We had a chance to ride the BMC teamelite TE01 29 and it is a great riding carbon 29er. Swiss brand BMC is not as well known in the mountain bike world as they are in the road cycling but their dirt offerings should not be overlooked. Let’s face it…a carbon 29er hardtail is the easiest type of mountain bike for manufacturers that make a high-end carbon road bike to produce. But, unlike all those other brands, BMC has brought a special part of that carbon wizardry to the dirt side.

The main ingredient in how the teamelite TE01 29 rides is the BMC’s TCC technology. TCC stands for Tuned Compliance Concept and offers a very noticeable amount of vertical flex felt any time you are in the saddle (BMC first used this in their road bicycles like the teammachine and racemachine models). Now, the concept of building flex into a frames isn’t new, but the way in which BMC achieves it creates a ride that is both comfortable and efficient at the same time. The ride is compliant but the rear of the bike never feels noodly or loose. The bottom bracket shell on this frame is massive.

Check out this promo video that BMC made showing some of the development, technology and R&D (riding) that went into the teamelite TE01 29:

Utilizing a combination of different carbon fibers and their alignment, BMC creates vertical compliance while maintaining high levels of lateral and torsional stiffness. The Tuned Compliance Concept zones on the frame, fork and seatpost increase epic ride comfort a lot. This is ideal for the endurance racer who needs something that will be fast but won’t beat you down over the long haul. The seatstays on the TE01 meet the seat tube well below where the top tube joins, creating a compliance zone. Even the top tube itself has a distinctive “kink” in it and it braced below this junction. BMC engineers claim 10mm of “suspension” and it can, in fact, be felt just by pressing down on the saddle with your forearm and giving it some of your body weight. Obviously, heavier riders will notice more give than lighter ones, but at 165 lbs. I noticed the ride being comfortable without any hint of being overly soft.