Bike Profile: Kaya Musgrave’s Nationals-Winning Carbon Mystery Bike

Young Kaya Musgrave won the Nationals Junior Women 11-12 Title in Hartford, Connecticut earlier this year in a fierce battle with her rival, good friend and fellow Coloradoan, Haydn Hludzinski. We profiled Hludzinski's bike last year in Asheville. At the time, Hludzinski took the title for the 9-10 category and Musgrave won in the 11-12 category. The bike Musgrave raced on this year in her title defense is the same one she rode to victory last year. It is interesting to note that there are several similarities between their bikes.

Kaya Musgrave (Avout Racing) from Littleton, CO won a close race with her fellow Coloradan (and good friend) Haydn Hludzinski (Boulder Junior Cycling) who finished in second. Only two seconds separated them at the finish. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships, Junior Women 11-12. © D. Mable / Cyclocross Magazine

Set up by her father, Musgrave races on a Chinese carbon frame that has a very stealth, subdued look to it. Although not flashy on its own, there are plenty of high end bits to be found. What may be most amazing about this bike is the super light weight. In fact, Musgrave's bike might be the lightest bike Cyclocross Magazine (or lifted) photographed during the entire week of Nationals, at under 16 pounds.

For smaller riders, handlebars that are flat or near flat help keep the front end from getting too tall. The low rise carbon bar shown here appears to be a non-marquee brand. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Some might question whether it is worth it to focus so much on weight, but a pound of weight savings is a bigger difference to a 70 pound kid than a 160 pound adult. By using an affordable frame, Musgrave's father is able to equip the bike with high end, lightweight parts.

A SRAM carbon XO crankset is mated to a Wolf Tooth Components 32T single ring. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships. © A. Yee

Besides being light, there are other similarities between Musgrave's Chinese carbon bike and Hludzinski's Kinesis aluminum race bike. Of course, just being light will not ensure victory. When it comes to kid's bikes, fit is an important feature and both young racers use flat-ish bars to help keep the front end from getting too tall. Handlebars, saddles and pedals are all chosen to be lightweight, fast and to fit well to young size proportions.

Musgrave's bike is a weight weenie's dream bike but has a decidely stealth look with the matte black, plain carbon finish but it features a few red highlights here and there like the skewers, chain, grips, headset spacers and spoke nipples. 2017 Cyclocross National Championships. © A. Yee / Cyclocross Magazine

Musgrave runs a SRAM 1x10 drivetrain with XO carbon cranks. SRAM XO disc brakes help slow things down in any weather conditions. Lightweight wheels are Stan's NoTubes hubs and lightweight Race Gold rims with Clement Crusade PDX tires that are set up tubeless.

Kaya Musgrave at speed on her carbon mystery bike. Photo courtesy of Scott Musgrave.

Not only does Musgrave's bike work well for cyclocross, but she earned a silver medal in Mammoth, CA last summer during the MTB Nationals on the same bike with different wheels and tires.

Check all of our photos in the gallery below.

Kaya Musgrave's Junior Women's 11-12 Championship Medal-Winning No-Name Bike Spec Highlights:

Frame: Chinese carbon MTB frame
Fork:  Chinese carbon
Brake Levers: Avid XO
Brake Calipers: Avid XO
Rear Derailleur: SRAM XO 10-speed
Front Derailleur: N/A
Cassette: SRAM XO
Crankset: SRAM XO carbon crankarms, Wolf Tootch 32 tooth single ring
Seatpost: carbon
Saddle: Tioga Spyder TwinTail
Stem: UNO zero degree 50mm forged
Handlebars: carbon
Pedals: Crank Brothers Candy
Wheels: Stan's No Tubes ZTR Race Gold 29er rims, Stan's No Tubes 3.30 Ti hubs
Tires: Clement Crusade PDX

Kaya Musgrave's Nationals-Winning Carbon Mystery Bike Photo Gallery: