KTM Scarp Sonic 12 2018

As a passionate old-school alpinist I have always been a friend of the simple, purist and minimalistic designs of (sportive) everyday life. Especially in terms of material and equipment, on and off the mountains, I value simplicity - a requirement that the KTM already seems to fulfill, leaning against the transport box in a semi-built state. The Upper Austrians' typical bright orange is implemented discreetly over frame and components with considerably less dominantly placed logos than on other models of the Scarp series. Even with its gold gleaming Fox suspension elements and similarly coated XX1 Eagle, the bike is blessed with a subtle sense of understatement. Then again, even the newbie quickly gets it, that the Sonic isn't your typical run-of-the-mill bike.

Introduced in 2016 and therefore in its third production year, KTM is building on its Straight Line Link (SSL) rear end with sporty firm 90 mm of travel. The system reduces the forces acting onto the frame, which in order allows for the developers to reduce the amount of material being used and save some weight. In addition, the fourth pivot point near the dropouts was eliminated and replaced by flexing seatstays. More info about that in our thorough test report of the 'regular' Scarp.
To further quench every bit of weight out of the frame, the engineers were given free reign to experiment with highest quality strands of carbon and new layups. The result? According to the manufacturer, the elegant frame hits the scale way below the 2 kg limit - at 1.750 grams. Added to that are some of the finest components a race biker can dream of.

TECH SPECS

A complete Sram XX1 Eagle group as a drivetrain and Magura's slick MT8 with 160 mm rotors to slow the steed down are matched with Fox Float DPS and 32 Float SC suspension, both in high-end Factory Kashima coating, as well as KTM-labeled DT-Swiss XCR1200 Spline Carbon wheels. In regards to tires, KTM is overdoing their weight-watching routine a bit with Schwalbe's toothless Thunder Burt. Beyond paved ways the featherweight feels quickly out of place. KTM's in-house handlebar, stem and seatpost round off the acceleration-friendly package.
However, as a hobby cyclist I somewhat miss a lever at the thru-axle. Every time the wheel needs to be removed – as is necessary with loading the bike into many types of cars – needing to have a matching allen-key ready becomes a bit of a hassle. There were times when owning a quick release made you a king. But I guess that's racing for you. ;-)
At least the cockpit looks very tidy, even with a remote lock-out lever for the fork and rear shock, thanks to the 1 x 12 drivetrain. Also, there's comfortable space for two bottle cages inside the main triangle.

Lifting up the bike with just one hand it is still surprising – knowing that the bike only weighs 9.27 kg, having weighed it myself – how lightweight the Scarp Sonic really feels. Especially, since we're talking about a full-suspension model with 29" wheels in size 53.

Geometrie

Finally, with the first kilometers under my belt I can't resist the feeling that there's this 'nothing' of a bike under my feet. I savor the nimble acceleration, high maneuverability and everlasting drive to push forward. Narrow bar, long top tube and in sum a relatively stretched seating position with a pretty steep head angle – the Scarp Sonic sounds like a real racer on paper and also rides that way. But even with this sportive orientation it's possible to find a surprisingly comfortable position on the bike. With a size of 1.92 m I'm usually at the dark end of the comfort scale but with the size 53 frame (the largest one available) I was quickly happy with my setup. People a few centimeters larger would probably also be happy, those larger than 1.95 meters might start feeling cramped, though.

Surprisingly, it took a while for my fine motor functions to adapt to going from small 26" wheels to 29ers. The – partly only perceived – higher center of gravity and agile steering cost me a good deal of will power to take the hands off the bars. Though, after some settling-in period I was able to throw all caution to the winds and my trust into the bike grew meter by meter. It's all in the head ...

Especially fine in flat areas and on smooth climbs: the intuitive and easy to work handlebar lockout. Yes, it's good form by now for a bike like this to be equipped with one, to me it's still worth mentioning not having to mess around at the fork and rear shock but being able to simply smoothly pick between 'locked' and 'fully open' suspension function with my thumb.
With lockout activated, the Scarp almost handles like a road bike on gravel and flat stages. No trace of wattage introduced to the system seems to get lost and the quickly rolling Schwalbe Thunder Burts show their full potential.

The noble XX1 Eagle also compliments the bike’s versatility. It surely isn't easy on the wallet, once it comes to replacing parts due to wear, but the enormous bandwidth of the drivetrain sure comes in handy. 34 teeth on the chainring coupled with the plate-sized 10-50 teeth cassette didn't let me, as a declared hobby biker, notice a negative difference between my trusty old 2 x 10 or 3 x 9 gearing, even at steep alpine inclines. Apart from that, if the mountains are truly calling for constantly steep terrain and lightweight alone is not enough, you're still able to downsize the chainring.