The Lee Cougan Rampage Origin is a proper cross-country race hardtail in the best sense of the word, offering a lot of what I’m looking for in this style of bike.
There are slacker, rowdier and even lighter XC hardtails out there. However, on paper, the Rampage Origin strikes an unusually rare balance, combining the – dare I say it – old-school charm of chasing low weight with practical features.
Spotted at Sea Otter Europe and launching officially today, it’s a hardtail MTB designed for XC marathon riding, that prioritises low weight and practical touches, with a claimed frame weight of only 940g for a size small in the raw-carbon finish.
The new frame has a far more contemporary silhouette than the outgoing Rampage, with slimmer, dropped seatstays and a less aggressive version of the distinctive kink where the seatstays and chainstays meet.
Geometry has also been brought up to date. The head angle has been slackened to 68 degrees (down from 70), while the seat tube angle steepens to 75 degrees (up from 73).
Neither number is wildly out there, and they are exactly what you’d expect of a modern XC race bike of this ilk.
Practicality to be celebrated
Despite the focus on weight, practicality hasn’t been ignored.
I’m particularly fond of the triple boss accessory mounts under the top tube and space for an extra bottle cage beneath the down tube. This makes the bike more marathon- and ultra-friendly, but also offers a useful place to stash tools or spares for day-to-day riding.
The Merida Big.Nine springs to mind as a frame offering a similar setup on the underside of its top tube, although the additional boss on the Lee Cougan broadens compatibility with bikepacking accessories. Plus, the Big.Nine misses out on the additional down tube bosses.
Official tyre clearance is 2.4in. That's around standard for a contemporary XC hardtail, particularly one focused on XC marathon racing. As expected, the frame now uses SRAM’s UDH standard.
Other nice touches include a chunky double-bolt seat clamp – slipping seatposts are rare on quality frames, but it’s reassuring to see, and a nice touch beyond a generic rebranded single-bolt clamp.
Lee Cougan’s own integrated one-piece cockpit is a handsome visual match for the frame. While adjustability is, of course, impacted compared to a two-piece cockpit, these are an increasingly common sight on high-end XC builds, so it doesn’t feel out of place.
In a slightly unusual move, at least from the perspective of someone based in the UK, the two complete builds come specced with rigid posts.
Fixed posts remain popular in ‘traditional’ marathon racing, but dropper posts are approaching a point of anecdotal near-ubiquity and, to a lesser degree, as spec on complete XC bikes.
That said, the frame is, of course, fully compatible with internally routed droppers.
The bike was designed with input from two-time marathon world champion Leo Páez, who rode a custom build with a DT Swiss dropper, pedals and tyre inserts to a bronze medal at the 2025 XCM World Championships. That build tipped the scales at only 9.4kg.
The Rampage Origin will be offered in three complete builds, with either SRAM XX SL Eagle AXS, Shimano XTR Di2 or XT Di2. Pricing starts at €4,599 and runs to €6,799, depending on spec. No frame-only option is available at present.
The bike is available in the two finishes pictured. Some will argue that black bikes are boring, and I'm usually in agreement, but I will make an exception for the purposeful stealthiness of the matt carbon option, which looks fetching with its flash of Kashima-coated stanchion.
