Crossworx Lite 290 Review: German For Aluminium – Travis Engel | The Radavist | A group of individuals who share a love of cycling and the outdoors.

CrossWorx’s German-made aluminum frames combine brutalism and futurism with surprising elegance. Travis reviewed the trail-oriented CrossWorx Lite 290, finding that it punched well above its weight. And that’s saying a lot for a frame that is definitely not “Lite.”

I learned about CrossWorx Bikes the way I learn about most things these days: through Instagram. I was scrolling down my shameful Explore page one evening, and I saw a bright yellow frame that looked like an early experiment in full-suspension mountain bikes. The simple low swingarm reminded me of a motocross linkage, which are usually anything but simple. As I pinched and zoomed, I could tell there was a chunky little Rube Goldberg machine hidden behind those machined aluminum plates. But I couldn’t make out which rubber band would shoot which thumbtack to pop which balloon, and for what purpose. I had to see it for myself.

CrossWorx builds its frames at its headquarters in Rudolstadt, a central German city surrounded by the Thuringian Forest. They’re proud of being a local manufacturer, often using locally sourced materials. Beyond the environmental benefits, this practice allows CrossWorx to react and iterate quickly when they see a trend. Apparently it’s working, because they’ve been steadily growing since their founding in 2019.

Before then, Chris Reichling was an engineer working for Nicolai Bicycles, another German manufacturer of aluminum frames. At the same time, his friend and former schoolmate, Kevin Dewinski, was racing for Nicolai. They make a point on the CrossWorx “About” page to thank Nicolai for its impact on their careers, and on the mountain bike industry in general.

But Reichling and Dewinski are makers at heart. It’s clear that they had their own vision for what a bike can be, and that vision became CrossWorx.

Their debut model was the Dash, a progressive enduro race bike. The lineup has since expanded to include a hardcore hardtail, an aggressive gravel bike, a 24” kids bike, and of course, an e-MTB. But this bike – the trail-oriented Lite 290 – is what spoke to me. Its 130 mm of rear travel can be paired with either 140 or 150 mm up front.

That seemed to put it alongside some of my favorite bikes in the past couple of years. The Revel Rascal, Pivot Trailcat LT, Norco Optic, Forbidden Druid, Chromag Darco, and my personal (discontinued) Canyon Spectral 125 are all mid-travel shredders well suited for making the most of my home hills’ long descents and longer climbs. But travel numbers aren’t the only numbers. On paper, the Lite 290 paints an interesting picture.

Given that the CrossWorx brand launched with an enduro bike, and draws some of its heritage from an ultra-progressive brand like Nicolai, I expected the Lite 290’s geometry chart to be outliers from top to bottom. But the reality is a bit more measured, so to speak. I rode an XL with a very normal 505 mm reach. And though head-tube angle is an imperfect barometer for a bike’s demeanor, 66° is on the conservative end of the bikes I listed above.

But there still are some head-turners in that chart. 40 mm of bottom-bracket drop is a tad deep for this amount of travel. And the 447 mm chainstay is longer than I’d expect for a category that often leans hard into nimblecore. Also, the claimed 78° seat tube angle is already steep, but I discovered something about it during testing that changed me forever. There’s a very cool combination of some very cool ideas here.

CrossWorx Lite 290 Quick Hits

130 mm rear travel, 140 mm front (compatible with 150mm)
Rear travel can be increased to 144 mm with longer shock stroke
29” front and rear wheels
Aluminum frame
Made in Germany
Frame and rear shock weight (XL): 10.5 lbs
Complete bike as tested (XL without pedals): 34.8 lbs
Frame and Float X rear shock: $3,590 (€3,100)
Import and shipping costs will apply outside of EU

There are plenty of cool ideas in the frame itself. Some are little things, like an especially user-friendly approach to internal cable routing. The downtube is wide open at the bottom, which makes fishing hoses and housing 50% easier. Also, every size gets two bottle mounts, or a bottle and accessory mount, depending on your preference. My XL gave me room to carry a full-sized bottle, plus my somewhat excessive every-ride essentials kit.

I tested the bike at 130 mm of travel, but the shock stroke can be increased from 50 to 55 mm to net 144 mm of travel. I like that CrossWorx uses replaceable threaded inserts for the rear caliper mount and specs its own stronger all-aluminum UDH hanger. I also appreciate that their chainstay protector is secured with zip-ties rather than short-lived adhesive. Unfortunately, I kept putting off actually attaching it after assembling the bike, and it fell off on my third ride — my bad.

And then there are the big things. Literally big things, like the welds and the pivots and the giant CNC’d plates. You probably saw it in the Quick Hits bullet points, but yes, a size XL frame and rear shock weigh 10.5 pounds. Though this comparison is definitely not apples-to-apples, the previous-generation Ibis Ripley AF frame and shock is 7.4 pounds.

To be clear, I don’t care much about a mountain bike’s weight. And within reason, nor should anyone else. Thankfully, the ironically-named CrossWorx Lite 290 carries its weight well. It’s concentrated low and within the front triangle. My complete build was under 35 pounds without pedals; granted, that included some fancy XTR and lightweight DT Swiss wheels, but it’s also got some burly tires and steel handlebars. The weight is above average, but far from unreasonable.

Despite my gratuitous close-ups of all these burly CNC’d structures, they don’t seem like they’re trying to call attention to themselves. They harmonize with the rest of the bike’s lines better than some other tubular/machined hybrid frames I’ve seen. The frame design that first struck me as eye-catching now feels surprisingly subtle after spending some time with it. It’s understated and elegant, right down to its deceptively techy suspension design. And by “techy,” I don’t mean overcomplicated – there are no more moving parts on this bike than on a four-bar frame. This is the quintessential example of a linkage-driven single-pivot, a little like Evil’s DELTA Link. But the result is very different on the Lite 290, which means it’s time to discuss how it rides.

CrossWorx Lite 290 Ride Impressions: Climbing

I talk a lot about seat tube angles not being steep enough on larger-sized full-suspension frames. I almost always slam my saddles forward. But this was the first bike that didn’t require me to do so. In fact, my saddle ended up a bit rear-of-center. Again, the CrossWorx geometry chart says 78° across every frame size. Here in 2025, that’s maybe 1° above average. But it turns out that’s the bike’s actual seat tube angle, not its effective seat tube angle.

Like many full-suspension frames, the Lite 290 frame’s seat tube is offset forward for tire and linkage clearance. As a result, effective measurements will be steeper than actual. When I took my first spin after building the bike up, the cockpit felt short enough that I wondered if I had been sent a large, not an XL. But I confirmed the size was right, so I reached for my plumb bob and trig calculator. Turns out the effective angle at my saddle height is about 79.3°.

And I love it.

You might not love it. Steep seat angles aren’t for everyone; shorter riders don’t have as much body weight, and it’s not cantilevered as far over the rear suspension on the uphills. That will diminish some advantages of such a steep angle and may accentuate some disadvantages. And then there are people who ride flatter or undulating trails. This travel category would normally be ideal in that scenario, but the Lite 290 is not made for it. It’s made for people who see seated pedaling as just a way to get to the top, and I happen to be one of those people. Also, if you want to reel that number in a half degree, you can always run the bike with a 150mm fork.

That short cockpit didn’t bother me on the climbs. I’m of the controversial opinion that being “stretched out” isn’t always better for delivering power. Maybe if you’re hammering, you might want your torso primed for the pump. But not if you just want to spin—even forcefully spin—up a climb so you save energy for the descent. And then the next descent, and the next descent. The CrossWorx Lite 290 is the type of climber that really let me “settle in.” I did some of my last big rides of LA’s cool winter/spring season (5K+ vertical ft), and they made me long for the return of milder temps. This bike begs for big days, and not just because of the geometry.

Although there’s no anti-squat magic like on the Revel Rascal or rearward axle path like on the Norco Optic, the CrossWorx Lite 290 is a remarkably comfortable, traction-focused climber. That wasn’t always a factor during my test period, because I do lots of smooth fire-road climbs where I often use a lock-out.

On that note, maybe it was the shock’s OEM tune, or maybe it was the bike’s relatively low leverage ratio, but the lockout feels remarkably firm. There’s not much more to say about fire-road performance, though. Technical climbs were a lot more interesting. Once I finally landed on my preferred suspension settings (which took a while), I found the Lite 290 liked to sit naturally high in its travel.

I give partial credit to that steep seat angle keeping me out of the doldrums, but I give the rest of the credit to the leverage curve, and the suspension settings it makes possible. It’s worth checking out our Shock Value Glossary entry on leverage curves, but I’ll try to load the next few paragraphs with context clues.

Nearly all of the bikes I’ve tested lately have had a consistently progressive leverage curve, top-out to bottom-out, meaning: through the entire stroke, the rear wheel has a decreasing mechanical advantage when compressing the shock, which adds to a feeling of steadily increasing support. Some bikes’ leverage curves level off, or even turn regressive, very late in the travel to slightly soften an air shock’s natural ramp-up near bottom-out.

But instead, the Lite 290’s linkage curve starts regressive, only turning progressive around the sag point. And interestingly, it doesn’t turn as progressive as some similar bikes. The leverage ratio still drops (meaning that the support still increases) past sag, but not as steeply as any other comparable bike I researched.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean it’s not supportive. In fact, this moderate rate of progressivity is partly why I wasn’t falling through the travel, even on steep climbs. If a bike is too progressive for too much of the travel, some riders will have to run less pressure just so they can actually use all the travel. But after my first couple rides on the Lite 290, I found I could run a bit more pressure than normal (about 27% sag instead of 30%). That made for a firmer ride, and yet I didn’t always feel like I was leaving a bunch of unused travel at the end of the stroke.

The geometry and leverage curve worked in harmony, allowing the bike to float calmly and efficiently through rough terrain. Neutral in its travel and reliable in its traction. I didn’t need a fancy axle path or excessive anti-squat to keep the bike from sinking. It just needed slightly firmer suspension settings. That said, I’m not a basher. Or at least, my trails don’t often require me to be a basher. If they did, I already would have preferred a firmer suspension feel by default, which would usually come at a cost to small-bump performance. But on this bike, that was very much not the case.

CrossWorx Lite 290 Ride Impressions: Descending

If seat angle is my favorite axe to grind when talking about climbing, I think stack height fills that role for descending. Aggressive trail bikes like the Lite 290 need taller front ends, primarily in the larger sizes. This bike’s ability to run a 150 mm fork (I tested it with a 140) may give it a slight edge in the category, but a bike this capable could stand to put us taller folks a bit more upright, regardless of our fork-travel preference. Thankfully, that’s easy to fix with the right cockpit components – and with my cockpit setup, I had no complaints.

Beyond stack height, I think the CrossWorx Lite 290’s natural geometry suits its natural intentions. I had several grin-inducing moments where I quickly wove the bike around a rock and induced a brief two-wheel drift. I could get into and out of that type of maneuver without excessive speed or effort. For those whose rides are dominated by excessive speed, CrossWorx still makes the Dash. If the Lite 290 had a slacker head angle – and the longer front-center that comes with it – maaaybe I would have had bit more peace of mind in the couple extremely rocky steep sections that I was lapping while dialing in my suspension. And if that type of section dominated my trails, this bike would be the perfect candidate for a Wolf Tooth Geoshift headset. Another degree slacker could make this an ideal mid-travel monster. Gotta love 44 mm/56 mm head tubes.

The bottom bracket is pleasantly low, causing a perfectly acceptable number of pedal strikes on my unfashionably long 170 mm cranks. And that roomy rear-center was well chosen for this bike’s attitude. It took a split second more planning to lean into a manual on the Lite 290 than on a Chromag Darco or my Spectral 125.

But that’s not what this bike is meant for.

The Darco and the 125 are lighter on their feet. Sometimes to a fault, and that’s what I like about them. They’re not forgiving, they’re demanding. They’re like hardcore hardtails for people who don’t like hardtails. The CrossWorx Lite 290 leans more into its identity as moderate-travel aggressive bike, but in a very different way.

Saying a bike “feels like it has more travel than it does” is sort of a bike-review cliché. Or, at least it used to be. I don’t see it that much anymore, and I definitely don’t say it much anymore. Shock and linkage design have raised our standards, so a bike really has to do something special to truly feel plusher than its numbers. And the CrossWorx Lite 290 is doing something special.

On my first couple rides, I was blown away by how supple this thing was. Granted, this was before I ultimately increased my shock pressure, but with no exaggeration, the Lite 290 would hover like a coil-sprung enduro bike. And still, I never bottomed it out too harshly. It wouldn’t flick around without significant effort, which actually was fine.

I could do no wrong as long as I mostly stuck to the ground. Despite eventually abandoning that setting, I can picture it being valid for some folks. Maybe you’re not a particularly forceful rider and/or you don’t have particularly chunky trails, but you still want to squeeze every drop of speed out of a descent. This softer initial setup was a fine way to achieve it. But I gave it up because it kinda made me wish I had an actual coil-sprung enduro bike. At my skill level, I wouldn’t huck a Lite 290 mindlessly in a bike park. So, I shallowed my sag a little to bring back that short-travel shreddyness. And that’s when everything came together.

Naturally, I had a little more to push against. And because of that gradual progressivity, what I was pushing against was firm but deep. Moderate- to mid-sized bumps would be swallowed nearly whole before dying with a whimper in a hardly perceptible bottom-out. The Lite 290’s midstroke doesn’t have that “non-Newtonian” feeling of suddenly ramping up under high-velocity pumping or popping.

With any reasonable type of input, the bike offered just enough pushback to let me redirect my body weight wherever I wanted. I should emphasize, it offered only just enough pushback. The consistency in the midstroke meant there wasn’t a perceptible “shelf” like some other bikes have. That non-Newtonian phenomenon is actually kinda cool if you just want to goof around. And it didn’t suddenly emerge from the Lite 290 when I shallowed my sag. But like I said, the type of support that did emerge rarely came with any consequence to bump sensitivity.

With my high bars and stem, the whole “lean forward” thing is not nearly as scary as it used to be. It helps with traction and handling, and it keeps me from trying to plow heels-down with the rear wheel deep in its travel. The lean-forward approach works especially well on the CrossWorx Lite 290. The bike doesn’t seem to require a severe impact to get through the first 25% of its rear travel. Sure, there are other bikes that require minimal “breakaway” force to initiate travel. The Spot Mayhem 140’s Living Link helps initiate travel, and high-pivot bikes accept bumps like a community college accepts students. But that phenomenon somehow feels deeper on the Lite 290, if that makes sense.

This is just a theory, but I think it’s because of the leverage curve’s regressive start. The linkage’s natural support doesn’t ramp up until after the sag point, so bumps . And it helps that the initial leverage rate is relatively low, which allows for lower air pressure. Even in my firmer settings, I only ran about 10% under my body weight. That starting suppleness helped in steep sections where there was less weight on the rear end, and it helped a lot when touching down from a jump or recovering in deep chatter. The Lite 290 feels like it has more travel than it does.

Value and Availability

It goes without saying that the cost of importing goods to the US is in flux right now, so we can’t promise US buyers that any price we quote here will stay accurate forever. What CrossWorx tells us at the time of writing, is that, at the customs fees are 15%. That’s $538, making the frame and rear shock I tested $4,128 plus your state’s sales tax. Also, you can choose to add about another $115 if you want your frame painted. You can pick just about any color you want. However, I don’t know why it wouldn’t be raw aluminum, which comes at no extra charge.

The Lite 290’s price isn’t actually all that much higher than what you’d pay for other boutique full-suspension framesets. If I had to compare it to another aluminum boutique full-suspension frame manufactured in Germany, I can only think of Nicolai. Their S11 frame and shock goes for about $3,418 (€2,949), which also will come with its own customs duties. Beyond that, most frames that come to my mind are Asian-made carbon like a $3,800 Spot Mayhem, or a $3,949 Santa Cruz Tallboy. And Yeti starts north of $4K. So, what you’ll pay for the Lite 290 isn’t out of the ordinary for a bike this out of the ordinary.

And that’s why I wanted to bring one in for The Radavist. We cover plenty of small makers, but CrossWorx doesn’t have your traditional small-maker vibe. Their bikes look industrial, not artisanal. And they’re playing in the same sandbox as the big kids. This bike is a reminder that there are still new ideas worth exploring in mountain bike design. It’s also a reminder that some good can come from scrolling Instagram.