epic. Clearly the bike is pretty dialed as it is, though Momsen is using the testing and race feed back to tweak the final design before production.

Full bike check of the winning VIPA after the break.

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

The bike Nico rode to victory is built around 29 inch wheels with stock Stan’s ZTR Crest wheels set up tubeless of course with Schwalbe Racing Ralphs with Snake Skin casing – which is the tire casing for the Cape Epic according to Momsen.Victor mentioned Nico had the choice of lighter wheels, but chose to ride the Stock Stan’s on account of their blend of durability and light weight.

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

You’ll notice that in our original post we struck out that the VIPA is a 29er, there is still no official word on wheel size so we’ll have to wait and see…

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

In the video you might have caught the screw driver looking thing taped to the stem, which is actually a tubeless tire plug tool. The thing that looks like a stick is a rubber plug that is stuffed into the cut in the tire and effectively seals the hole – a slightly faster method than repair kits like Hutchinson’s Rep’air. Seeing as how punctures and snake bites are the most common mechanical at the Cape, having the tools ready for quick repair is critical. There is also a spare tube taped to the top tube and a can of sealant on the seatpost.

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

The team is supported by SRAM and Rock Shox, so an XX drive train and brakes are used with the exception of  Rotor Rings that are shifted with an X0 2×10 front derailleur. Nico was running Look S-Track pedals as well.

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

ESI grips are a popular choice among many racers, which sit next to a Pop-Loc for the SID front fork.

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

Interesting way to keep your bottle cage from either spreading too far apart, or to make it tighter – electrical tape. Even without a remote lock out on the rear shock, Nico was extremely happy with the performance of the VIPA in spite of his love of hard tails.

Momsen Vipa Sees its Race Debut, Winning Bike Check Inside

If you’re heading out to the Sea Otter Classic and want to see a VIPA in person, Serfas USA will have a 19″ on display at their booth.

 

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Don't Tread on Me
Don't Tread on Me
10 years ago

Specialized epic clone?

MA
MA
10 years ago

Was about to say that… anyone know if they streamed Cape Epic anywhere?

MulletRacer
MulletRacer
10 years ago

Talk about ghetto…

Phil
Phil
10 years ago

Funny to read that they are making final tweaks before production; guess they have loads of $$$ for tooling…

RyanC
RyanC
10 years ago

probably layup tweeks. But that may not matter if the big S sues them like they did to Volagi…

dogboy
dogboy
10 years ago

How can it be an Epic clone without the Horst-link?

Greg
Greg
10 years ago

if they copy it well enough, it might ride well enough.
no horst link.
no brain.
the down tube is very Scalpel-like.
it probably rides pretty well.

mountguitars
mountguitars
10 years ago

looks more like they copied trek’s ABP or whatever you call it with dave weagle’s version? as the pivot is where the axle can be found or vice versa.

Billj
Billj
10 years ago

It’s a single pivot carbon 29er with 77mm rear travel. Designed in South Africa and made in China/Taiwan like most other brands. They rode the local trails in South Africa on the alloy prototypes, I guess that’s what you call locally developed . That’s it nothing more or less.

Edgar
Edgar
10 years ago

Looks the business. I will buy one, if I can source one from South Africa. Will I be able to get it off http://www.momsenbikes.com maybe?

Big Wheel Flop
Big Wheel Flop
10 years ago

29ers are still [deleted] no matter where they come from.

I'm on a boat
I'm on a boat
10 years ago

650 and 29er carbon frames look to be about $1175.00 us
still cheaper than trek,redS and others.

Iwan
Iwan
10 years ago

Edgar: I’m sure you will find a dealer willing to ship. Or order from http://www.momsenbikes.com

I have one and have done a fair amount of km’s on it. It is one of the best bike’s I’ve owned or ridden. Most of which have all been high-end boutique brands / bikes. It is stiff, light and accelerates like a bullet. Riding technical single track has been a revelation on this 29er. So much so that I’m running a stealth dropper and 51mm offset 120mm SID on mine. It LOVES fast, flowy single track.

Build and review thread going on our local forum
http://www.thehubsa.co.za/forum/topic/131282-momsen-vipa-build-review/page__hl__vipa

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