12/14/2020 9:17 PM
Edited Date/Time: 12/14/2020 9:19 PM
This seems kind of weak to me. Granted the patent was submitted in 2014, it wasn't granted until 2019 and two of the bikes mentioned would have been well into development at the time with the current tracer and carbine being released in 2016/2017 respectively, so likely would have been playing with it as early as 2013/14 with prototype's.
Also, as mentioned in the article: "The patent claims to describe a system with at least four inches of travel with optimal traction, rear brake interaction, and pedaling efficiency while also allowing the seatpost to be inserted at least four inches into the seat tube"
Intenses take on VPP vs. a horst link set up would have very different interactions with all of these forces and the layout of the two systems alone would act differently no matter where the pivot is located. Also, Giant has been using a similar location for their main pivot for 10 years and Santa Cruz's newer bikes have their main pivot on a similar location as well after both intense and Santa Cruz moved it from right behind the BB. Are they using intense as low hanging fruit to set a precedent for the bigger guys?
The dropper post bit seems weird as well since any designed recently have moved to make droppers work better with their frames.
Seems like a lame move from a company that has always otherwise seemed pretty go with the flow.