A quick look at Devinci's 2011 Full Suspension bikes

As part of their product push for their new 2011 models, Devinci brought dealers from all over northwestern Canada to Whistler, in order to showcase their new full suspension lineup. The Dixon, Dexter and Wilson are built on the new Dave Weagle Split-Pivot design, and a few of our boys were lucky enough to get to try some of them out in the Whistler Bike Park.

At the same time, the World Champs were going on out in Quebec, Brett Tippie was able to sit down with Dave Weagle (DW Link, Split Pivot, e.13 fame) for some tech talk on the new Devinci Wilson DH bike.

Info and videos inside,I'd brought my 2010 Devinci Hectik to the launch, which I thought would make for an excellent comparison between Devinci's 'old' horst-link design and the new DW split-pivot.

We hit up the lift and went for a couple runs down Crank It Up to get warmed up. The trail on that day was full of washboard ruts and potholes, and the Hectik ate them up nicely. Everyone who has ridden Whistler knows that the trail building there is second to none: the trail sets you up so that every jump spits you into the air with just the right speed to meet up with the transition landing perfectly. Blue runs like Crank It Up are usually fairly tame and will forgive a bike with less than ideal travel (more on that later). The Hectik leans more towards the freeride category (at least the way I've built mine up) than the downhill with a more than capable 7 inches of travel. Freeride is a category that Devinci hasn't really filled with this first run of Split Pivot designs. Max, from the Devinci factory, has assured us that a bike positioned between the 5" travel Dixon and the heavier 8" travel Wilson is in the works, but for this year they are focusing on the types of bikes that are the most popular and see the most sales - dedicated downhill (Wilson), light all-mountain (Dixon) and cross-country (Dexter).

Around 2:00, after several solid runs, we wandered down to the Conference Center for the presentation. First we talked about the design process and what they've done with the new linkage system. Devinci has had their new system in development, working closely with Dave Weagle, for a couple of years now. They won't release anything until they're sure it's their best effort. All these new full suspension designs are at least 30% stronger than previous years.

Dave Weagle at MSA talking about the Wilson:



After the presentation, we were rewarded with some Wilsons to try out. We had only a short time with the bikes, so we decided we should take them down Crank It Up - since we had run it already a few times in the morning and it would be easier to more directly compare the new bikes with the 'old' horst-link bikes. Ideally we would have had a prior year Wilson on hand as well to compare for a more apples-to-apples test, but the Hectik would have to do.

Our impressions were that the new Wilson was extremely competent. It held a line solidly, yet was light enough to throw around easily in turns and in the air. Its extremely supple suspension ate up chatter in the trail and almost seemed to accelerate over awkward potholes and rocks, and we found that braking did seem to act entirely independent of the action of the rear suspension, as has been claimed with the Split Pivot design. The verdict? Overall it was a bike that inspired extreme confidence - seeming to compensate for minor pilot errors in judgment - and at no time did it ever feel like it was in over its head.

We also got to try out the Dixon. While Devinci is marketing this as an All-Mountain bike, the spec installed on it was very lightweight and almost XC-ish, although it did have a solid 5" of travel. On taking it down the same piece of trail we found the bike extremely agile and responsive, although this did make it twitchy in the air. The 2.1 Kenda Nevegals didn't have quite enough bite for the loose trail conditions, but we managed to keep from washing out too much in the turns, thanks largely to the Fox Float 32, which was very supple in absorbing the bumps, although harsh on landings. We didn't even notice the rear suspension - which means it was doing its job well - although we did note the same independence between brake and travel as we did on the Wilson. The flowy trail construction likely saved the bike from a less-happy fate, since on one poorly judged landing we managed to pinch flat both tires at once - probably translating into taco'd wheels, or worse, on a drop to flat landing. Overall the Dixon seemed like it was more suited to trails that wouldn't throw you haphazardly into the air nearly as much as Whistler's trails tend to: it was definitely built as more of a "trail" bike than as what we tend to consider an "all mountain" bike out here on the west coast.

After we returned the bikes, we were treated to dinner with the other dealers. The Devinci reps and designers were there as well, wandering around from table to table and getting feedback on the bikes. All of our feedback and suggestions were typed into Blackberrys or scratched on notepads, likely for further discussion at the factory back in Quebec. Devinci is, after all, a company that listens to its riders.

Video overview of the new models (Sorry no riding, we were having so much fun with the bikes we forgot to film!):