Although Mondraker has been churning out e-mountain bike after e-mountain bike, its heritage lies firmly in the regular MTB camp, and now, the brand has unveiled its first all-new regular MTB in a good old while. Inspired by the Summum downhill bike and the Foxy, the Anark is built for maximum gravity fun. This is what it’s all about.
By mashing the Summum and Foxy together to create the Anark, Mondraker aims to deliver durability for day-in, day-out riding, but wrap it into a package that can be pedalled up to the trailhead. Despite rocking 170mm of travel at the rear combined with 180mm up front, the brand promises a playful and lively ride, with a heft of capability built into its 6061 aluminium frame. That frame then boasts variable thickness hydroformed tubing to balance weight savings and stiffness, and the rear triangle as been reinforced, to keep it running straight after dodgy sideways landings. It’s internally routed, too.
In a bid to meet durability demands, the Anark comes equipped with double-sealed Max capacity bearings, and for when they do eventually wear out, each of the bike’s frame bearings is the same size, so servicing it should be rather simple. Then, as this is a freeride/bike park machine, it gets a shuttle pad on the down tube to protect it when it’s slung into the back of a pickup.
As for that 170mm of rear suspension, Mondraker has tuned it to suit the demands of freeride and bike park riding. Within those millimetres is a 25% progression rate, making the bike ideal for coil shocks, says the brand and the anti-squat at sag sits around 98%, to keep pedalling efficient. Then, Mondraker promises 99.7% anti-rise at sag, in an attempt to keep the suspension’s performance under braking as best as it can possibly be.
Of course, the Anark gets adjustable geometry, but in its ‘standard’ setting, a large frame gets a 500mm reach, a 63.5-degree head tube angle and a 77.5-degree effective seat tube angle. There’s a 445mm chainstay across the size range, too. But, the BB height can be reduced by 5mm, the head angle can be slackened by 0.35 degrees, and the reach can be reduced by four millimetres thanks to a flip chip at the lower shock mount. Additionally, this is a mixed wheel bike only, so it runs a 650b wheel out back, and a 29-inch hoop up front.
There are two models of the Anark available: the Anark XR, which rocks a beautiful Raw finish. This bike benefits from Ohlins suspension with an RXF38 M.3 fork and TTX22 M.2 coil shock (each size gets an appropriate spring, don’t worry). Shifting is provided by SRAM’s Eagle 90 drivetrain, and the brand’s Maven Base brakes slow the bike. There’s then the classic combo of a Maxxis Assegai on the front wheel paired with a Minion DHR at the rear. Mondraker’s component brand, Onoff, supplies the rest of the kit, apart from the Ergon saddle.
The Anark R dials things back a bit with a RockShox ZEB Base fork paired with a Vivid Coil Select+ shock. There’s SRAM’s Eagle 70 drivetrain paired with DB8 Stealth brakes as well as WTB’s Sportterra rims. This bike gets the same tyre spec as the pricier model and a suite of Onoff finishing components. Oh, and there’s a frame-only option too.
Prices for the Mondraker Anark start at £2,399 for the frameset, £3,999 for the Anark R, and they top out at £5,499 for the Anark XR.
