Tool's High-Pivot Prototype is Machined in Canada

Jun 6, 2022 at 13:16
by ben wilson  
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PRESS RELEASE: Tool Bikes

A few weeks ago I got to chat with William Boisvert, the owner of Tool, and check out this ''crazy new proto" I kept hearing about. A bike I had only known to be machined out of a single piece of aluminum. I needed to see it to believe it. Between test laps at Highland Bike Park we spoke about the build process, life in Quebec, the bike market, industry needs, and the overall mission for the company.

CNCspec is a shop just outside of Quebec city owned by Jonathan Voyer. Jo welcomed Will in on his mission in CNC. This is where the V1P2 Proto was born. Jo saw the vision, he believed in Will and knew he had the drive to succeed, and after countless hours of machining the bike has come to life.
Tool Prototype Details

• Head angle: 62.5-degrees
• Seat angle:78-degrees
• Reach: 500mm
• Travel: 150mm / 160mm fork
• Wheel size: 29/29 or mullet
• Material: 6061 T6 aluminum, machined out of one solid block
• rideontool.com

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William Boisvert and Jonathan Voyer.

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Growing up Will had a fascination with builds from a company by the name of Balfa Cycles. Balfa has been known in the past to think way outside of the box in their suspension and linkage designs - take the BB7, for example. Will wanted to build his own bike while still incorporating a similar pivot vibe and style as, he says, "The true pioneers of the high pivot design."

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bigquotesIt’s just bikes! It’s not about the bike and the new fancy piece of tech, it’s about the ride.. The bike is a tool, an instrument to the ride. I want people to love their bike dearly. I want riders to want to keep their Tool as long as they can. We take great pride in making the most out of each raw piece of material to minimize waste. Centralizing every step of the creation of the bike locally from design to manufacturing, Tool is all about producing simplicity. I believe Tool is the kind of bike brand the industry needs, not the brand it has. That’s why we are here, that’s why we are different.— William Boisvert

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*Shout out to a few companies supporting the vision. thank you to We Are One Composites, OneUp components, S4 Suspension, and Hope Tech Brakes.

To follow along and stay up to date on the journey of Tool, follow @rideontool on Instagram and/or sign up for the newsletter on rideontool.com to have updates sent directly to you.

Author Info:
benwilsonphoto avatar

Member since Mar 4, 2018
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91 Comments
  • 108 1
 Ha! All that design effort and time and they still couldn't route the cables through the headset.
  • 10 0
 Pfft, exactly - what a fail… I mean, what’s the point of spending hundreds of design hours on the frame if that level of effort isn’t matched by also spending hundreds of design hours into making proprietary interlocking headset spacers & unique(ly ugly) internally routed stems (both of which will be completely discontinued from production & the marketplace in around 18-24 months time) while simultaneously figuring out clever ways to ensure that if the hoses aren’t cut to the exact mm, they rub like crazy on the steerer!
Oh, and if it can be made be awful to work on too, then its regarded as a happy bonus.
Now that’s the kind of thoroughness & progress I like to see, and the kind which the buying market invariably gets behind & rewards….
  • 9 0
 Who would buy a bike where the cables don’t go through the headset? Everyone knows it’s the future. He could have saved 60 grams if he had.

#f*ckoffscott
  • 1 0
 @Corinthian: Don't forget that the cables will rattle like hell hitting the handlebar, I predict all headset routed bikes will see zip ties or mastic table just after they leave a shop ...
  • 2 0
 They obviously didn't carry out any market research to ascertain what people want.
  • 97 2
 "Change is comming
Now is my time
Listen to my muscle memory
Contemplate what I've been clinging to
Forty-six and two ahead of me"

Tool - 46 And 2
  • 14 4
 Nah mate looks more like a 51 and 10 actually
  • 46 0
 Do they hum "I know the pieces fit" every time they bond the two frame halves together?
  • 7 1
 @jgoldfield: hopefully they don't watch them "fall away".
  • 5 2
 @jgoldfield: hopefully while being Sober

I am just a worthless liar
I am just an imbecile
I will only complicate you
Trust in me and fall as well
I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
I will work to elevate you
Just enough to bring you down
  • 17 0
 Probably good at Descending. I could maybe Pushit to new limits! Hopefully it's Invincible and doesn't split Right In Two.
  • 3 0
 It's all very well quoting lyrics, but I want Tool puns! Something about Dick Pound getting StinkFist'd or Will needing to be real f'ing high on drugs to have come up with this design.
  • 6 0
 It definitely has a Parabol resemblance. Even I am Sober enough to admit this is a Lateralus way to Pushit bike design. There is a raw Undertow to it's look. Due to price I will have to experience it Vicariously.
  • 26 0
 I met a guy wearing Fox & 510s
And a dope Kons tee, nipple rings
New tattoos that claimed that he
Was on GT, back in '92, must be Steve Peat
  • 5 0
 @mrpfp: looks like a hooker with a penis
  • 2 0
 Those who know, know...
  • 8 0
 @Kimbers: I’ve got some news for you little buddy… You win comment gold.
  • 3 1
 @philrossnz: People have a grudge against machined bikes
  • 1 0
 @Kimbers: those comments are brilliant
  • 62 0
 The Forbidden POLE!
  • 37 0
 Aka your tool
  • 9 0
 @j-t-g @reks

Very nice, you two. I'm putting you both in for a promotion.
  • 3 1
 Comment of the month, you made my day!
  • 1 0
 Isn't that just The Unabomber?
  • 21 0
 If propain and pole bikes made a baby
  • 3 0
 My thoughts exactly! Has some elements of both, a Spindrift and a Stamina
  • 4 0
 More like if propain and forbidding had a baby
  • 10 0
 Looks like a Deviant Pole
  • 3 1
 I was thinking more norco range and pole, maybe a 3 way with the propain
  • 3 0
 I was thinking deviate claymore.
  • 1 0
 Fobidiatepainole.
  • 1 0
 @pdxjeremy: I was thinking actofive and Norco Range honestly…
  • 12 0
 That kid was my small neighbor when I was a teenage boy! Congrats a million time Will
  • 4 0
 If you are going to machine it, why use 6000 series aluminum? Won't 7000 have better mechanical properties? It seems like if you use 6000 series you might as well just use extruded tubing?
  • 1 0
 Exactly my thoughts
  • 1 0
 6000 series is cheaper right? Maybe they want to gather more data with a cheaper prototype before investing in a more expensive one? Seems like a lot of prototypes look somewhat crude, simple and cheap initially. Not saying that's for sure why they did it, just a thought.
  • 6 0
 "This ground is not the rock I thought it to be"
  • 2 0
 There's a bit of a few bikes in this for me.
Some Deviate, some Forbidden, of course some Pole and a sprinkling of Actofive and Propain. .

I think it looks really interesting and it'd be good to see the rest of the geo and the leverage rate / suspension curve.
  • 2 1
 You’re forgetting Norco Range.
  • 2 0
 “ We take great pride in making the most out of each raw piece of material to minimize waste”

When machining out of a solid block of aluminum, doesn’t 90% (or more) of the block end up as metal shavings? Unless they’re using the shavings to make more metal blocks, this seems significantly more wasteful than using aluminum tubing.
  • 4 0
 It's perfect BUT you could really leverage the power of CNC and add some awesome internal frame storage (top and downtube)
  • 3 0
 correct me if I am wrong but is this not just another machined frame with a bond down the middle? Don't all bikes made this way require coming out of a single block?
  • 3 0
 Some do, some are using forgings shaped close to the final product. Less waste and better characteristics, though I believe harder to machine if I remember correctly. If you get creative with a single block you can cut other parts out of the center of the main frame. They probably cut the rear triangle from the inside of the main frame. If you look it would definitely fit easily with in the opening. Any excess waste gets recycled back into aluminum stock.
  • 1 0
 Maybe the most beautiful bike of this year. Sturdiness of the massive aluminium shapes is like from another world. Just use the new Canadian split-derailuer to achieve normal looking chainlike and it's a work of beauty.
What stem is there used?
  • 2 1
 Top looking bike ,
Machine yes
Bonded no
Welded yes
Would be better it’s like a weak and after thought some poles had problems with bonding .
Machines extruded welded mix maybe printed is the ultimate frame .
On the aluminium frame side
  • 4 3
 I think Sunn would like a discussion about the statement saying that Balfa were the pioneers of high pivots. Pretty sure they weren't. Also saying that a bike is machined in one piece when it is two halves is pretty missleading, nothing ground breaking but it seems they've already got they Marketing BS dialed.
  • 2 0
 Innovation at its best! The rest of the world could learn something from Will! Great Article!!
  • 3 0
 It's like a forbidden druids evil twin
  • 2 0
 That is a fine looking tool. The Pseudo internal cable routing look cool. Well done
  • 3 0
 I’ve been waiting like a stalking butler for this
  • 1 1
 Frame looks great. But Am I the only one who finds it crazy to go to so much trouble to make a frame out of aluminium and then put carbon rims on it? Frame is a way better component to make out of carbon than a rim.
  • 2 0
 I woke from my slumber covered in sweat listening to cry of a thousand nay a million cries . Tomorrow is harvest day .
  • 3 0
 Actofive copy?
  • 2 0
 It should be 7/8 inches travel
  • 2 0
 I think i saw this beast in C1
  • 2 0
 Now it’s possible for everyone to ride their own tool .
  • 1 0
 My ideal geometry, looks pretty fantastic but I still have trouble wrapping my head around the machined frames.
  • 3 0
 Corsair Maelstrom
  • 1 0
 Looks like they borrowed the design from another Canadian bike brand...but nah, that would be Forbidden in the industry.
  • 1 0
 Is this a repost of the June article? Damn I was excited for a second... no news since.
  • 1 0
 Dear bike industry, please see above prototype for how to do cable routing properly.
  • 2 0
 looks like a copy of the german actofive.
  • 1 0
 Frame sure feels as edgy as a tool, but wheels make a perfect circle. Diggin' the third eye a.k.a. high pivot.
  • 1 0
 I am unable to find info on why? Why is this better than current mass-produced AL frames?
  • 1 0
 It's an Actofive P-Train copy with a slacker head angle. But the Actofive looks a lot better.
  • 1 0
 Give it time dude this is incredibly good looking for a first prototype. Remember the fugly eyesore that was the norco range's alloy mule proto? That became stunning
  • 1 0
 Very nice looking bike. Love seeing more bikes being built in Canada
  • 1 0
 Balfa spirit right there, du beau travail
  • 2 0
 Norco range?
  • 1 0
 Seems like a great candidate for a Lal Supre drivetrain...
  • 1 0
 Forbidden's lawyers enter the chat.
  • 1 0
 Such a nice looking bike! I saw one in person and it’s gorgeous!
  • 1 0
 Jonathan voyer loves watching William build the bikes.
  • 1 0
 Looks a lot like the deviate to me
  • 1 0
 Looks like a Session had sex with a Forbidden
  • 1 0
 I am waiting for a 60 head angle and a 90 seat angle
  • 1 0
 Similar suspension design to a Corsair Maelstrom?!
  • 1 0
 Threaded BB? Asking for a friend...
  • 1 0
 Forbidden x Pole x Propain
  • 1 0
 Looks like a Dreadnought
  • 1 0
 beautiful
  • 1 0
 Looks sweet!
  • 1 0
 Looks sweeet
  • 1 0
 love at first sight!
  • 1 0
 Nice
  • 1 0
 Looks very sweeet
  • 1 0
 Bravo Will
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