Also new this year is Fox suspension. There was nothing wrong with the BOS it replaces, but we think the tracking ability of the kashima dampers is unparalleled.
Peter Schmid, CEO of Solid, is a passionate bike man and that’s where the aluminium curiosity came from. He said: “I was just thinking that aluminium as a material is not yet completely exhausted and therefore we started to work intensively on the project “No Carbon”.
The result: carbon as a material in no way guarantees a reduced weight of a downhill bike therefore the new Solid Strike Evo performs at the highest level without any carbon parts and is a strong, reliable, modern and above all else, faster DH bike than the predecessor.”
Regardless of the changes, it was always the numbers that made this bike a favourite here in Monmouth and they only sound better this year. The 453mm reach and sub 350mm bottom bracket remain but the wheelbase grows by 15mm to 1285, which gives a smidgen of extra stability and means it now dwarfs the likes of the Trek Session and Specilaized Demo.
“There is only one downhill bike in this year’s 100 that’s lighter than it – the full carbon Propain Rage.
The race set up continues for the Strike this year, but the team has shrunk. The three riders (Julian Steiner, Joshua Barth and Jan Flor) are all local to the Bad Wildbad downhill where the Strike cut its teeth. Expect to see them pushing hard to get into the European World Cups this year.
