The Icelandic brand developed a versatile race ready full-suspension XC bike using a double SRAM Dub bearing design.

Hot Take Away

Hailing from Iceland, Lauf is best known for its innovative Grit SL fork and sharply-priced complete bikes. With the launch of its new Elja  XC / Trail platform, Lauf enters the mountain bike market. 

The new Lauf boasts an impressive price at $6,990 with a complete carbon chassis, full SRAM Flight Attendant, and XX SL Transmission. But the most surprising thing about the Elja are its feathery light frame,  plus-sized tires and single-pivot suspension design. While some of these concepts can be polarizing in mountain biking, I found them easy to understand as a relatively new mountain biker. With its impressive pricing, big tire clearance, wireless drivetrain options, and lightweight design, many riders will find the Elja hard to ignore when purchasing a new—or their first—mountain bike. Riders can start receiving bikes now, with the official launch back on September 25, 2024. 

Before you start rolling your eyes into the back of your head, yes plus-sized tires make a comeback on Lauf’s new Elja mountain bike (along with a single pivot suspension design). While the concept is fresh to newer mountain bike riders, it is not new to mountain biking. The trend first emerged about a decade ago but then quickly died off as 29-inch wheels became the dominant wheel size for mountain bikes (though a diehard contingent of riders champion the non-quite-fat size). 

Lauf’s owner and head designer Benedikt Skúlason fully buys into the concept that wider tires at lower pressures are “faster”. He believes riders’ minds play tricks on them due to the perceived “noise, vibration, and harshness” most riders experience. Lauf’s aim with the Elja was to create an XCO racing-winning platform while maintaining the bike’s ability to ride more technical trails.  And Skúlason wanted to accomplish this without compromising weight, efficiency, ease of maintenance, traction, and control.

Iceland is a unique place where the environment dictates the most efficient and sustainable way of getting from A to B with as little maintenance as possible. As a product of Iceland, the Elja reflects this spirit—this bike was created, tested, and ridden extensively around Reykjavik and Akureyri. It is a region that experiences vast swings in environmental, topographic, and climatic changes—all factors that ultimately played a part in the Elja’s development. 

Models & Spec's

According to the designer and engineers at Lauf, the Elja’s weight and component build are meant to compete with leading bikes in cross country category (with 120/120mm) travel such as Specialized Epic S-Works, Cannondale Scapel 1 Lefty, Canyon Trail Lux, Scott Spark RC and the Orbea Oiz. Of those bikes, the one closest in price the Canyon Trail Lux which is on sale right now for $4999 (without Flight Attendant and Sid Select + Remote lockout). For the same components, travel, and weight, the $14,500 Specialized S-Works Epic 8 costs almost double the Elja’s price for a bike with the same SRAM and RockShox suspension. 

Picking which bike all starts with knowing if you might want the XC or Trail version. The XC version has two main builds: a Race or  Ultimate model. The Trail version has four builds on offer: Weekend Warrior Transmission”, Race, Race Flight Attendant, and “Ultimate Flight Attendant” allowing consumers to pick between colors, builds, and features. However, riders looking to run a mechanical drivetrain must look elsewhere as the Elja frame is not compatible with traditional cable-pull rear derailleurs. 

I tested the Elja in size small. The bike weighs 25.3 lbs without pedals or bottle cages and Lauf offers it in four sizes ranging from small to extra large. 

The model I tested featured Lauf’s Ultimate component package with a 120mm RockShox’s Sid Ultimate fork, a 120 SidLuxe Ultimate rear shock paired to a Reverb dropper seatpost (a Pike build/trail option is available with 130 / 120 travel) with SRAM’s Flight Attendant, a 32 tooth chainring paired to XX SL Drivetrain with a 10-52T cassette, and Zipp’s 1 Zero HiTop S wheels. Lauf offers a few different categories of builds depending on which bike you choose.

Geometry & Extra's

The headtube has a 66-degree angle with short 435mm chainstays. Unlike some brands, the Elja’s geometry maintains consistent headtube and chainstay lengths across sizes; other areas are size specific with minor increase as the frames go up in size, And since the Pike fork is 10mm longer than the Sid, the BB drop changes from 40mm on the XC to 37mm on the Trail with the Pike fork and the head angle slackens by 0.4-degrees. The Elja will come with FSA’s Gradient stem in two options either a 35mm or 50mm depending on the size you choose (35mm for size small and 50mm for medium through XL). 

Other choices the rider can expect are, four paint options: basalt black, bilberry blue, zeolite green, and jasper orange. Another small details include a 780mm wide Lauf-branded carbon mountain bar. With three mounting points, the two in the main triangle depending on the size the bike will accommodate different sized bottles. In a size small, Lauf suggests the 450 ml Fidlock bottles, with more room as the bike size gets bigger. 

Lauf observed and researched tons of different suspension designs and philosophies (like VPP or DW-Link) that many companies will boast or flash. Lauf’s choice to start with a single pivot is simple, focusing the rear wheels center of rotation ahead of the bottom bracket and crank to provide riders with the most stable, stiff and efficient riding experience. Without the loss, flex or pedal-bob that can come with other designs and bikes.  

The Elja is optimized and designed around RockShox’s SiD and Pike platforms for front suspension. The other half of the story behind Lauf’s decision to use a single pivot design is ease of maintenance and to increase tire clearance. The one main pivot uses a SRAM Dub bottom bracket. It is a common part that most shops stock if the pivot requires service. 

The other major headline with the Elja is, it's wireless only and available only for UDH. At the moment, it is only compatible with SRAM’s transmission drivetrain. The only place you’ll be able to run a traditional mechanical-style part is at the dropper, which has an available internal routing option that is not guided. The bike at the lower end of the builds will come with a traditional two-position SidLuxe Select + which will not feature any open or close remote control. 

Goodyear Tires "Peak"

Current trends for mountain bikes are 2.2- to 2.4-inches wide, firmly cementing this tire in the “plus-sized” category. Lauf says that this bike depending on the fork you spec will accommodate up to a 3” tire, which certainly gets into plus sized tire category. (I can confirm seeing Skúlason on 3.0 tires comfortably clearing the frame and mud. Lauf partnered with Goodyear to develop the Elja’s 2.6-inch wide tubeless-ready tire called the Peak.

Once home, I grabbed and measured the tires to confirm their width. Goodyear and Lauf designed a 2.6-inch wide tire that measured between 2.41 and 2.43 inches at 25 psi. The two may need to tweak the mold slightly as the tires I tested were the first batch of production tires.

With a fast rolling center tread and sufficient height on the edges of the tread, the tire performed and excels when at lower than normal pressures, allowing the tire to grip corners and rocket through the flats. 

Ride Impressions

While I am admittedly new to mountain biking, there are tons of great rider's out there who have been riding longer and can remember how certain trends have affected the landscape of mountain bikes and improved on advancing the technology. So, I've been consulting with several mechanics and riders about the Elja’s design and tech for some historical context.

When I mentioned the phrase “2.6 tires” some responded with apprehension others were stoked. Apparently we’ve been here before and while it didn't catch some folks fancies, plus size tires were heavily used during the early 2000’s a trend that eventually dwindled. In conjunction, single pivot designs have been around, for example like the Orange Stage Evo, which essentially uses the main front triangle as the first leverage point placing the second point just above and head of the bottom bracket. Historically, every design whether a single pivot, 4 bar or whatever the company decides has limitations that influence the bike’s design. According to one rider, “The right number of bars is as many as are needed to achieve the best bike possible”.   (I’m only 33 and have primarily a Road/ Gravel/ CX focus aimed at longer distanced events like STBGRVL and UnPaved PA. )

I first rode the Elja with the folks from Lauf on a visit to Iceland. Initially, Iwas more shocked by the weather than the bike. Generally, media events aren’t great for testing products. It’s hard to properly evaluate an unfamiliar bike when jet-lagged and riding on roads or trails you don’t know. We made the most of it (then) and have been riding it nonstop since. The bike is designed to be light, responsive, capable, and with the ease of maintenance for servicing the suspension, of which I can happily claim the bike did all.

 The bike extended some newfound confidence and skill in part because of the components/build while complimenting the bike's ability to stay planted and reactive through the toughest of sections. I didnt have to think much about whether I wanted the bikes suspension open or closed, flight attendant did all the hard work.

The best way I tried to approach this bike was to understand where the bike and my limitations began and where the bike could take me if I trusted it. Having no prior understanding before this experience that you could under or over fork a bike’s travel, that aspect was new/exciting to me. I definitely saw/felt the limitation with the SiD Ultimate wanting more travel for trail riding days as my confidence grew day to day. Thankfully this bike could be spec’d with a Pike 130mm travel fork and play in the roughest of terrains.

I’m in the process of determining what suspension set-ups I like and what I don't like for specific riding days. We rode for a total of two days. On the short course XC day, I performed several laps adjusting primarily suspension setup followed by tire pressure. Thankfully, RockShox’s Trailhead App takes the guesswork out of where to start, eventually settling on 72psi in the fork and 145psi in the rear. I was running a higher pressure in the Goodyear 2.6” tire at around 20psi to start, of which both Benedict and Bergur Benediktsson (Research and Product Developer at Lauf) told me was way too high for this type of riding.

After some laps adjusting the tires, I settled into 11 psi in the front and 13 psi in the rear. Going this low or settling on this pressure allowed the tire to conform more to the trail as the bike leaned into berms and roots. Larger tires at lower pressures have an increased contact patch, giving the rider more control.  At 20psi, I was unable to take advantage of leaning the bike over to maximize contact and grip with the trail, but by dropping the tire pressure to 7 psi I was able to feel more connected to the trail. While I know trail conditions change, at lower psi I was able to take advantage of pushing the bike through berms rather than dragging the rear brake. 

Should you buy it?

This bike is for the rider who wants to have fast XC days whether racing epics or doing laps around your local trails. Its weight and components for the price are hard to beat when the same bikes can cost almost two times the same amount. SRAM Flight Attendant makes the riding experience a breeze if you are new to riding. 

The Elja can also keep up on trail days if you want to run the Pike fork. With the increase of 10mm of travel, whether you go for the SidLuxe Select + 2 position or Flight Attendant, the bike remains snappy with responsive handling when pointed downhill, especially in the chunky stuff. It's the kind of bike that can keep up in the race and have fun on technical features. 

Short Answer: Yes

Long Answer: It depends 

Notes from the Field 

Part of Lauf’s pricing and build spec is the “Rift Ultimate Experience” priced at $12,790. At this price, you get the red carpet rolled out for ya. This means you and friend get to attend a five-day Icelandic Stage Race with all your meals, transportation and lodging covered. The race alone is worth $5,500, and this roughly translates to $1,000 off the bike when you do the math. The hardest part maybe is the choice between the Ultimate Flight Attendant XC or Trail bike.

A quirk about the bottle mountsmounts is they only accommodate one standard 22 ounce bottle in the front triangle on the  size small (M, L, and XL frames for two bottles). However, you will need a side-load-style cage to get the bottle in and out. There is an additional mounting point under the down tube for a second bottle but this spot willcollect mud and muck.

If you are the type of rider who needs internal storage there are other bikes on the market. The team at Lauf brought up this point, the main reason, in their eyes it was unnecessary for the bike to have added material to reinforce that feature. Ultimately, this would affect the weight and ride experience, if you have items moving and knocking about inside the frame.