Ellsworth DareCarbon fiber and 27.5'' wheels take the new Dare to the next level, with the old bike's aluminum tubing and 26'' wheels being discontinued for 2015. The frame is entirely new from front to back, including a revised ICT suspension layout that employs a shorter rocker arm and sports a sleeker look, but it's the bike's built-in adaptability that is most interesting. Rear wheel travel can be set at 222mm, 180mm, or 160mm by swapping in different length shocks, but doing only that would result is some pretty messed up geometry numbers - Ellsworth got around this by manufacturing a multi-position aluminum lower mount that compensates for different eye-to-eye length shocks. The bike pictured here is actually the first carbon prototype, but the final production model, which will be available by early January, will sport a removable front derailleur mount for those who don't need a triple 'ring setup when in 222mm travel mode. MSRP will be $3,695 USD.
Kappius KR-29 Carbon RimKappius makes some of the most interesting hubs on the market, something that they've been doing for years now, but the small company is also branching out with a new carbon fiber rim that will be available in both 29'' and 27.5'' sizes. The width and weight figures look impressive: just 355 grams for the 29er rim, with a big-tire friendly internal width of 26.4mm (
30mm external). Throw on some high-volume tires and you're set! They require a wrap of tubeless tape to seal the rim bed, and they sport an interesting sidewall design that isn't quite the full-on bead hook of a traditional rim, but also not the thick and vertical walls of the latest hookless-bead rim - it's somewhere in the middle, which Kappius says offers the best tire retention and damage-limiting abilities. They aren't inexpensive, though: $599 USD per rim.
ENVE Mountain ForkThe carbon specialists in Ogden, Utah, have been working on a brand new rigid mountain bike fork that actually has some pretty nifty things going for it. How interesting can a rigid fork be, though? Pretty interesting if it's from ENVE, it turns out. The one-piece fork sports an axle-to-crown length that mimics a 100mm travel suspension fork, meaning that you can put it on your hard tail without creating an artificially steep head angle that would completely mess up its handling, and ENVE has also designed-in adjustable dropouts that can be flipped to offer either 44 or 52mm of steering offset. The aluminum inserts, which are held in place tightly by way of o-rings that give them an interference fit so they don't fall out when the axle is removed, means ENVE only has to create one mould rather than two, and it also gives the rider the ability to tune the fork to suit different bikes and applications - it can do 29er+ and standard 29" wheels. ENVE will ship the Mountain Fork with their own thread-in 15mm axle that requires a hex key, but it's also compatible RockShox's Maxle system if you're looking to speed things up a bit, and it will also come with the nifty clip-on carbon fender that's pictured here (
carbon clip-on blanks fill the space when the fender isn't required). Weight sits at 711 grams with the fender, or 686 grams without, and MSRP is $625 USD.
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It will be impressive if the new owners can really bring a new bike to market on this short timeline. Hopefully this is the start of a resurection for the brand.
It is a Horst link and it works fine.
Thniking about it; if I combined a 140mm Ellsworth frame with let's say 170mm fork, would I get higher bottom bracket and a slacker head angle?
Ellsworth could quite easily change their direction as many other companies have - norco and kona are two good examples, but they haven't bothered, and so they're gonna continue to do badly.
"Zat rear triangle is so gauche, dahlink".
none of the carbon fibre Ellsworth frame pieces are made in the USA but in Taiwan. They also had their "Glimpse" aluminium alloy complete ICT bike and wheelsets made in Taiwan, along with their sub-brand "Loaded" for finishing kit (bars, stem, seatpost, etc.)
I used to work for the Ellsworth distributor in the UK. We imported Ellsworth for 10+ years.
the ICT suspension was actually very effective, like a better pedalling version of FSR. Also very easy to service and look after with easy bearing replacement and clean access to the rear shock, unlike many of Specialized's later FSR design.
However, the warranty support we used to receive was hit and miss, and the company owner (Tony EW) certainly did not help with his outpourings on the forums.
There were definitely some durability issues especially with their lighter XC frames like "Truth" and "Epiphany", and replacement parts (i.e. swingarm or rocker) would fail again in the same manner, as we were replacing "like for like" parts not Ellsworth providing a strengthened component to deal with the issue. At times, we had to strip down brand new frames to supply customers with warranty parts, which just cost us money and a big hassle!
But the biggest problem for riders, was that the advertised geometry seemed to bear no relation to reality, once you custom built your Ellsworth frame. Typically BBH was way high, and HTA way steeper than advertised.
The visual aesthetic of the ICT rocker was a matter of personal choice, but the actual ICT system worked very effectively especially on the Moment and Dare longer travel bikes. The Rogue FR bike? a real confusing mess.....
www.freepatentsonline.com/6055910.html
"A toy gas-fired missile and launcher assembly whose missile is composed of a soft head and a tail extending therefrom formed by a piston. The piston is telescoped into the barrel of a launcher having a closed end on which is mounted an electrically-activated ignitor, the air space between the end of the piston and the closed end of the barrel defining a combustion chamber. Joined to the barrel and communicating with the chamber therein is a gas intake tube having a normally-closed inlet valve. To operate the assembly, the operator places the inlet tube with its valve open adjacent his anal region from which a colonic gas is discharged. The piston is then withdrawn to a degree producing a negative pressure to inhale the gas into the combustion chamber to intermix with the air therein to create a combustible mixture. The ignitor is then activated to explode the mixture in the chamber and fire the missile into space"
NPR's This American Life had a really good episode on this kind of stuff a while back, most of the episode was focused on patent troll companies like Intellectual Ventures who will patent really generic shit like toasters and vague mobile app architectures with no intention to develop them, only to sue anyone too small to fight.
Bottom line, you don't really have to know your shit or have a good idea to patent something (unless you actually want it to stand up to a challenge in court). Like deeight said, just do the paperwork and pay the fees.
btw, you can get the whole patent pdf here: www.google.com/patents/US6055910 Google patents is really convenient.
Must be because I'm 16
That being said, Ellsworth hit upon an awesome efficient ICT suspension design in the 90's!, well before Stable Platform ("ProPedal") and other shock tech made poor linkages more efficient. (Read: Kona, Rocky Mountain, Trek until their floating link, Santa Cruz until VPP, Turner/Ibis until DW-Link, and any other swingarm-based suspension). Ellsworth's main problem, like many others in the mid 2000's, was too high BB and long top tube geom, which handles poorly by today's standards.
Haters, have your ever ridden a new Moment? They're one of the funnest 6" bikes around. Too bad Ellsworth doesn't design better looking frames; they'd be a hit with those who can't wade through the technical hype of half the bike designs out there and choose only based on looks. That rear triangle can stay the way it is, frankly. It handles right. Function over form.
I can't help but love the new Dare, in a Def Leppard meets Twisted Sister kind of way. (With Ray Bans and neon colors coming back, Tony may be 5 years ahead of the times!)
Pedal strikes are a given but cornering a bike vs a few strikes on a pedal (in which case get a crank boot and strong pedals that can take a beating), I'd say a lower bb is worth it in the downhill scene.
Dig Ellsworth bikes, ridden 5 consecutive years of the Dare. Still have a early 2000 on the wall in the garage for nostalgia. (Super T, Dangerous D days.)
Most people can't afford Ellsworth, so its easier to bash.
Every single one of you would take that bike if Pinkbike gave it to you tomorrow morning. Shut your mouths.
Ellsworth has sold out apparently but is employed as a design director or some smancy title. Hes one shrewd business operator what ever you think of him.
Wonder what happened to his eco building in the forest where Ellsworths were designed and tested?
Btw not a fan think it looks butt ugly, back to the future to 2004 it would have been psic! Now seems like a Lada that wont die!