It looks like Hope may be the latest brand to be joining the high pivot hype train as Tristan Tinn, our photographer at 'Ard Rock, managed to get some shots of a prototype enduro bike from the British brand.
This new prototype could be the first new bike from Hope since
it launched the HB130 trail bike in August 2019 following on from its
longer travel sibling the HB160. Both bikes used Hope's carbon manufacturing at its factory in Barnoldswick. Looking at this new bike, it appears to be potentially sharing the same production methods with a carbon front triangle paired with an aluminum rear end as we saw on both the HB160 and 130.
The similarities with Hope's past bikes seem to end there as the prototype frame now uses a vertical shock placement and a different suspension design to its past bikes. The most obvious difference to the past designs comes in the form of the high pivot and idler.
We don't currently know if this is planned as a production bike, but we do know that with its carbon manufacturing facility, it is far easier for Hope to create and try out different designs and ideas than brands that outsource manufacturing.
The high pivot Hope has a few similarities with the HB160, but there are plenty of changes to be found on this prototype.
Updated with response from HopeDetails are light on this bike at the moment, but we did reach out to Hope who were able to confirm that this is a very early prototype of a new bike it is working on. Hope don't have much to share about the bike just yet, although we were told that we should expect the launch of this new bike before summer next year.
I’ll be the first to say it… review tomorrow.
Hope obviously wants the press, or they wouldn’t have the bike at a public event.
Sorry to disappoint, but there’s no review tomorrow.
Thanks,
Everyone on PB
Not everything is a conspiracy to me since getting insight of the inner workings and your thoughts.
But wait till Hope officially release this bike, THEN pinkbike will release their 3 month review the day after
I like the high pivot design and glad it is finally back and being developed.
Hope everything works out for Hope . Love the quality of their products.
Bet they won’t though.
Always wondered why the didnt offer their rims in pretty colours, you could have some very pretty colour combos along with yer fancy hope brakes
www.invisiframe.co.uk/custom-decal/rim-kits/hope-rim-decal-kits
For me, high pivots have been a total game changer.
No it’ll be better in some ways and worse in others, buy the bike that suits your terrain and style because there is no perfect bike
Benefiting from high pivot depends on what you ride. If you're riding flow you won't see any benefits. In my opinion a low pivot design would be better. It's much harder to jump. I had to relearn how to take off from a lip. High pivots want to stay glued to the ground. If you like a playful, poppy ride it's not for you. Basically high pivot is for people who want to go as fast as possible on rough DH tracks with natural jumps and drops.
Anyways, this is just my observation with my own experience comparing my commencal supreme to every bike I've ever owned. Take it with a grown of salt but high pivot definitely is not a gimmick
I have ridden one at my local, over spring, didn't overly like it, might suit big open, fast tracks abroad more maybe than here in the UK.
I'm not knocking it, I just find that everyone's new bike is the best bike they've ever ridden, and fuel has been added to this by the Commencal team success. The success is ultimately down to the insane talent they've got on the team, Thirion was on a high pivot bike for at least two seasons before this success came (not that he isn't talented, my point is that he didn't just get on the HP design and start winning).
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj0uBQ7j5c4
Why not have an article on the greenest approach to mountain biking (e.g. keeping your bike for as long as possible) or a head to head between a five year old and a new version of the same bike? (Which will be almost identical)
Just stop reading this, get your bike out, and enjoy our beautiful trails!
Also, shit bikes still exist and that is a fact. I've owned several.
Speaking from experience, yes.
I don’t care what other people ride or how fast they ride, even how fast I ride, but riding the best of the best kit is really, really nice.
Secondly, I hope (excuse the pun) it rides better than their previous incarnations. Was one of the most sluggish, uninspiring bikes I've ridden. Does look better thankfully.
Moving the instant center by 3 cm so the axle path gets 5° slacker does jack shit for rear end compliance (small angle approximation). If your lower pivot is still so low that you can get away with keeping the standard horst link/ four bar suspension layout you dont have a high pivot, but just a standard rear end. To really reap the benefits of a high pivot the pivot needs to be so high up, that these layouts no longer work and you have to use a design like forbidden or commencal on their dh bike.
This right here and Treks "new" Session is just a way to be able to use the phrase "High Pivot" for marketing without actually putting any effort into developing a new bike.
If "h" is your pivot height above the axle and "l" is your chainsay length you could use "sin(arctan(h/l))" to determine hom many % of the axle moment are rearward at 0mm travel. This would be an easy and linear way to determine how rearward an axle path is.
Makes so much sense when pedalling efficiency iant as critical...esp with a the new dual crowns that can turn like single.(hopefully those are coming)
... sorry, i know it's not marketplace, just need someone to query then ghost today.
Ban yourself !
If high pivots really were the bomb...where are the old Orange and Mountain Cycle designs of yore?
FWIW its also been a mullet 26/27.5 since 2016 - just perfect.
The real answer is that like any other suspension design, the broad layout is only part of the equation. The precise pivot placement, idler placement, shock length/stroke can have a big effect within that design. This isn't even getting into geometry and carbon layups either.
Side note, you actually have an extra variable to play with on high pivot bikes, as the size and fore/aft positioning of the idler can influence the performance.