R-M-R

@RadBartTaylor: 1. Axle path shaped like the letter J. The path was initially so rearward that vertical impacts, such as a "slap-down" impact, had an extremely low compliance ratio, leading to the harshness frequently reported from such impacts. 2. Extremely digressive motion ratio curve. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if a spring curve and damping curve can be created that combine with the motion ratio to result in the desired wheel rate. For example, a digressive motion ratio curve and a progressive spring rate curve could combine to be a perfectly flat wheel rate. This was not the case for the Trust products, despite their best efforts with an unconventional damper and spring. These properties combined to create products that were moderately to very harsh early in the stroke and had poor support deep in the travel. As I've said many times, I believe in the potential of front linkage suspension, but the execution of the Trust products was not optimal.

@vinay: Their prices were toward the high end of the spectrum, with below-average stiffness to weight ratios for the rear stays.

@vinay: I'll be impressed when someone makes a machined frame at a viable price with hollow chainstays and seatstays - or, to be more outcome-focused than process-focused, create the same stiffness to weight ratio as other frames at comparable prices.

@rivercitycycles: Even if we ignore the price, trust forks had flawed kinematics. They failed on merit, or lack thereof. Doesn't mean the concept is a non-starter, just that it's difficult to get right, with almost zero prior art to draw upon, and typically more expensive to produce. That's a lot to overcome for any company considering creating such a product - not to mention the negative perception created by most prior front linkage products.

@justinfoil, Indeed. It's like saying "all [rear suspension type] [behaviour] [situation]". @haen, For example, "all single-pivot swingarm frames have considerable brake anti-rise". Not if the pivot is super low. Not (necessarily) if a floating brake linkage is used. It's just a design choice to put the pivot in the usual location because most people feel that's the best compromise. "All Horst-link bikes pedal less firmly than dw-link bikes." That's just due to the design choices of many Horst-link designers (notably, most old-school models and Specialized until a few years ago) vs. Dave Weagle and his clients. Could be the inverse if the designers wanted it to be. Similarly, the properties of front linkages are what their designers have chosen. Many designers have chosen very high anti-dive, but that's not an intrinsic property of any particular front linkage configuration. Some configurations would make it difficult to avoid that outcome without a floating brake linkage, but it still isn't an intrinsic property. A single-pivot, leading-link front linkage with a more-or-less horizontal link will have a high anti-dive value (possibly rising when braking, as mentioned) without a floating brake linkage. Multi-link designs or single-pivots with a floating link offer tremendous design flexibility in their kinematics.

Interesting test and results. The similarity between high-pressure run (with and without CushCore) vs. the low-pressure run suggests the missing piece is to test a low-pressure, no insert configuration. Maybe Nicky is simply running excessive pressure, maybe his standard pressure is necessary and inserts are the only way to run a lower pressure without whatever negative effects led him to the higher standard pressure, or maybe the standard pressure was was arrived at as a way to prevent extreme outlier events that could be tolerated to gain the benefits of a lower pressure. Further testing could be whether it's a better solution to use a more robust casing without an insert or a lighter casing with an insert.

Interesting choice to leave [L=https://www.newmen-components.de/Naben]Newmen[/L] off the list.

@wslee: The bottle could wear through the shock body eventually, but it's going to take a while and can be monitored. It seems possible to avoid the situation with a spacer under the rearward bottle mount to tilt the bottle downward, or source a cage that positions the bottle rearward, such as the Elite Ciussi Side Access with the plastic lower stop removed.

@onemanarmy: The best answer is to write to the UCI, race sponsors, and team sponsors. The real answer is that we just keep complaining about it on Pinkbike. It's a win either way!