SESSION 9.9 [TREK BICYCLES] 2012: If you are going to pay $9000 for a bike it had better be good. Well this is the Trek Session 9.9 - a carbon fiber downhill race rig that trumps anything else on the course. It is a culmination of some serious technology, amazing performance, and I will have to admit - stunning good looks. It was an exciting project and pushed the engineering and design team tot he next level.
Thirty-two pounds may sound heavy for a bike - but in this class the Session 9.9 is a featherweight. With a little extra cash for parts one can get it down to a mere twenty-eight pounds while retaining a full eight inches of front and rear suspension - it is something that World Cup winning downhill racer Aaron Gwin can appreciate [Video] at the bottom of this page.
Concept development: A few sketches based on the original Session frame. CAD development [below] leverages SolidWorks surfacing (yes surfacing!) to design the carbon-fiber constructed frame.
The first prototype being un-boxed in Whistler, BC. We produced a small prototype run just for testing with pro riders during the epic Crankworx event. After hundred of runs down the hill, we had the results: All signs pointed toward go for production.
