Leftfield layouts

For years, brands battled to develop the best suspension system, coming up with all sorts of outlandish designs. When the dust settled, most ended up using their own take on the linkage-driven single-pivot or twin-link bike. Then the Horst link patent expired, and now we suddenly have a lot of very similar-looking four-bar bikes! That doesn’t mean there aren’t still some innovators out there though...

A.B.P./Split Pivot

Trek’s ‘ABP’ (Active Braking Pivot) bikes and Dave Weagle-designed ‘Split Pivot’ bikes from the likes of Devinci and Salsa use a rear pivot that’s concentric with the wheel axle. They’re essentially linkage-driven single-pivots, but because the seatstays ‘float’ between the rear axle and rocker link, the brake calliper doesn’t rotate as far around the rotor when you haul on the anchors, so antirise is reduced. This means the suspension stays higher in its travel when braking.

Sliding swingarm

Yeti’s proprietary ‘Switch Infinity’ system uses a main pivot that slides up and down on a pair of shafts, along with an upper link that rotates forward as the suspension compresses. Like on some twin-link designs with counter-rotating links, the anti-squat peaks near the middle of the stroke. Polygon and Marin (on the Wolf Ridge) use Naild’s ‘R3ACT’ system, which attaches a cylindrical stanchion to the (fixed) main pivot, upon which the swingarm can slide up and down.

High pivot

These designs, more common on downhill bikes, such as Commencal’s latest Supreme DH and Norco’s Aurum HSP, place the main pivot far above the chainring. This would result in excessive pedal kickback if it wasn’t for the use of an idler pulley, which routes the chain up past the pivot. The high pivot gives a rearward axle path, which may help to absorb large bumps (because the wheel is hitting them with fractionally less speed) and also provides anti-squat.