Spotted: Another Prototype High Pivot Bike in North Vancouver [Updated with Responses from Rocky & Commencal]
Responses from Rocky Mountain & Commencal (Updated January 10, 2022):
 | Holy idler, you’re the star of the masquerade. We’re fortunate to have our R&D Centre in North Vancouver, with the ability to design and build prototypes in-house and then test them on our backyard trails. Many of these prototypes never make it to production, which is all part of the process - and part of the fun. |
| Everyone loves sneaky bike shots! The Supreme SX was ahead of its time, 5 yrs ahead really. We have new things coming, but that isn’t one of ours. |
Vancouver's North Shore is the infamous proving ground for prototype bikes with its relentless rough and steep, technical trails. In the late 90's, The Shore opened the eyes of bike industry brands to how weekend warriors were torturing frames and components in these deep dark woods, so it's no surprise that unmarked bikes still lurk around trailheads.
North Shore local shredder trail.mole posted a 2021 recap video on his Instagram account and in the opening shot you can see a naked aluminum high pivot prototype frame, complete with an idler pulley and low linkage-driven coil shock. The bike surely has two 29" wheels and a burly fork, but it's not a DH bike due to the size of the cassette, at least in this configuration.
From the pixelated mess it's unclear whether the bike is a high single pivot (HSP) or a virtual high pivot, like the Norco Range. However, one might notice a small black dot adjacent to the rear axle, leading us to believe that there is more to this proto than just an HSP design.
Our best guess is that it's a brand with ties to the Pacific Northwest that has the manufacturing resources to tinker with such theories, in particular, Rocky Mountain. The Slayer is on its third year of production - a typical time for frames to see a revision. Trail Mole also tags Rocky Mountain Bicycles in his Instagram posts, which leads us to believe it could be a creation by their R&D team. Plus Transition, Norco, Devinci, and Evil have recently released new long travel bikes, so that would rule out any immediate changes to their line ups.
It could also be the reincarnation of the Commencal Supreme SX, since their Canadian office is located just up the road in Squamish. Commencal's latest prototype Supreme DH uses a virtual high pivot, but doesn't allow for the full insertion of a dropper post due to pivot that passes through the seat tube. Similar to the Norco Range, this could be a way around the seat tube interference while still allowing for tuning the braking forces independently on a high pivot design.
We've reached out to a few of these brands to ask if they can give us any information about a potential new frame design and will update this space with responses.
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227 Comments
Be safe be well,
Incognito Robin
This video should explain things
Trail Mole > Troll > Troll Toll > Toll Booth > John Wilkes Booth > Lincoln = This is the new Bold Linkin. Solved.
This must be the new Cove Felch.
North Shore location. Raw AL. Hmmm.
A Banshee? Its been a couple years since the Titan came out, and thats "only" 155mm of rear travel, and designed around a 170mm fox 36's axle to crown length...
Ok... I know thats unlikely, and that a new Slayer is probably a way better bet. But... One can dream of new Banshees right?
Chromag?
Also AL lovers from Canada.
Whoa, if this was a Chromag it would be a huge deal.
Not only would it be their first adult sized FS bike... but man, that would be quite the first bike.
Knolly I could see as doing it, but... that bike doesn't look all that much like any Knolly I've ever seen. Plus the Chilcotin is pretty new, and would occupy about the same space wouldn't it?
It's true for banshee, the titan being only 155mm, maybe this one could be a longer travel bike like 170-180, semi enduro/freeride/dh?! It has the same triangle near the seattube as every other Banshee!
Also, the G2 Process 153 did have a slight overhaul recently. It started out with 66 degree HTA, and 425mm chainstays. Now its at 64.5 degree HTA, and 435mm chainstays, and a smidge more reach/stack, and bit steeper STA.
1) Santa Cruz. It looks like one of their designs, modified for a high pivot.
2) Giant. They have run into the limitations of their current dual link design. They're due for a true enduro platform and new DH bike.
Piece by Piece ?
Starting DH team
maybe?
you sir are a Genius
Slayer Rules! @BikesNRussets:
1 - how bad of a idea was it to film and post a prototype bike
2 - ego says ya do it nobody will know and hey i get prodeal bikes to promote this stuff so thats what i gotta do to keep em’ coming.
3 - did some dweeb at pink bike just cost me my bike prodeal - should a editor have called my brand (Rocky Mountain) to confirm that this was cool to run the story / post ??
4 - said brand finds out after the fact - actually hearsay- and pulls advertising with website for not giving them a courtesy call. Now the rider is blackballed from website and out or thin-ice with the brand.
5- Said brand and rider were fully aware and hoping the reaction was enormous after website already created the same hoopla for another brand when a prototype was spotted- hence the bike in question appears at the beginning of the video/ edit/ Instagram post and is easy to spot the differences between other bikes in the video and current catalog.
Comments encouraged…..