NEW FACTOR MOUNTAIN BIKES ‘LANDO’

(press release)

Factor is known for being a premium performance bicycle brand, today they make their debut in the world of MTB with the launch of LANDO. Designed for XC, XC marathon, and fast, extended off-road adventures, LANDO is intended to be an uncompromising, carbon fiber racing bike. It is available as a hardtail or with full suspension, with specifications placing it at the “premium” end of the market.

The bike is currently making its racing debut at Cape Epic – one of the most demanding multi-stage XC races in the world. Its maiden outing will see it piloted by the Amani Racing Team – a purpose-driven project and key team partner of Factor, creating opportunities for aspiring racers in East Africa and providing them with a gateway into the international racing scene.

While LANDO may be the first mountain bike produced under the Factor name, the brand is no stranger to MTB technology, tracing its roots back to when it was a premium ODM (original design manufacturer) for other major off-road brands. LANDO’s forward-thinking design is the result of decades of MTB experience within Factor’s development team. The new bikes couple Factor’s extensive in-house expertise in carbon fiber frame design for road, gravel, and time trial bikes with a deep understanding of modern geometry and suspension kinematics in mountain bikes.

Both the full suspension and hardtail versions are intended to share a vision for lightweight, dynamic, responsive handling and pedaling efficiency. They display an engineer’s attention to detail – from a threaded bottom bracket design and internal cable routing to an all-new Black Inc finishing kit – all of which form an overall package designed from the ground up specifically for racing on XC terrain.

FACTOR LANDO XC (Full Suspension)

LANDO’s full-suspension model – the XC – is optimized for a 100-120mm fork with rear travel of 115mm based on a 45mm stroke shock and 100mm with a 40mm stroke shock. The frame, with single-pivot link-activated shock suspension and hardware tips the scales at 2.1kg, and is designed for fast and aggressive XC riding. The backbone of the bike’s impressive performance is its suspension kinematics – designed to balance the traction and comfort benefits of a more active ride with the firm-platform pedal efficiency required for fast XC racing.

Maintaining torsional stiffness and low overall frame weight was also a crucial consideration in the bike’s design. A vertically-oriented shock ensures forces are concentrated in the strong bottom bracket area, allowing for weight savings elsewhere. Equally, the frame’s split seat tube enables the use of a mono box chainstay connection for extra torsional stiffness and reduced weight, while its flexible seat stays provide four-bar performance without the need for additional pivot points.

The use of a shared shock and lower swingarm pivot, mounted as wide as possible, ensures the simplest, lightest, and strongest use of available frame material. LANDO’s one-piece molded carbon rocker complements its one-piece rear triangle, also minimizing weight and maximizing stiffness, while eliminating shock side loads or binding.

LANDO backs up its performance-oriented suspension kinematics, low weight, and stiffness with progressive geometry. A 67-degree head angle and a virtual seat angle of 75.5 degrees remain consistent across all four bike sizes and complement the bike’s long top tube and short stem setup for aggressive XC riding.

• COMPLETE STARTING PRICE AT $9,199 FRAME, ONLY STARTING AT $4,499

FACTOR LANDO HT (Hardtail)

The LANDO HT is specced with a 110mm fork, and is also available with a Black Inc fully rigid fork for further setup flexibility. The hardtail frame draws from design cues seen on Factor’s successful road and gravel products. The frame’s tube shaping, for example, shares several attributes with Factor’s OSTRO VAM. Equally, the bike benefits from dropped seat stays with a ‘kinked’ design, promoting vertical compliance.

Sharing attributes with its road cousins, however, doesn’t mean Factor has neglected the demands of XC riding. The LANDO HT’s top tube is wide and flat, allowing for flex under the very high loads experienced when landing a jump to flat, or a severe frontal impact. The bike’s CeramicSpeed T47-88.5 bottom bracket, also seen on the full suspension model, is one of the first to be specced on a production hardtail bike. The use of boost 1x spacing and the 88.5 standard enables a wider and stronger downtube, and excellent tire clearance of 2.4”.

• COMPLETE STARTING PRICE AT $7,099 FRAME, ONLY STARTING AT $3,299

Black Inc Components

Factor’s sister component brand Black Inc completes the build for both bikes, offering wheels and a finishing kit specifically designed for XC riding. The Black Inc one-piece bar stem specced on the bike as standard offers a bar width of 760mm with an 8-degree backsweep, and a stem length of 60-90mm with an effective -10 degree stem angle.

Black Inc’s TWENTY-SEVEN wheels provide a forward-thinking inner rim width of 27mm as well as a 27mm rim depth, with a class-leading weight of just 1459g per pair. Custom CeramicSpeed bearings, sapim straight-pull CX-Ray and CX-Sprint spokes and a tremendously strong Ni-Cr axle ensure the 29” wheels are able to meet the demands of modern XC riding.

Riders can also choose to equip a fully rigid Black Inc. fork to the LANDO HT. The fork’s axle to crown spacing of 50.5cm slackens the bike’s head-tube angle and weighs in at 720g.

FACTOR Lando XC Specifications

• 100/120mm front travel / 100-115mm rear travel
• DT Swiss FT232 One fork / DT Swiss R232 One shock
• 2.1kg frame, including shock weight & hardware
• Internal cable routing, 1x only, 2.4” tire clearance
• SRAM XX1 groupset with 32/34T chainring and 10/52 cassette
• CeramicSpeed headset and T47 bottom bracket
• Black Inc 27 Wheels
• Black Inc Barstem
• Black Inc 31.6mm Seatpost
• Tires: Goodyear Peak, 29×2.25
• Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Boost Superflow X-Cross TI 145mm

FACTOR Lando HT Specifications

• 110mm front travel
• DT Swiss FT232 One fork
• 850g frame
• Internal cable routing, 1x only, 2.4” tire clearance
• SRAM XX1 groupset with 32/34T chainring and 10/52 cassette
• CeramicSpeed headset and T47 bottom bracket
• Black Inc 27 Wheels
• Black Inc Barstem
• Black Inc 31.6mm Seatpost
• Tires: Goodyear Peak, 29×2.25
• Saddle: Selle Italia SLR Boost Superflow X-Cross TI 145mm

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FOR MORE INFO GO TO FACTOR BIKES