Trek has made a true women’s specific trail bike built for riders who want more stability and confidence through tricky terrain.
Mountain Bike Magazine says that this bike represents a ground-up change for Trek’s women’s specific design (WSD). Women told Trek they wanted more stand-over clearance and confident handling, something that just wasn’t happening with tweaked male-oriented geometry. So they started anew, dropping the top tube and lowering the center of gravity without lowering the bottom bracket, which Trek says improves balance and weight distribution on the bike for confident handling uphill, downhill and over tricky terrain. Trek also changed the leverage ratio to accommodate lighter riders. This 120mm travel bike represents an opportunity for women to get a long-legged trail bike just for them. The two top end models (there are four in all) come equipped with the Fox RP3 rear shock and DRCV fork.
Recently we welcomed our friends from Trek to Bend, Oregon for a day for free mountain bike demo rides out at Phil’s Trailhead. They had a good selection of new 2012 Trek mountain bikes including the much talked about Trek Lush. Our friend and Grit Clinic coach, Veronica Vega, had a chance to log some trail miles on one during the demo and she sent us this note…
2012 TREK LUSH SL RIDING IMPRESSIONS
by Veronica Vega
After some minor parking lot adjustments I hit the trail and immediately felt like I was on a trail gobbler. On flat and fast trail the bike height makes the ride feel floaty even though sitting up that high was unfamiliar to me. This clearance certainly helped in rocky sections with less pedal clipping but technical, slow, rocky descents the “fall” felt further giving my heart a little pitter patter. It does place you in a better position for what remains my riding nemesis—fast cornering. I tend to over-think positioning, and the geometry of this bike takes a portion of that away.
The shifting was snappy fast up and down gears and smooth between rings. On climbs, this lower-spec version (Lush SL, aluminum) felt like a lot of bike. I assume this dramatically improves with higher priced carbon models, like the Lush Carbon with Shimano XT, something that would be worth paying more for. Front fork lock out and rear Pro-Pedal made it jam on the flats and short climbs.
On descents the bike took it all. The fork popped back with a near silent poof of suspension as if to say—Iʼll take that for you. Iʼd like to see it on an extended downhill — I can only assume FUN. I was certainly pumping every little jump, and log—otherwise I felt like Iʼd be wasting bike.
When my fitness set me back to a stop on a steep switchback climb I noticed I was able to easily step through the frame and get right back on in the middle of the climb. Nice! Many times gals have to walk the bike up to a flatter spot or bust out a ballet attitude to get that leg over the top tube. The frame shape would help on getting back on in the middle of a descent as well.
Overall a solid fun bike with very cool lady specific considerations. The bonus was riding around thinking- I love mountain biking so much, I will never get enough—and looking down and reading “Lush”.
Thanks for the ride,
VV
