MLink Suspension: How It Works - Press Release

Oct 7, 2016 at 13:31
by Fuji Bikes  
Press release

MLink Suspension: How it Works

by FujiMTB
Views: 11,476    Faves: 5    Comments: 1


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Member since Jun 24, 2016
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78 Comments
  • 47 2
 Sounds like a Dodge Ram truck commercial
  • 20 0
 Radio voice guy saying: "G'd-out berm turns..."
  • 10 0
 @timmay604: he also confirmed what the bike is capable of when I let it all "hang out"...I was curious.
  • 2 0
 @meltboro: I swear that's a robot doing the voice over.
  • 3 0
 How did they get the guy from Americas Most Wanted to be the voice for this video???!!!
  • 4 0
 I can sound like that too honey.
  • 20 0
 Breezer?
  • 6 0
 Same design, yep.
  • 1 0
 They too call it Mlink
  • 2 0
 Fuji is a partner company to Breezer... and SE, and Kestral, and Terry. Almost all of which no one really rides, except SE.
  • 17 2
 I'm not an engineer but i cant see how that pivot in the centre of the chain stay can do anything other then cause flex where you dont want it. I really dont understand how this could be any advantage over a normal four bar system.
  • 3 1
 The chain stay looks like it would be in tension so the pivot won't buckle/collapse if thats what you're talking about. At least for the compression...
  • 2 0
 @getoffmypropartay: Thats what i was thinking so why would it offer more benefit than a regular chain stay? to my mind its adding sprung weight with little benefit?
  • 5 0
 How many degrees does that mid-chainstay pivot ever move?
  • 7 1
 Im not no engimaneer either, but id say.. there are a lot of bearings to replace on that
  • 4 0
 I don't think it would really matter where the pivots are along the chainstay. If you have them close to the BB, or close to the dropout, you'll have the same torque going through them that would cause flex. I took a couple mech E courses in college, so I'd like to think I might not be totally off? Or maybe I just know enough to be dangerous and make myself look dumb on the internet.
  • 1 0
 I am thinking sideways play would be obvious and maybe if this maker claims that the bike stays glued to the trail you can't lift it or flick it around easily.
  • 2 0
 @zion-i: Not really when you put it in perspective. Mine has the same number as this bike, as do many linkage driven or VPP type or DW link bikes. Only way round that is single pivot I guess!
  • 9 3
 Whoah.
It looks like it has almost vertical rear wheel path, if not some forward path from the design.
Kinda looks like it takes away the advantages of a high pivot for descending.
Do the chain forces actuate the mid swingarm pivot?
Is it really stiffer?
Looks like it could be ... flexy.
  • 1 0
 It'll be forward towards end of travel. Link lay out places the virtual pivot point in practically same place as almost any non high single pivot design. If you draw a line through the two sets of pivots, the point at which they cross is where it pivots around. ( although that location will move through the travel) but will result in a partially forward axle path.
  • 2 0
 Feedback from PB's last review is that it pedals very well for a 160mm platform but it was very difficult to get dialed as it bottomed super easily. Too linear late in the stroke?
  • 4 0
 I really just want to meet the guy who did the voiceover and see if he sounds like that in person.

It does appear that this is one of the less ridiculous designs to emerge lately - the devil is always in the details and I'm not going to pretend I've actually checked out the anti-squat curves, but other than the standard marketing rhetoric there was nothing obviously dumb to pick apart about the way they've designed it IMO, at least compared to many of the established designs like FSR. I'd say they've done a pretty clever job of making something visibly different and unique, without doing anything unbelievably stupid just for the sake of calling it "innovation". Google "Scurra Hard Enduro" or "Redalp" for some better examples of that kind of "innovation".
  • 3 0
 "Scurra hard enduro" Cannot unsee. Even worse than the Redalp.
  • 2 0
 @stumpymidget: I am mentally scarred. **shudder**
  • 5 0
 @CJ8TH: @Socket @stumpymidget I am mentally Scurred
  • 1 0
 @CJ8TH: I feel your pain.
  • 1 0
 @allballz: You're sure, have you tested this? In the video it seems like the pivot rotates over a very small angle hence it also moves very little. You'd expect the designers acknowledge this risk and have made sure it won't be such an issue. After all, Rocky Mountain also has their chainstay pretty high (constantly as it has no pivot in there) relative to the axle and I've heard no complain. That said, the chain hitting the chainstay is pretty common when riding rough stuff in a heavier gear. At least on my hardtail with a pretty basic frame (DMR) the chain hits the chainstay all the time. Some silence it using neoprene, some minimize it using a rear mech with a clutch. But a frame can be made to survive such impact. It commonly is. Sure there are frame designs that have the chainstay further out of the way (Orange for instance) but many definitely have the chain running pretty close to the chainstay.
  • 3 0
 There's something a little sexual and highly amusing about the computer generated graphics of the bike frame combined with the voice over guys commentary, around 1:24 min to 1:48 min "allows for full stroke without harsh bottom out"
  • 6 0
 Thanks for showing up again Fuji, you always add that non-descript bike company feel to everything you do.
  • 1 0
 I'm not yet an engineer (I'm studying mechanical engineering at the moment) but I can see that when there is a bump and that the suspension is moving, the chainstay (L shaped) is actually growing (just like any Enduro/Trail/XC bike) to make an efficient climber, so there's no way it doesn't have pedal kick back...
  • 1 0
 I always wondered why there's so much unsprung mass involved in the rear of bikes, but at the same time the rider is like 85% of the total mass, so the rear end probably amounts to like 5%. Still, it seems like that could be a lot lower, but the same could be said of forks I guess.
  • 1 0
 In the grand scheme of things I guess nothing is perfect, and nobody would ever even ride a bike if they were so anal retentive.
  • 3 0
 I want my bike's design to be very linear off the start and get progressive near the end, which seems to be the opposite of what the Fuji does.
  • 1 0
 So, this is system that solves all problems? Pedal bob? Gone. Inefficient pedaling? Gone. Tires leaving the ground at inopportune times? Uh, not so much. Triangulated rear end? The heck? Don't most bikes?

Funny thing is, my hardtail does the same. And is fun to jump with.
  • 3 0
 No real life slo mo or regular footage of the suspension working. They just showus by fraction of secondes segments. Wonder why?
  • 1 0
 Good.. Great.. And what for!?
Like having a broken arm and pretending to lift the shopping bag full of liters of milk!
Or maybe to carry the tool box on the trail.. Might be necessary :O
  • 4 0
 Repack Repackaged
  • 3 4
 Gosh, it is a four bar design, end of story. Like FSR, VPP, KS Link and all the other marketing names. How short or long the links are or in which rotational direction they turn...detail. Ok, those details make all the difference, but please bike companies, don't hype a suspension design, that has been in place for more than 25 years, as something so mega ultra super new and innovative.
And companies can change characteristics under the same suspension name, so that naming really does not matter. This in particular is not a bad execution of the design I think, but I don't see the advantage in comparison to more traditional pivot placements that can be achieved by the unconventional placement here. And if you look at the marginal rotation of the "Horst link" pivot, it is not far from a single pivot. So the main adavantage of a four bar design over a single pivot, the changing virtual pivot point over wheel travel and its effects, seem not even to be used to a noticable extend here. Different to be different, but still kind of the same...but hey ho, I guess it is just what they do these days. Anyways, good luck with the new bikes, Fuji...
  • 6 0
 So, you admit that the details make all the difference, and when a company goes into the details and explains them to you that is still apparently not good enough and the same as what came before?

Which is it then?
  • 1 0
 It appears many of the Horst Link designs have been tuned with lower anti-squat, brake squat, and pedal kickback, but it appears some of the newer models are being designed with slightly higher numbers. Of course shock tune may make some of these characteristics a mute point on the trail. The following website is interesting to use to compare different models:

linkagedesign.blogspot.com/search/label/Breezer
  • 5 1
 'MURRICAAAA
  • 6 0
 ^^^^^ This guy gets it. F YEAH!
  • 1 0
 Rampaaaaaaaage!!!!!
  • 3 0
 Is it laterally stiff?! Tell me again how its laterally stiff.
  • 1 0
 I think he said "plush" a lot of times as well, which really isn't even a function of the linkage, more the shock. Verbally selling things would suck for me, because I would probably say, "this part is shitty, and that part is shit, but apart from that pleeeaaassseee buy it for the love of god!!!"
  • 2 0
 cool that this was filmed at Mtn Creek, gotta get back up there before the season's end
  • 1 0
 Which is actually the most important takeaway from this ad.
  • 1 2
 AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL AXEL
  • 2 0
 Not VPP, doesn't make sense.
  • 4 0
 Same designer, of SC VPP, designed the M-Link, Sotto
  • 3 0
 @aushred: And the Yeti Switch Link and the new Alchemy bike.
  • 1 0
 Fck, thought about moving the pivot halfway through chainstays about 2 yrs ago. Damn me.
  • 1 0
 So it's a DW link with a longer lower link
  • 1 0
 And it's Horst Link with a shorter chainstay the best/worst of both?
  • 1 0
 I ride it daily in my 2015 RePack pro. Works unbelievably well.
  • 4 2
 yuck
  • 1 0
 Efficient plush and stiff
  • 2 2
 will it cook my dinner and do my laundry as well?
  • 1 0
 I love suspension.
  • 1 0
 That was god awful.
  • 1 2
 Fuji, why is Lauren not racing EWS?
  • 1 2
 Cool design, Rakan Fuji!
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