BMC presents the reincarnation of the Softtail

BMC is launching a new cross-country bike with the new Teamelite 01 - the first to be developed 100 percent in Switzerland. It is neither a full suspension nor a hardtail bike. It is a kind of reincarnation of the legendary softtail, created for better performance in races.

The new Teamelite 01 was the result of the BMC mountain bike racing team riders asking for a bike that combines the advantages of a full-suspension and a non-suspension bike. The reason is that although the World Cup courses increasingly demand full suspension, a laterally stiff and light hardtail is still the better choice on the climbs. The same applies to constant acceleration, which also characterizes today's cross-country races.

BMC has responded to this need by equipping the "Teamelite" race hardtail with a buffer between the seat tube and stays to absorb impacts. This is not via a pivot point but via the inherent flex of the chainstays. This idea is nothing new. Ritchey already used a similar system in their "Softtail" model around 20 years ago. BMC is now breathing more than just new life into this system. The rebirth of this system is called Micro Travel Technology - MTT for short.

The heart of the MTT is the built-in XCell damper, a high-end rubber composition that cannot be compared with elastomers. The rubber of the XCell damper is very temperature-resistant. Its performance should hardly change from minus 20 to plus 80 degrees Celsius. According to BMC, the XCell damper also hardly tires at all.
The rider can choose from three different rubber hardnesses to find their setup. The bike is delivered with the medium-hard rubber and the other hardnesses included. The system releases a maximum of 15 millimetres of "suspension travel".

However, this buffer is not clamped unattached between the stays and seat tube but is guided by two bolts. These have the same coating as other suspension elements and also run in guide bushes that are similar to those of suspension forks - only smaller.
If you remove the cover, the bolts can simply be unscrewed to replace the rubbers.