[This article is sponsored by Cube, Granite, and Leatt]
With five days and nearly 300km of racing to dispatch over tarmac, gravel, and bike park trails, the RiftMTB was a job for the humble cross-country bike. For his attempt, Ty chose Cube’s AMS Zero99. Here’s a closer look at the bike itself and how he set it up.
Cube reckons that the AMS could be one of “the most uncompromising race full sussers ever built”, so with such a volume of distance, ride time, and ascent ahead of him, it comes as no surprise that it was the bike of choice for Ty to attempt the RiftMTB aboard. This frame is the one that Cube uses to help its Factory Racing athletes win medals and numerous European Championship wins throughout 2024, so there’s certainly some pedigree behind it.
Built around a carbon fibre frame, Cube says that it’s the lightest mountain bike it’s made to date, and every gram lost is every gain made over big distance rides like the RiftMTB.
Equipped with all of the mod cons, the AMS Zero99 brings an adjustable headset and a rather racy geometry, with Ty’s large frame presenting a 445mm reach, a 66.1-degree head tube angle, and a 73.4-degree seat tube angle. There’s a 445mm chainstay too.
As for suspension, this bike offers 110mm of squish up front paired with 100mm at the rear. That’s damped via a Fox 35 Performance fork and a Float SL Performance Elite shock. This bike uses a cable-actuated suspension lockout, which really comes in handy when seeking maximum efficiency when the trail isn’t so lumpy.
Moving onto shifting, and Ty’s got Shimano’s XT mechanical drivetrain, which is matched with an SLX 10-51t cassette. There’s also a pair of two-piston XT brakes that slow down a 180mm rotor up front, and a 160mm rotor at the rear.
Ty’s Cube rolls on a pair of Newmen Beskar 30 light/light wheels, which are wrapped with rubber from Schwalbe. The front tyre is the brand’s Racing Ray and the rear is sorted with a Racing Raplh. Both tyres get the Addix Speed rubber compound and Super Race casings. There’s then a Fox Transfer dropper post.
Then, we move on to more sponsor kit. Ty has chosen to take advantage of Granite’s Stash system with an RCX Multi-Tool Kit hidden in the fork steerer. This little tool grants Ty a neat multi-tool, but also a range of spoke keys. Speaking of Granite, Ty has also picked the brand’s Rockband strap to carry a spare innertube, something that definitely came in handy.
Boosting carrying capacity further, Ty dipped into Acid’s range of bikepacking bags. Going for the Frame Bag Pro 0.5, this sat on Ty’s top tube and became the go-to spot for his nutrition as it was in an easy-to-reach place, and provided just enough room for a day’s worth of snacks.
To round off this bike check, Ty was kitted to the nines with clothing from Leatt, as the brand provided protective gear, base layers, mid layers, shorts, and jackets.
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