{"id":16879,"date":"2017-04-04T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2017\/04\/04\/bikes-of-the-epic-karl-platt39s-bulls-wild-edge-team-r6336\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T07:00:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T07:00:03","slug":"bikes-of-the-epic-karl-platt39s-bulls-wild-edge-team-r6336","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/bikes-of-the-epic-karl-platt39s-bulls-wild-edge-team-r6336\/","title":{"rendered":"Bikes of the Epic: Karl Platt’s BULLS Wild Edge Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2017 Absa Cape Epic is one that Team Bulls will want to forget quickly. The defending champions Karl Platt and Urs Huber had their share of bad luck and the Epic legends finished the race in an unprecedented 12th place overall.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-86485500-1490334594.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Cape Epic, Team Bulls ride the BULLS Wild Edge Team 29 bike. Their race bikes are somewhat similar to the factory specification but with a few personal touches. As the defending champion, Karl Platt had the honour of riding with the 1-1 number board in 2017.<\/p>\n

The team are riding the new 2017 edition of the Wild Edge 29 which sees slight changes to top tube and chainstay lengths and the addition of a second bottle cage mount within the front triangle. In the case of Karl, a pair of titanium bottle cages from King Cage fill this new found space. To add to the longevity of the frame, the new Wild Edge Team can accommodate modern metric shocks as well as imperial sized shocks using a flip chip in the top tube mount.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-27067900-1490334330.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the best efforts of their direct competition, Shimano (and Team Bulls) are firm believers that the front derailleur and double chainring drivetrain still have a place in mountain biking, as indicated by the #NoSingleTruth sticker on the downtube above. Karl has a full XTR Di2 drive system in place with 36-26 chainring sizes and 11-40 11-speed cassette. This is a slight change from last year<\/a> where Karl favoured a mechanical front derailleur over the electronic version. Karl keeps track of his power by way of a Stages left crank arm power meter.<\/p>\n

The new RockShox SID is definitely eating into the RS-1’s market share amongst the pro teams but Team Bulls decided to stick with last year’s superstar for 2017. The team rides a specially tuned 110 mm version of RockShox’s inverted fork. The rear suspension is handled by a Monarch XX also setup to provide 110mm of movement.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-33662500-1490334326.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n\"ccs-62657-0-67931600-1490334324.jpg\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\"ccs-62657-0-92408100-1490334320.jpg\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A new addition to Wild Edge Team is the Duroflex carbon seat post with its flattened shape which makes it more compliant and comfortable. A Fizik Tundra saddle sits atop the Duroflex seat post with the handlebar and stem combo from FSA’s SLK range. ESI Chunky grips, Tune bar ends, and FSA road bike tape placed inside the controls gives Karl multiple options to change his position on the bike. Karl uses a Sigma ROX 11.0 bike computer to display his vital stats.<\/p>\n

The Sahmurai Sword plug system has become a must have piece of kit at Cape Epic and, of course, with former BULLS rider Stefan Sahm having designed the device, there is little wonder to see it fitted to Karl’s bike.<\/p>\n

\"ccs-62657-0-20197000-1490334328.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The wheels are a set of Stan’s NoTubes ZTR Crest rims laced to a front SRAM Predictive Steering hub (for compatibility with the RS-1 fork) and Shimano XTR rear hub. Karl’s tyres of choice are Schwalbe Rocket Rons.<\/p>\n

Specifications<\/h2>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Frame<\/span>Wild Edge Team Di2<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Rear Shock<\/span>RockShox Monarch XX<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Fork<\/span>RockShock RS-1 110mm<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Headset<\/span>FSA<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Stem<\/span>FSA SLK<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Handlebar<\/span>FSA SLK<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Seatpost<\/span>Bulls Duroflex<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Saddle<\/span>fi\u2019zi:k Tundra<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Grips<\/span>ESI with FSA bar tape<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Pedals<\/span>Shimano XTR<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Front Derailleur<\/span>Shimano XTR Di2<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Rear Derailleur<\/span>Shimano XTR Di2<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Shifter<\/span>Shimano XTR Di2<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Crankset<\/span>Shimano XTR with Stages crank<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Chain<\/span>Shimano XTR<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Cassette<\/span>Shimano XTR 11-40<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Brakes<\/span>Shimano XTR<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Rotors<\/span>Shimano RT86<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Rims<\/span>NoTubes ZTR Crest<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Front Hub<\/span>SRAM Predictive Steering Hub<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Rear Hub<\/span>Shimano XTR 9010 Boost<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Tyres<\/span>Schwalbe Rocket Ron<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Bar End Caps<\/span>Sahmurai Sword<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Bike Computer<\/span>Sigma Rox 11.0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Bottle Cages<\/span>King Cage<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Bar Ends<\/span>Tune RH1<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The 2017 Absa Cape Epic is one that Team Bulls will want to forget quickly. The defending champions Karl Platt and Urs Huber had their share of bad luck and the Epic legends finished the race in an unprecedented 12th place overall. In the Cape Epic, Team Bulls ride the BULLS Wild Edge Team 29 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[76,1513,1530,24,481,87],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-16879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","tag-absa-cape-epic","tag-bikes-of-the-epic","tag-bulls-wild-edge","tag-cape-epic","tag-karl-platt","tag-team-bulls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16879"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=16879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}