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So far it’s a solo ride.

The Mosaic MT-2 BOTW: A Big Bike Brawler’s Hardtail

Ben Jones |

Our customer wanted a more efficient trail bike to partner with his long-travel full suspension trail and enduro bikes. Fortunately, Mosaic just launched their new MT-2, and it was as simple as picking appropriate parts for this do-everything hardtail. We started the build with the faultless Fox 34 Step-Cast. This fork is light, accurate, and exceptionally controlled, thanks to Fox's Fit4 damper. We like the Shimano XT mechanical drivetrain for its reliable and precise shifting, but we prefer SRAM's modulation in the four-piston brake realm, so we specified a Shimano M8100 drivetrain on this MT-2 and added a set of SRAM G2 RSC brakes.

The Mosaic MT-2 Cockpit

Once the squish, go and stop were sorted, we moved on to touch points. Given the customer's experience with bigger bikes, we wanted him to feel at home in the cockpit. That meant running the ENVE M6 riser bar and ENVE carbon MTB stem, which kept the front end light but strong. To help round out the cockpit, we fitted Ergon's GE1 Evo factory grips, which give this MT-2 an ergonomic contact point with exceptionally accurate steering.

The Mosaic MT-2 Hubs

Now came a difficult question: which wheels have a true XC weight while maintaining the strength of aggressive trail bike rims? After internal deliberations, we picked the Industry Nine 280 Carbon wheels for this build. 370-gram carbon rims mated to heavy-duty spokes laced with Industry Nine's 2:1 pattern make for a super light, laser-accurate wheelset. Tire selection becomes extremely important on a hardtail when you're used to hitting sketchy lines on full-suspension bikes. So we chose to wrap these gorgeous wheels in Maxxis Rekon 29x2.6" rubber front and rear, a tire set that allows the bike to float over trail chatter and skim along braking bumps.

And that's the build - an Above Category custom Mosaic MT-2 25.73-pound monster ready to rule the singletrack and chase down some of its longer-legged MTB siblings.

The Build Spec

Frame: Mosaic MT-2
Fork: Fox 34 Step-Cast Factory 120mm
Drivetrain: Shimano M8100 1x w/ 10-51 cassette paired with a 30T chainring
Brakes: SRAM G2 RSC w/ RT-86 180f/160r rotors
Wheelset: Industry Nine 280 Carbon
Tires: Maxxis Rekon 29 x 2.6” Dual EXO Wide Trail
Handlebar: ENVE M6 25mm riser (cut to 770mm)
Grips: Ergon GE1 Evo Factory
Stem: ENVE Carbon M6 50mm
Seatpost: Fox Transfer Factory 150mm w/ Wolf Tooth BarCentric ReMote
Saddle: Form Cycling Throne RS Carbon
Bottom Bracket: Chris King Ceramic ThreadFit 24mm
Headset: Chris King InSet i7
Pedals: Shimano XT M8100

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