Starling Cycles, the small UK-based company that began in founder Joe McEwan's garage, recently unveiled their latest prototype, a steel single pivot 29er that's intended to be a more pedal-friendly version of their
Sturn DH bike. It may be more pedalable, but the focus is still on the descents, with 170mm of travel and a 63.5-degree head angle.
High pivot bikes have been hogging the spotlight lately, and this creation is no exception. In this case, there's a jackshaft that allows the chainring to be moved over to the left side of the bike in order to deal with the chain growth that accompanies a high pivot suspension layout. It's a configuration that'll be familiar to fans of Brooklyn Machine Works, whose apocalypse-proof steel DH bikes became cult classics in the early 2000s.
A jackshaft design is used to deal with the chain growth inherent to a high pivot suspension design.
The new bike isn't a singlespeed like the Sturn, but you won't find a dinner plate sized cassette on the rear wheel, either. Instead, McEwan has been experimenting with running five cogs that he's installed on a Project 321 singlespeed hub. Of course, the frame can accept a larger cassette, but in McEwan's words, “Personally, I don't think we need 13 gears...”
The bike is still a work in progress, but there's a good chance it'll end up becoming available to the public sometime in the future.
Photos: Andy Lloyd
To be fair the designer is probably just mucking about with existing swing-arms which can’t be mounted much higher.
Yeah, i can agree i'm pretentious and riding a hardtail but i find it more fun on certain trails.
Nobody gets to tell another person "what the hell riding a bike is about."
To each their own.
My experience begs to differ. Last year I only rode a steel LTHT through choice and I loved every moment of it.
It was fun by my definition, and isn't that the point?
To have anything 150-160mm travel you would need a 62* HA or something rediculous.
I even sold my Norco Aurum LE purely because I prefer riding LTHT DH; it is what I like, and the Aurum was sitting, gathering dust.
Still, what one person likes isn't for everyone, and nor should it be.
"And Brits are particularly good at it"
Whilst you appear particularly good at making yourself look like a complete bit!
#fail
BTW I meant that Brits are good at building steel bikes in general. And now they have no sense of humor about them.
Edit: Regarding the original comment. Yeah a comparison would be cool but I wouldn't limit it to the British brands. There are some cool brands out there from other countries. I was close to getting a bike from German brand Portus Cycles instead who also builds steel frames (FS and HT). More off topic, if it is about high pivot trail/enduro bikes, it surprises me to see the Craftworks ENR from @CraftworksCycles hardly being mentioned, if at all.
He’s an amazing illustrator and sometimes makes a good point or two. But I wonder if he has a life outside this forum.
Yeah I am a troll and most of you hipsters have a left thumb buried deep up yer arses.
And for those who aren't in it for medals, but just out for a good time?
You seem to have lost the point of what biking is all about.
Yes, my full sus might be smoother, more comfortable and more expensive. But I have far more fun on my hardtail that cost a quarter of the price.
Isn't that what it's all about?
Sex is only cool with a hardtail though...don't even go there with a soft one!
The predictability is one part of the story, of course because of all the older stuff grip wasn't up there in the first place. I plan to tweak things a little to see how it goes. But it also goes to show that stuff like bike geometry, tires and rims etc are so much more important than bicycle suspension.
Agree with some of what you say...but not much of it.
Handle better - While they tend to be more predictable,saying they handle better very much depends on the bikes/terrain in comparison.
Climb better - Over rooty sections of climbs, the full sus is likely to track the ground better, making it easier to climb. But that would depend if you are on a XC or DH rig?!
Way less tiring to ride around all day - I think most peoples backsides would disagree. Again, terrain and bike dependent.
Easier to maintain - Don't think anyone would deny that.
Way cheaper - Again, depends on the build.
More fun - Depends on the rider/terrain. I don't think anyone would find Fort William or similar tracks more 'fun' on a hardtail. Not saying many wouldn't give it a go, I just don't think it'd be very fun by the bottom
Better for your skills - Would agree with this though. Riding a hardtail certainly makes you pick better lines. My riding style is a lot sloppier when I know I have some wiggle room riding a full sus.
As for climbing, I definitely agree the full susser has better traction over rough climbs. But I don't mind, I like the challenge of finding grip rather than rely on the suspension and then blame it on that if I eventually do spin out somewhere.
I ride my mountainbike for short blasts, typically 2hrs max. And then still I very often split them in 15-30 minutes of more intense riding, often even less. I stand up most of the time (unless I'm really chilling) and as such my back doesn't mind the impacts at all. It just goes through the feet, which is what they are supposed to deal with. That may also be why full suspension bikes don't really work that well for me. I was testing a section of new trail we were building on a bike of another guy. He had to help me lower the dropper posts (wasn't as easy as I thought) and then the suspension still felt a bit upset as I was pushing the bike through corners. I ride a bit more over the front maybe, he said I was too aggressive. I don't know, it was an enduro bike (Canyon Strive, iirc). Cool bike, just doesn't work as well for me.
My hardtail frame definitely wasn't cheap but I just enjoyed getting something exactly the way I wanted. Color, small details, geometry. I think it was a cool experience. Would still be the price for a mid-level aluminium frame I think. To get the same level of customization on a full susser would be very expensive. Either way, you still need all the other components so I'd say for the same kind of build, the hardtail will always be cheaper.
I live in The Netherlands so I definitely don't want the bike to rob me of my challenges . Stuff can be steep, but never long. Rockgardens are all man-made obviously. I haven't ridden anything here were I would rather have had a bit more cushioning. That said, on some very rough terrain abroad the trail chatter just takes away your speed. Rear suspension could solve that. So that goes for Fort William. Then again if I'm just after those challenges, few really live all the way up there so my idea is that it would be much better to get a bike that gives you proper challenges on terrain nearby. If you really live in the big mountains, then get that full suspension bike. But steep and even jumps doesn't necessarily require much suspension, I'd say.
As for skills, probably. But then again I realize that riding a full suspension bike properly also requires skills you never learn on a hardtail. Just like playing electric guitar vs acoustic. Sure acoustic teaches you dynamics, strength etc. But once you plug in that guitar, crank it up and play with heavy distortion, you suddenly realize that you never learned how to mute open strings and everything will sound like a big mess.
Yeah they climb better this is obvious as you don’t have a shock stealing your pedal power and they accelerate a lot better so it’s never a problem adding a bit of speed to carry over a few roots or whatever. You just get used to unweighting the saddle to save that butthole from a hardtail pounding but I do this on my fullsuss anyway. And like I said your shock isn’t stealing your pedal power which really comes into its own when your riding around all day.
Yeah obviously don’t turn up to fort William on your hardtail but I’m just talking about your regular non World Cup racer types of a mountain biker.
DH bike goes to the other side of the spectrum, it sucks at low speeds, it demands going very fast, preferably on steep stuff with lots of chunk in it. There is a speed, a rather fast speed when it starts to feel alright, when things start falling into place. And while it has enough squish and enough assurance in geo, that it will save your , when it doesn’t, things go bad dramatically. At least when you push it. If you don’t, there is no point in having one. 140-170 bikes hit the good spot of saving your bum and encouraging you to go fast.
Now long travel Ht has aimply too much geo change while it goes trhough travel and zero mercy in the rear. Simple issue of weighing sown and unweighing the bike through chunk can go wrong, since if you miss a beat, the front will fall into a hole, suck it up, bring you to the front of the bike, then The rear will get into the hole and kick you right up. If you clip in, it’s half of the trouble, with enough relaxation in your stance you’ll save it, on flats? You fly head first all the way to the moon. If you on the other hand have a fork that is 140 or 120, the front will get into a hole, and bounce of its opposite side before the rear gets in. You’ll be bouncing on tops of holes. Also, it will keep you from taking stupid decisions of just letting go. You will be all the time reminded that you are on a hardtail and you better not take stupid chances.
Not sure whether the rear end takes such a beating. Of course my arms are weaker than my legs so it is hard to compare but over rougher stuff I feel my my arms often take more of a beating than my legs. I do feel it afterwards but when riding, it just floats. I think the bike pivots around the bb so an impact on the rear tire just slams the front end and loads the fork too. I am riding with ProCore though. So I'm riding with low pressures (in the tire) and can still protect my rim. My tire once picked up a loose nail from a boardwalk section and punctured the tube. The tire sealed soon enough but I hadn't realized the tube was punctured. It was floating all over the place, burping in every corner. Now I understand why people without inserts don't go as low as 1.1bar . I never really got on with their valve, no way to clean it out once it clogs up. I recently opened a second valve hole in the rim, used a 1" wide tube (with Schaeder valve) inside the blue tire and drilled some holes in the side of a regular tubeless valve which goes in the original valve hole. The airguide sits over it and doesn't migrate as long as the tube remains pressurized. Only downside is that because I also drilled through the rubber sleeve of the valve, the sealant considers it a puncture so when releasing pressure, the sealant closes it and makes it hard to measure pressure. I've got some proper Pepi valves coming my way (CushCore valves should work too but are more expensive). These should solve that and finally allow me to get rid of those ProCore valves. Ehrm, a long winded way to say that I do think you do need low pressures in the tire but also an insert to give them a chance for survival.
@WAKIdesigns
Seriously? How old are you two?
Check out my photos to see what bike i ride
Looks ace Joe, do you think it would be viable for a shorter travel platform? say 100mm?
To be honest I rarely use the full block either so can see where he’s coming from.
¿
Love the bike. Steel is real.
It's only a matter of which speed.
I have nothing to do with a 30x9/11/13/15/17, but I can spend a whole year in the mountains with something equivalent to 30x9/17/25/36/46...
Also, yes there are mountains in UK, if you have problem with recognizing that then you have a mental problem
Most of the trails in Eagle are steep up an steep down. Fast and flowy. The front range has plenty of brutally steep climbs and descents but are much rockier than the trails up here.
Steel
Coil
170mm
29er
Big long super slack super enduro bike
That thing wouldn't be light if it were made out of unicorn farts.
P.S. Please note I'm not saying that's bad. I think this bike is cool. I'm just saying that due to the fact that it isn't a shortish traveled carbon or well done aluminum trail bike, it isn't light. It's just the nature of the beast.
I have a steel Ritchey Breakaway roadie that weighs in at 17 lbs on a 60 cm top tube. With alloy wheels. And the solid steel 11 speed cluster weighs 200 grams.
A steel frame, properly engineered, can be fairly light. And those cranks are gorgeous. With a thin wall oval tube they wouldn't have to be all that heavy.
@won-sean-animal-chin:
Oh my, you are so right! The forces played into a 150 mm travel bicycle are so wild that one couldn't possibly be built of steel. That's why my 300 mm travel MXer was made out of .......steel??? That's why KTM still makes theirs with a steel main frame?
I never said it would be "lighter", but my steel roadie is the same weight as my Ti roadie, and comparable to a similar priced composite. My adventure tandem is 2.5 stone. With a rack. Made of steel. So it can be repaired almost anywhere in the world. And stiff enough to be stable at 80 km/hr fully laden with about 30 stone.
Let's say that a good composite Enduro weighs in at 2 stone. How much more do you really think a steel frame would weigh? If it weighed a stone the all up weight would still be 2.5 stone. Much lighter than the 40 lb figure given.
Honda made stamped steel motorcycles in the 1960's. No they were not ultra light weight, but those frames were not made from round tubing. We beat them senseless riding off road and they seemed to run forever.
Pole makes two halves and glues them together. It could be done with glued, welded, or brazed steel as well, but the production volumes would need to be much higher to pay for the stamping dies.
Most modern automobiles are made from stamped steel. My Aluminium Jaguar weighs about the same as a comparable steel BMW. Steel does not mean gas pipe.
However, steel does have great properties, I'm currently in the process of having a custom steel enduro frame made and it's going to be very cool, it's just not going to be 6lbs like a HTLT.
You can go to the geek page on the Cotic website to read more into the reason why they use steel for their frames. There is a place for aluminium and they do use it, but in some places it is just easier to make something strong enough when you make it out of steel.
Its probably just to stop the chain rattling on stuff then!
Joe the bike looks excellent.
Dope contender, let’s see a head to head comparison
Preach!!
I’m confident Joe at Starling knows what he’s doing with geometry.
www.richi-engineering.de/images/gallery/95.jpg
Then go back to the Starling. I'm sure it looks nice and low now.
What innovation? Neither Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder didn’t see any innovation on this tank... It really is 1998 tech.