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devin-m Liked a comment about Feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/28/2015 11:08pm
I hate to be the comparison guy, but this frame design is very similar to the banshee Spitfire, Rune, & Darkside...
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Colin+M Liked a comment about Feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/28/2015 11:07pm
My point is that although the Formula suspension design and KS Link are similar in that they are both dual link and seat stay driven, I think you are discounting how groundbreaking this bike is by saying it "looks like a Banshee". Which implies no real design innovation. The fact that the Riot has more travel than a Banshee Prime and over an inch shorter chainstays shows these bikes are "similar" in that they are both aluminum and have horizontally mounted shocks;-) Not hating on Banshee, I've owned and loved 4 of them.
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slo_rider Liked a comment about Feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/28/2015 11:06pm
Trying to respond to ChrisG [page won't allow me to respond to his comment directly]. devin-m is right: Riot's suspension looks like Banshee's KS link... ChrisG is right: form follows function, and if 2 companies designing virtual pivot/"mini-link" suspensions have similar goals, it's not surprising that their final designs will also look similar... But I agree most w/ Colin+M: Canfield Bros have been breaking ground in bike design since the late 90's. They produced a virtual pivot/"parallel linkage" DH prototype, the Big Fatty Fat, in '99 (3 years before SC debuted they're first 2 VPP bikes in '02), and the...
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/28/2015 10:59pm
Thank you for that helpful glimpse into MTB geometry design. And thank you to @bturman as well. No doubt some of the detail will show up in discussions of mountain bike geometry taking place elsewhere on the web.
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bturman Liked a comment about Feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/28/2015 10:39pm
A steep seat tube angle will keep your weight forward while climbing, helping to negate a perceived "problem" with short stays. The 76-degree angle is only the effective angle, however, so if you're a tall guy with the seat cranked way up you may be over the rear axle a bit. I'm guessing for the average proportion male they've found a nice balance between effective and actual, traction and wheelie-ing over backwards. In my experience, wheelbase, reach, and headtube angle have more of an impact on high speed stability than chainstay length. We'll reach out to the boys at Canfield...
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Canfield Brothers Liked a comment about Feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/28/2015 10:39pm
We pushed the limit of travel vs the shortest chainstays possible so the seat tube gets offset forward and then slacked out to get your butt in the right spot. The TT is measured level with the top of the head tube but most people run their seat higher than that. If you measure effective seat tube angle at 32" (a typical inseam) the seat angle is closer to 74.5 degrees effective. Although this might still seem a bit on the steep side, with suspension, as soon as you sag into the travel the seat angle slackens out another couple...
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ChrisG Added a comment about press release Pacenti's PDent Technology Makes Sub-30mm MTB Stems a Reality
4/25/2015 6:45pm
Its a trivially simple but nonetheless good idea like pretty much everything Pacenti comes up with. Allowing the patent though would be a travesty. As the stem with the horizontal top tube length determines the 'cockpit' of the bike and as the cockpit must be correctly matched to the rider to achieve a good fit radically reducing stem length in order to achieve some short stem ideal will not normally make a lot of sense - it just compromises the cockpit dimensions. Short stems are really for bikes that are deliberately designed to use them or for riders who are...
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/25/2015 6:11pm
Canfield clearly believes in short chainstays, the question is why this short? It is commonly held that short versus long will confer some advantages while blunting others - greater agility, less high speed stability, more difficulty in maintaining traction while climbing. Perhaps Canfield would dispute the received wisdom. And is that steep seat tube angle there for its own sake or because the seat tube simply had to make way for the large wheel during a suspension compression? It would be good to hear from Canfield on these issues.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature First Look: 2015 Canfield Brothers Riot
4/25/2015 5:54pm
I think you and @devin-m both have some degree of truth on your side. In the unavoidable trade off between anti-squat and pedal kickback Canfield (initially with the Balance bike) and Banshee have been working with design recipes that are not too dissimilar. I would add that Mondraker despite their different looking bikes also seems to be inspired by a similar design notion. I think you could be overemphasising Canfield's originality in that all three mentioned companies have produced noteworthy bikes. That said this bike looks like it could be the real deal and I eagerly await reviews of it.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/14/2015 10:48pm
Are you aware of any attempt to quantify losses for the Hammerschmidt? That would be interesting information to have. Also, there is the question of the overall rotated mass which you have emphasised - it is serious enough but on a Hammerschmidt style device perhaps less of a concern than for a full gearbox. Still, the overall picture isn't only about losses but also gains. If a rider can go quicker and safer in enough places because of the unique benefits of a certain suspension and drivetrain setup then that is the offset that justifies any new inefficiencies. Some inefficiencies...
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kc358 Liked a comment about Feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/14/2015 9:13am
Why don't you think it would work as well for AM? Natural anti-squat and more sensitive suspension to small bumps and square edges sounds good to me. GT has employed medium height pivots with success. Mavericks simulated high pivot worked well.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/14/2015 9:07am
For the reasons already mentioned by @Primoz it is difficult to commit to a design like this for anything other than DH. That enduro bikes are being sold with 1x drivetrains does not mean that all designers or riders want to forgo the option to use 2x (or even 3x) drivetrains - multiple chainrings suit general trail riding better and are a good option for riders who never intend to take their enduro bike into competitive racing. But bikes designed with this kind of drivetrain - idlers and chain rerouting - are pretty much 1x only, and a lot of...
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/14/2015 8:35am
I certainly hope that happens. Unifying suspension bike design across all bikes in a future V5, as happened with the V3 range, would be great. But, even if something like that might happen down the line it is still years away. For now it looks like only this V4 bike will be truly outstanding.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/13/2015 12:34pm
Yes, a 100% Brake Squat (Anti-rise) is about as good as you can do to minimize unsettling chassis motion (rise at the rear that may also be accompanied by dive at the front) occasioned by braking but you should not assume that rear end traction is necessarily best served by a 'high' BS strategy. Different design strategies may be called for when optimizing rear braking for the sake of preserving bike geometry (i.e. a neutral or 100% BS strategy) as against optimizing rear braking for the sake of preserving traction. Transient forces at the contact patch under braking have a...
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/13/2015 11:04am
While there are apparently a number of different drop-out options, the statement that, "the static chainstay length is 430 or 435-mm" does not sit well with the geometry chart that indicates the chainstay length is 425mm. And what is being referred to when the writer states, "it is still shorter on the SUPREME DH V4 (450mm rather than 457mm) to maintain a lively bike." Maybe these numbers actually mean something but the relevant explanations are missing.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/13/2015 10:23am
A few of your critics have not grasped your point, apparently. That is not too gracious considering you acknowledge that the bike would, "eat steep, rocky stuff for breakfast." But that lengthening rear-centre that is the great advantage of high pivots in rocky stuff - it assists the quality of shock absorption and reduces the loss of bike momentum while ploughing through rough stuff - is also the bane of these bikes in high speed cornering especially riding berms. The suspension of all bikes packs down slowly in these situations and in this context a lengthening rear-centre is not optimal...
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dirty booger Liked a comment about Feature FIRST LOOK: Commencal Supreme V4
4/13/2015 9:24am
It feels awkward to say the least when you are railing a corner and the harder you push, the longer the bikes gets (a la zerode). I am sure it eats steep, rocky stuff for breakfast though.... Hopefully it pedals better than Zerode....
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ChrisG Added a comment about photo original_NOR14_26a8131.JPG
9/8/2014 5:05am
It will be very interesting to see precisely what the geometry of this bike is when the Atherton replicas emerge. Top level DH racers will generally want a bike they can win on. On the evidence, the changes GT have made during the season have resulted in a better race bike.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature First Look: Radical New 2015 Specialized S-Works Demo Carbon
8/30/2014 9:51am
@boomslang Well, thank you for your informative comment. I'm sure that there is a lot there of general relevance for DH bike frame design and construction. You wouldn't be too shocked to learn that there are those of us who continue to consider the older frame design to be the better one overall. So, I welcome the news - widely reported and I hope reliable - that a 27.5in version of that bike will continue to be available in aluminium.
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ChrisG Added a comment about feature First Look: Radical New 2015 Specialized S-Works Demo Carbon
8/29/2014 3:06pm
@boomslang I am very interested in what you have said. You seem to have an intimate knowledge of the new Demo. Are you connected with the Demo design group or are you researching this in some other capacity?
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