Both Trek and Specialized are teasing secret new XC bikes

As we inch closer to the Paris 2024 Olympics, the big bike brands are preparing to make sure their riders have the best and newest equipment. That means new bikes. And, with early-season racing already underway in Europe, some of that equipment is breaking cover for the first time. Both Trek and Specialized are teasing new cross country race bikes that their riders will be on in 2023.

Trek also took to Instagram to tease its rival a little about the, uh, similarities between its existing bike and the one Specialized partially revealed in Banyoles this weekend.

Trek’s Supercaliber successor?

Trek released the Supercaliber in September 2019, after its athletes spent much of that season racing it around the world. That was supposed to be a pre-Olympic release. When the Tokyo Games did happen, Jolanda Neff rode that bike to a gold medal in the women’s XCO. Based on its pre-season team video, Trek is looking to refresh its marquee bike with the Paris 2024 Games approaching.

Trek does a bit more than hint at some kind of update. The caption boasts that Trek Factory Racing “have a new kit and new paint scheme. And keep this on the down low, but their soon-to-be-revealed Supercalibers are going to blow your mind.” Seeing as Trek very publicly revealed the custom smoke-graphic TFR-edition Supercalibers earlier this year, the brand’s not talking about fresh paint.

Trek’s zealous pixelation leaves much to the imagination and there’s not much to see in what Trek does show. The smoky Supercalibers might not even be the new bike. There may be a slight curve to the top tubes compared to the current straight top tube, but maybe not. So this could just be a relatively standard “lighter, stiffer” update. But there is a sizable gap in Trek’s line between the 60mm Supercaliber and the 120mm travel Top Fuel. A new model, or a revised longer-travel version of the Supercaliber, could step into that space.

Specialized’s Brain-less Epic

The bright red Specialized its factory team athletes are racing this year is more concretely different than past models. Or at least more different than past Specialized models. When a European website posted spy shots on Instagram, Trek’s official account was quick to chirp that the new bike from its rival looked suspiciously familiar.

As you can see in the photos of Haley Batten racing in Banyoles, Spain, the top tube is covered in a black cloth sheath,…