Amy Henchoz is quickly making a name for herself on the cross-country scene, having claimed the UK XCM National Championship in 2022 and not leaving the podium ever since. If she’s not racing cross-country, she can be spotted between the tapes of many an enduro and having a crack at several FKT attempts. Supported by Leeds-based carbon fibre aficionado, Carbon Wasp, she’s taking something rather interesting to the XCM World Championships in Verbier this weekend.
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Like Henchoz, Carbon Wasp is no stranger to the podium, having had its aero products found on track, time trial, and triathlon riders’ bikes for a good while now. Taking advantage of its carbon fibre pedigree, the brand has also been making a mark on the industry with its handmade carbon fibre bikes, such as the Truffle-120 and Compound-150. More recently, the brand has jumped on the gearbox bandwagon, now offering two Pinion gearbox-equipped hardtails, with rumours of a full suspension model on the horizon.
As for Henchoz’s bike, that’s something rather interesting in itself. It’s a Truffle-120 but with a difference. Thanks to a bunch of tweaks to the frame’s carbon layup, the removal of the standard ISCG mounts and downtube storage, Amy’s bike is a prototype Truffle-120[SL]. However, Carbon Wasp’s efforts to reduce weight are said not to come at a cost to stiffness and strength, says Adrian Smith at Carbon Wasp.
“We’ve always worked with top-level athletes to develop our products, and we’re proud to see them being used in competition at the highest levels. This is the first time one of our Yorkshire-made frames is being used in a World Championships, and it’s great that it’s a Yorkshire rider, and our pal, Amy, who’s piloting the Truffle-120[SL] for what we hope will be the first of many World’s appearances,” says Adrian Smith.
Impressively, this prototype build has already seen plenty of success, having brought Amy to the podium at the UK National XCM Championships and the Downieville Classic.
Bolted to the prototype frame is a mix of RockShox and Fox suspension, with the former being the SIDLuxe Ultimate shock that damps 120mm of rear travel. That’s combined with the Fox 34SL with 130mm of squish, which is quite a lot for the cross-country scene.
Henchoz dives into her suspension setup, “I normally run 120psi with eight clicks rebound, which gives me between 25-30% sag [on the shock], depending on what I’m
carrying, but for this race [Verbier XCM World Championships] I want a firmer pedalling platform, so I’m going to increase it to 160psi, which should give me about 20% sag.
“As for the fork, I run 60psi, 11 clicks rebound. Normally, I run it a touch softer (55psi), but on this super fast course, to absorb more of the high frequency fireroad chatter, harder is better and no tokens.”
Moving onto the drivetrain, Henchoz’s bike is equipped with a mix of SRAM’s XX1 and X01 AXS shifting – no T-Type here. The crank, chain and cassette come from the brand’s XX1 lineup, whereas the derailleur is the X01 unit. She’s running a 165mm crank, and the chain is waxed. Henchoz chooses wax over lube as she says it lasts eight and a half hours, rather than the four hours of regular lube.
As for the wheels, Henchoz is running e*thirteen hoops and specifically the MTB XCX at the front and an Optimus Race at the rear.
“For the eagle-eyed, it’s an MTB XCX front and an Optimus Race Spec rear because why worry about your wheels when you could be going really fast instead!”
Those wheels are wrapped with Schwalbe’s Racing Ralph Super Race tyres, complete with a tyre insert at the rear.
“Generally, I go for 18psi front and back, but this race [Verbier] is more about consistency than marginal gains, so it’s better to be safe than get a pinch flat. So I’m going to run 18 [psi] front, 19 rear.”
In what may be a little different to her competitors’ choices, Henchoz has gone for a 32t Garbaruk chainring and a OneUp Components dropper post with 120mm of drop.
“It’s just 10g heavier than a [Fox] Transfer SL 100mm and makes the bike a lot more versatile, definitely worth it!”
Elsewhere, there’s a Mount Zoom flat handlebar and stem combo, ESI Chunky grips, Lewis LV2 brakes and Quaxar’s Axim rotors, measuring 180mm at the front, and 160mm at the rear.
As for the weight, this build comes in at an impressive 10.9kg, just a kilo weightier than Isla Short‘s Yeti ASR, which is known for being the lightest bike in elite XC at the moment.
Commenting on her overall build, Amy Henchoz adds, “The number one goal from the bike was to build something that would be perfect for the Downieville terrain, thankfully that aligns very nicely with what I want from a bike anyway: light and fast, but also can rip up pretty much any Enduro line you put it on.
“Therefore, the new Fox 34SL was the perfect fork, but the 120mm dropper was the real game changer. That extra 20mm over an XC 100mm makes a lot more difference than I would have thought. To the extent that I don’t notice much difference between it and the 150mm dropper on my enduro bike!
“Within three weeks, I rode one and a half laps of Ard Rock on it, keeping pace with the enduro rigs I was riding with, then came third in the National Champs and finally, a week later, second in the Downieville Classic. All on the same tyres and same setup. There are not many bikes that could do that! Normally, an XC race bike, I’d rather not take it out on most of our Thursday Night rides, and if we want to run laps somewhere, I’d always take the enduro bike, but now I pretty much take the Truffle-120 for anything.”
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