Alex McCormack and the Fairlight Holt 2.0

Photos by Lloyd Wright

Fairlight Cycles team rider Alex McCormack won the 2025 Hellenic Mountain Race this week, finishing the 884-kilometer (549-mile) route in just 3 days, 4 hours, and 31 minutes. This comes after a first-place finish at the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco a few months ago, a first-place (and new record-setting) ride at last year’s Highland Trail 550 in Scotland, and first place at the 2023 Further Elements Scotland, completing the 700-kilometer route in a little over 38 hours. Alex is planning to tackle all three of the Mountain Races this year, and the Silk Road Mountain Race in August is next.

Fairlight got in touch to let us know that right before the event, Alex picked up a fresh Holt 2.0. Apparently, it was so close to the grand depart that it was pulled right off the production line, completely raw. His build features a Fox 34 SL 110mm fork, DT Swiss XMC 1200 wheels, Vittoria Mezcal 2.35″ tires with an XC tire insert in the rear, a Shimano XTR drivetrain, Ergon GA3 grips, and SQlab inner bar ends.

This was the first production Fairlight Holt 2.0 to be ridden, and a first-place at such a demanding race is a reputable way to prove its capabilities. The Holt was introduced into Fairlight’s lineup in 2022, designed to be efficient and reliable, and “unashamedly XC,” as they call it. It marked the brand’s first foray into mountain bikes but was informed by decades of ride and race experience, and it takes advantage of the learnings from the brand’s other designs.

The redesigned Fairlight Holt 2.0 builds on that promise with a completely updated frame and a handful of tweaks and revisions. It’s now using a Fairlight-designed Reynolds 853 seat tube that’s been sized up to use 30.9mm seatposts (up from 27.2mm) and somehow adds just 3 grams to the total weight of the frame (size medium). The Holt 2.0 features an all-new rear triangle with heavily curved and flat ovalized chainstays and seatstays to maximize compliance. The top tube has been dropped ever so slightly to increase standover height, and the seat tube length remains the same.

Geometry changes include a 0.5-degree steeper seat tube angle and approximately 10mm longer reach. The 67.5° sagged head tube angle with a 110mm fork (67° with 120mm) remains the same, as it was something that all riders enjoyed. There are now no shifter housing guides on the drive-side chainstay, making it super clean for wireless setups, but for those who do run a mechanical derailleur, Fairlight designed a 3D-printed chainstay sleeve with cable guides built into it. The Holt 2.0 uses Bentley x Fairlight CNC Utility Drops II, bringing modularity to the rear dropouts with built-in real estate that works with T-Type derailleurs and future standards.

Fairlight Holt 2.0 Geometry

The Fairlight Holt 2.0 comes in four sizes (S-XL) and plays nicely with 100mm, 110mm, and 120mm forks. The geometry chart below shows it at 120mm/sagged, which is the setup full builds from Fairlight will be based around. All measurements are in millimeters unless noted otherwise.

Although the Holt 2.0 hasn’t officially launched yet, any new Holt orders will be the 2.0 version, not the previous iteration. It’s available in a “moss” or “violet” colorway, and when it officially launches, Fairlight will be adding a “charcoal” option. The pre-order price for a frame is £999 for UK customers, and full builds can be built up around either Shimano or SRAM drivetrains.

See more about the original Holt at FairlightCycles.com. We’ll be sure to share more when the Holt 2.0 officially launches.

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