Work tool – Olympia Edition Thömus Lightrider Worldcup Ganbaru by Mathias Flückiger

Double success in the World Cup and at the top of the world rankings for the first time: Mathias Flückiger travels to the Olympic Games in Tokyo with confidence and is considered one of the biggest favorites in the men's field. Appropriately, sponsor Thömus donated him a special version of the race fullies Lightrider, with which Flückiger wants to reach for Olympic medals. All pictures and information about the world's number 1 racing car can be found here!

For many years, Mathias Flückiger was an integral part of the world elite, but he was never able to completely break through the phalanx of top stars around Nino Schurter, Mathieu van der Poel and Co. In line with the postponed Olympic year 2021, however, the Swiss seems to have made another leap in performance and climbed to the top of the cross-country world rankings for the first time with two "perfect" race weekends at the last two World Cup races in Leogang and Les Gets. Not only in the cross-country discipline, where Flückiger was able to win a World Cup in 2018 in Mont-Sainte-Anne and 2019 in Albstadt, Flückiger is also the current top rider in the scene in the short short track discipline and accordingly one of the big favorites for the upcoming Olympic competitions in just under a week.

The RN Thömus Racing Team, led by ex-pro Ralph Näf, has been a loyal companion on the way to becoming a world leader in recent years, including the Lightrider and Tomcat race bikes from main sponsor Thömus. In Tokyo, Flückiger will rely on the Race-Fully Lightrider, which was designed by Thömus with a special paint finish. The wheel, whose design is intended to represent a symbiosis of Japanese world heritage and traditional Swiss craftsmanship, will also be available to end customers in a limited edition. 100 bikes from the Thömus Lightrider Ganbaru Edition will be sold at a price of 7,990 Swiss francs, including a jersey and trousers from Flückiger's national champions' kit.

Equipment: Thömus Lightrider Worldcup Ganbaru by Mathias Flückiger

In contrast to his hardtail, which Flückiger used at the World Cup opener in Albstadt and which we were allowed to take a closer look at back then, Flückiger rides the Race-Fully Lightrider in frame size M and not in size S: According to his team mechanic Gavin Black, the reason for this is above all the longer wheelbase resulting from the larger frame with smoother handling. However, to compensate for the longer reach of the M frame, Flückiger uses a shorter stem that measures just under 60 millimeters and has an inclination of -17°.

Video: Ganbaru Bike Build

The components of the Swiss Olympic bike are mainly from the two sponsors of the RN Thömus Racing Team, Shimano and DT Swiss. The drive and the brakes are based on Shimano's top group XTR, the wheels and spring components come from the top series from DT Swiss. Like many other pros, Flückiger relies on 30 millimeter wide rims fitted with Schwalbe tires. The light-weight Swiss mostly drives a tire pressure of 1.1 bar at the front and 1.2 bar at the rear. The DT Swiss F232 One suspension fork at Flückiger measures 110 millimeters and is filled to 81 psi, using 2 tokens. The matching DT Swiss R232 damper with 100 millimeters of travel gets 78 psi and a volume spacer from Flückiger.

A special feature of Flückiger's bike are the brake levers, which are positioned extremely far outwards, which enable the Shimano XTR brakes to "grab" as soon as they are gripped. In addition, team mechanic Gavin Black manually reconfigured the suspension lockout of the race bike so that Flückiger can operate it below the handlebars and is not dependent on the variant above the handlebars. Of course, the much-discussed Wizard stickers for vibration damping should not be missing from the Tokyo bike of the overall World Cup leader. These should absorb vibrations of the ground and thus reduce fatigue when driving. At Flückiger on the bike, these are attached to a wide variety of places such as the hubs, the frame or the handlebars.

How do you like the Olympic Edition of the Thömus Lightrider by Mathias Flückiger?

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