What's the Lightest Full Suspension Mountain Bike?

Integrating lighter components onto your bike can make a substantial difference to its weight and performance on the trail. While the weight reduction may not seem significant at first glance, even slight modifications could have an immediate and positive impact.

Pinarello's Dogma race bikes dominated this year's Elite Mountain Bike World Championship, winning three gold medals to demonstrate their unparalleled speed and efficiency as full-suspension racing machines.

 What's the Lightest Full Suspension Mountain Bike

1. Cervelo ZHT-5

Cervelo made its mountain bike debut in 2022 with an XC hardtail that was both lightweight and capable. Their expertise in crafting road bikes that fly up steep climbs quickly gave their engineers plenty of experience with developing lightweight yet high-performance carbon frames for mountain bikes.

The ZHT-5 is a fast, super stiff bike designed for technical stretches and downhill racing. Experienced riders appreciate its precise handling on tight trails, fast climbing speed and fatigue-reducing comfort; not to mention it is relatively affordable when compared with other high-end MTB frames.

Stiffness comes from its massive tubes, straight connections and lack of lugs on the frame; when combined with its moderate geometry and sporty riding position, these details combine to form a direct path from pedal to trail for the ZHT-5. Furthermore, its Rockshox SID SL Ultimate fork offers additional safety at high speeds.

The medium size frame weighs in at an impressive 870g - only 50g heavier than competing hardtail XC bikes from Canyon and Orbea.

2. Trek Isostrut

As its name implies, this bike is a stripped down version of Trek's top-of-the-line carbon cross-country race frame. As its lightweight frame makes an impressionful statement when riding cross country terrain, and is highly customizable to your preferred riding style; suspension components and wheels can easily be upgraded based on personal riding preferences.

At 1300g (without shock), this full suspension mountain bike is one of the lightest available. Constructed from carbon fiber - lighter and more durable than aluminum alloy - its frame features a straight down tube to increase stiffness while using Trek's IsoStrut suspension design with 60mm damped, tuneable rear wheel travel. Furthermore, its suspension system is housed within a structural stanchion to prevent twisting, flexing, or deflection.

Trek has made major updates to their Supercaliber frame in 2024 to enhance travel, adjust to any terrain more readily, and remain one of the lightest XC full suspension racing frames on the market. Equipped with SRAM's flagship wireless groupset and Bontrager Kovee RSL 30 carbon wheels wrapped with fast rolling Pirelli XC RC tires; as well as a dropper post; this year it also comes equipped with SRAM's premier wireless groupset and dropper post technology.

Orbea's Alma OMR is an updated version of an older model that has long been a mainstay in World Cup XC racing. Though not quite as light as Procaliber, the OMR offers more versatility thanks to Orbea's Spirit Rigid fork, which saves 800-1,000 grams compared to suspension forks while keeping weight under 8kg overall.

 What's the Lightest Full Suspension Mountain Bike

3. Canyon Lux World Cup

With an estimated frame weight of only 10kg, the Lux World Cup makes a powerful statement. A full suspension race bike, it almost feels weightless when picking it up; not to mention, its efficiency in pedaling over rough terrain means less wasted energy when pedaling hard!

Canyon's Lux World Cup, touted as "probably the lightest full-suspension frame in the world", receives a significant upgrade with subtle modifications that make it competitive with top XC racers - more capable modern geometry for faster uphill and downhill runs, improved suspension curves, seamlessly integrated cable routing and tweaked tube shaping that provides for stronger yet lighter bikes.

The new frame features a longer wheelbase for increased traction on the trail and better balance, helping it navigate technical sections more confidently than other XC bikes would.

Canyon has taken another approach to saving weight with their Lux World Cup bike by ditching its dropper post altogether, much like what Oiz and Spark bikes did. While this might not be a deal breaker for some riders, others may shun this move since fitting one later may incur additional cost or hassle.

4. Orbea Alma OMR

Orbea's most advanced Alma model, the OMR is tailored for fast and efficient XC riding. Utilizing premium carbon OMX materials that create a rigid ride that allows your efforts to translate directly into forward drive without mechanical assistance - perfect for fast technical climbs while not punishing casual riders who take more casual approaches to cycling.

OMR's frame features Orbea's new Spirit fork which provides 100mm of travel and allows riders to switch between Boost or traditional 100mm spacing at axle-to-crown, providing greater versatility in wheel selection as well as larger tire options without issues like toe overlap or excessive suspension travel.

Orbea offers their OMR bike equipped with a Shimano XT groupset featuring their popular MT201 hydraulic disc brake set and DT Swiss X1900 rims, combined with 29er OC1 tubeless tires from Orbea's own 29er line up. Orbea also provides their MyO customization program so riders can select colors and components of their bike before having it assembled at their Basque factory - though this may incur higher costs but reduce wait times significantly.