First Look: The Berria Bravo is a 28mm Travel Hardtail

Jul 3, 2023 at 13:48
by Dario DiGiulio  
photo

Berria is a Spanish brand with a very diverse catalog, ranging from road machines to all-mountain e-bikes. At the forefront of their innovation is their XC lineup, showcasing their newest developments in frame design and manufacturing. For the 2024 model year, Berria is unveiling the new Bravo, their XC-race hardtail, which now sports a unique soft-tail design.

Meant to split the difference between a fully rigid hardtail and a true full suspension, the Bravo offers a small amount of chassis flex that is meant to isolate the rider from some of the harshness of the racetrack.
Berria Bravo Details
• Intended use: XC
• Carbon frame
• 28mm of "Softex" suspension
• 14mm flex Tibia seatpost
• 100mm fork
• 66.5°-68° head angle (size dependent)
• 999g or 1270g frame (BR/Normal frame)
• Price: €2,399 - €5,599
• www.berriabikes.com

photo

photo

Sporting a 100mm fork, the Bravo is generally a very conservative XC hardtail, save for the unique chassis tech. Reach numbers range from 397-465mm, and the head angle progressively steepens from 66.5° on the XS to 68° on the L. While size-specific head angles are fairly unheard of, my best guess is this was a decision made to try to keep the wheelbase of the bike fairly tight, to maintain a livelier character as the bikes grow. The seat tube angle ranges from 74-75°, further cementing the non-radical nature of the geometry.

photo
No damper, just a little bit of flex to take the edge off.

While the exact inner-workings of the Softex flex stay system aren't quite clear, the design does revolve around the separation of the front triangle, chainstay, and seatstay assemblies, allowing for some movement between them under impact load. The point of deflection is at the toptube-seattube junction, and appears to be a sealed pivot, if you could call it that.

photo
Painting the picture for where the Bravo fits in.

Interestingly, the seat post itself plays into the rider-suspension system of the bike, with the house-brand Tibia post offering 14mm of deflection to further take the edge off. We've seen plenty of takes on this design in the past, and they certainly do improve comfort when you can't leave the saddle through rough terrain. With more and more XC athletes choosing dropper posts, I'm curious to see how many folks end up keeping the flex post mounted, but time will tell.

photo
Key data: Nm forces ranging from "low" to "high."

There are three colors and multiple build kits to choose from, with prices ranging from €2,399 to €5,599.

photo

Builds have a nice mix brands and budgets, erring on the inexpensive side. Berria offers a custom builder program for folks who want to take the a-la-carte approach.

photo
Bravo 6

photo
Bravo 5
photo
Bravo 7

The Bravo has already seen action under the Berria Vittoria UCI Factory Team at the Leogang XCO. With very low frame weights and the potential added benefit of the flex system, we'll be keen to see how the bike gets on this season.

photo
photo


For more photos and graphics, check out the high-res gallery here.

For purchasing options and more information on the Berria Bravo, head over to Berria's website.



Author Info:
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Member since Dec 25, 2016
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142 Comments
  • 529 3
 Weird flex, but ok.
  • 67 6
 No more comments. We're done here.
  • 8 5
 Well done
  • 10 15
flag WRCDH (Jul 4, 2023 at 4:40) (Below Threshold)
 So is it a hard flex, a soft flex, or a soft-hard flex?
  • 32 0
 @WRCDH: I am asked this question far too often
  • 4 0
 @SebbYo: MVP
  • 3 0
 been done before, but always not not good
  • 3 0
 @WRCDH: it LOOKS FLEXY, that's all anyone needs to know.
  • 3 0
 @KrisRoth As others have acknowledge, comment win. Kudod
  • 4 0
 @WRCDH: pro-flex?
  • 1 0
 Spectacular
  • 2 0
 @WRCDH: It's a semi-flex.
  • 1 2
 I want to know the 2 people who downvoted this. Comment. I am going to hope it was an accident.
  • 122 0
 Huck to flat or it didn't happen.
  • 7 1
 Came here for this
  • 48 0
 Huck to flex
  • 3 0
 @K1maxX: Better flex before hucking
  • 21 1
 If it doesn't break, its officially stronger than a Pole
  • 98 0
 This looks like the natural conclusion of the Gravel bike. In a good way.
  • 6 0
 Fs gravel bikes are just cool.
  • 3 0
 Gravel bikes in 10 years...they gone wider tires plus front suspension...
  • 42 1
 I love that the promotional picture of the team rider shows her charging on the bike - with a dropper post Big Grin
Half of the suspension is realistically removed from most of the bikes bought.
Softtail yay, cable tourism nay.
  • 2 0
 Good catch. Correct me if I’m wrong but the total travel is 28mm with the seatpost providing 14mm, which is half, but on the line graph it shows the frame pivot to move in the last 25% of travel. If that’s true then the frame would only move 7mm with a non flex seatpost on the harsher hits
  • 8 1
 @jdendy: Neither system appears to be preloaded or to have a stop mechanism, so both should begin moving with any application of force and should continue in a fairly consistent manner as more force is applied. i.e. It appears to be a silly graph made by the marketing department.
  • 4 4
 @R-M-R: It appears to be a silly bike made by the marketing department....
  • 32 0
 To add to the caption of graph with the Force Nm from low to high—Nm isn’t a unit of force. Of course it’s possible this is a translation issue as the other graph is labeled “frequence.” But the periodic graphs of different “frequeneces” that look like they’re from a stock explanation of a Fourier transform indicate it’s mostly pseudo science.
  • 15 0
 I was about to chirp you for being science boy, but yea, you are bang on there. Looks like bunch of boardroom ideas on a graph, not actual data.
  • 20 0
 @pruss1: “boardroom ideas on a graph”. f*cking hell that is an incredible summary of the cycling industry
  • 3 0
 There is so much wrong with both graphs. No real numbers attached to force or frequency. Nm is Nm regardless if translation. A joule technically has the units of Nm and that would make some sense to plot as a function of travel. But still, what the hell does “high” even mean? Unless you define high and low it’s pretty useless. High could be 800lbs and low could be 799lbs or 1000 and 200. Who knows. And then plotting frequency as a function of travel? Natural frequency would make sense for this bike, but frequency on a whole is more driven off what you’re riding over. And, again, forget about the part where it doesn’t describe the frequency range at all. This kind of grade A crap gives the bike industry a bad name.
  • 18 0
 @pruss1: Having designed bikes and worked with graphics designers, you're probably half right. It's usually simpler and goes something like:

Product: [Technical explanation.]
Graphics: Got it. *produces images*
Product: That's not it at all. *explains again*
Graphics: Ah, I get it. *produces images*
Product: That's worse. *explains again*
Graphics: Oh! No problem. *produces images*
Product: I could learn the graphics software and do it myself ...
Owner: We have to get this to market. Use whatever we have at this point.
  • 9 0
 I wish Pinkbike had a tech editor to actually read and call out this snake oil before posting it as 'news'.
  • 5 10
flag Utter (Jul 5, 2023 at 1:52) (Below Threshold)
 Eh? NM is a SI rating of torque. And torque is most def a force.
  • 1 0
 @Utter: Must be mN on the back wheel, which is why they wrote it backwards
  • 1 0
 @Utter: “and apples are most definitely oranges” he says
  • 1 0
 @R-M-R: Or...

Product: [Technical “explanation” consisting of spreadsheet/raw data, lacking brief, unrealistic milestones]
Graphics: Got it. Did you receive my questions?
Product: We’re on a tight timeline here.
Graphics: Got it. *produces images*
Product: That's not it at all. *refers to stock images and other jobs with dissimilar information*
Graphics: Your answers to my initial questions would be helpful if you can get them to me. *produces images*
Product: That's worse. *tries again to articulate using irrelevant references; offers "art direction"*
Graphics: Got it. *produces images*
Product: I could learn the graphics software and do it myself … but it will be a fun extracurricular project for my niece.
Owner: We have to get this to market. Use whatever we have at this point.
Graphics: GIGO
  • 1 2
 @Utter: lmao you see these shits? you are right and they downvote you. these are scary times, it's literal idiocracy.
  • 1 1
 @alienator064: wut? i am certain you know about car engine torque, you've no clue about this? this is suicide fuel
  • 2 0
 @baca262: engine torque. Now also measured in kN… Torque and linear force are two very different things. You wouldn’t measure engine torque in kN just like how you wouldn’t spec the payload in Nm.
  • 2 0
 @rider001: Found the fired graphics designer!
  • 2 0
 @baca262: i am an engineering phd student. torque and force measure different things. similar, sure, but force is linear while torque is purely rotiational.
  • 1 0
 @R-M-R: Hehe! Sounds like a little firing needs to be done at your gig, but I'm going with constrained budget. Legions of other failed fine artists await you!
  • 3 0
 @baca262: he is not right. I don't know what on earth you would express in Newton-Molar but surely not torque. You can't be pedantic about units and get your capitals wrong.
And even worse:torque is not force. Not at all.
  • 1 3
 @alienator064: so tell me, student, why does the unit contain a *newton*, if it's not force it's expressing? rotational or linear, force is force
  • 3 0
 @baca262: Nm is to N what moment of inertia is to mass. One is in the rotational world and the other linear. Moment of inertia has the units of kg(m^2). Mass contains kg, but is clearly much different. Moment of inertia only tells you how something will behave rotationally and has no bearing on what its mass actually is.
  • 1 4
 @taquitos: i have absolutely no idea what you're blathering on about because moment of inertia != torque
  • 3 0
 @baca262: you have no idea because you are a lost cause.
  • 1 5
flag baca262 (Jul 6, 2023 at 1:00) (Below Threshold)
 @taquitos: ad hominem, the argument of trolls who don't have an argument
  • 1 0
 @baca262: great question! all units are derived from si base units. technically, a newton is a kg m / s^2, so torque would be kg m^2 / s^2. because of this, the units for all measurements (force, torque, momentum, velocity, etc.) can be written as a function of eachother. for example, velocity (m/s) can be written with the units N s / kg (do the math, you got this!), but you would certainly agree that velocity is not a measurement of force, nor seconds, nor mass, correct? hopefully you can now see that just because torque (Nm) includes N, it is not a measurement of force.
  • 1 1
 @alienator064: newton second - force, moves mass (kg) at a certain velocity, that's why you get velocity out of it. what if there's no mass? where's your result then? lightspeed?
  • 1 0
 @baca262: you should hit up albert einstein, i heard he's written some good stuff about scenarios like that.
  • 1 0
 @alienator064: you should ask your professor and he'll verify what i've said. force is force, a *meter* is added because that much twisting force gives that many *newtons* force given a meter long lever.
  • 1 0
 @alienator064: 350nm engine giving 35kg force with a meter radius flywheel doesn't sound all that impressive now, does it? yet you know how a 350nm engine pulls.
  • 2 0
 @baca262: when taquitos said you were a lost cause, i wanted to prove him wrong, but i now see that was a waste of time. to be honest you're quite close to understanding the concept, maybe a little bit more critical thinking on your end and you will get it Smile
  • 1 3
 @alienator064: yeah you ask your professor. you tards are giving me a live demonstration on how a normie thinks and why people hate normies. you think with your ego instead of reason, if it feels good to you it's true, if it doesn't it's bs. "it's easier to con a man that convince him he's been conned" yall a bunch of f*cking toddlers
  • 3 0
 @baca262: i did, he said "force and torque are obviously different things. i'm going to fire you if you ask such a stupid question again." anything else you would like to add?
  • 1 0
 @baca262: to make it simple for you
Newton=force, meter=distance. Its a basic measure for torque.

If you have to plug in the amount of force put down over a distance it doesn't make sense that your result would be calculating force.
  • 3 0
 @alienator064: Good effort, but @taquitos was right. @baca262 is the kind of person that can tighten bolts to 20 Nm with their bare fingers because they can hold a 2kg weight with those fingers too.
  • 18 0
 Is this Stalin's right hand?
  • 12 0
 Looking forward to the even more more flexible Molotov and fully rigid Zhukov.
  • 4 0
 First thing that came to mind.
  • 1 0
 Berria Lavrentiy XC.
  • 15 1
 I'm seeing a strong resemblance to the Trek Session
  • 2 0
 This made me laugh out loud.
  • 12 0
 I can tell this bike was deisgned by a Roadie who's never, ever tried to ride a mountain bike. No other explanation for why the Head Angle gets steeper with each size up.
  • 11 0
 Okay, also: who is ready for a hardcore softtail? 160mm, long low slack but comfortable. That's a niche in the market that should be filled imo
  • 36 0
 A hardcore softtail would be the perfect companion for my softcore hardtail
  • 5 0
 I wouldn't mind a suspension dropper for my ESD of fat, but only PNW does one and it's only 120mm of travel. A 240mm dropper with 40mm of suspension and 200mm of drop would be nice.
  • 37 0
 @Will-narayan: The Rockshox reverb has been out for years. Plush suspension action.
  • 1 0
 Yes please.
  • 1 0
 moots.com/bikes/mountain/mountaineer

It's close, but we're a bit to go from here.
  • 2 0
 i have an idea of what i call the 'lotto win bike'. Something that would only exist if i suddenly had more money than i know what to do with. Id basically get an atherton bike, custom made with the similar geo as my Produciton Privee Shan GT but with something in the range of 50-100mm coil suspension at the back. something that rides like an agressive hardtail (which i love) but has a tiny bit of comfort/traction.
  • 1 0
 @mathewnz4936989: Right! This is something that I have been thinking about, too. Some light, efficient short travel rear-end with a big burly fork and aggressive geometry. Realistically, the thing would be quite bad in the end. There is probably a reason why nobody offers it.
  • 2 0
 @Naero: 160 might indeed be a bit too much, but my Victor works pretty damn well. 130mm Pike at 64 HTA, 99mm travel in the back, 470 reach for a medium. Works fine as my Dutch XC bike, but was also pretty awesome in Finale. But over there you do notice it indeed somewhere in between a LTHT and a full on trailfully. The back is comfortable and gives a bit more control, but thundering into rockgardens you do find its limits. (Which is still a lot of fun!)

www.pinkbike.com/photo/24019312
  • 2 0
 @suravida: Holy moly that's a sexy bike. Something like that, just with a bigger fork would be my jam.
  • 2 0
 @Naero: I guess that once you want some sort of suspension you'd better have a damper as well, and when you add spring + damper and the several pivots complexity you may as well go all the way and do a full suspension.
The MTT suspension by BMC looks like a nice idea but they ditched it from their hardtail and kept it only on the gravel, so maybe they assume the "large" mtb tires are enough of a small suspension and you don't MTT.
To sum up it seems tricky to do a good small travel suspension while keeping the simplicity of a hardtail.

Take a look at this gravel : www.cyfac.fr/cyfac-vainqueur-du-concours-de-machines-2022
It's a custom bike for the "Concours de machine", a "contest" between French bikes builders.
It's got front and rear suspension made of carbone blades but still require pivots.
  • 12 0
 Slacker HA on small sizes may be a roadie carry-over to avoid toe overlap (irrelevant to mtb)
  • 4 0
 Unless you're a clown with unusually large shoes....
  • 8 0
 reading that graph (which is super vague) - I think the 28mm travel is the frame plus the seatpost - so the frame has 14mm in it alone.
  • 3 0
 YEs, the website makes it very clear: 28 mm is the total of both the seatpost and frame. Seems like a bunch of needless complication is the frame for 14mm of flex stay
  • 10 0
 Needs more hard to understand graphs
  • 9 0
 what are guys running for sag?
  • 3 1
 underated comment
  • 1 0
 @HuckminsterfullerAF: Thanks Homie
  • 3 0
 the next trend ... do you get a discount on purchase price if you just got a turntable to replace all the CDs you bought to replace the vinyl you replaced with them before c-19
  • 4 0
 Any engineers out there? Please explain: So any suspension without damping is essentially a spring? Going boing , boing , boing down a trail will be less efficient ?
  • 17 0
 Any material has a certain amount of damping "built in". A composite with epoxy resin as the matrix can be pretty good as a damper. Martensitic carbon steel has damping coeficien of 2E-3, CRFP typically an order of magnitude higher at 20 degrees Celsius, but this characteristic can be "tuned" to almost half an order of magnitude more. Aluminium is really bad at damping (Closed Packed FCC) at around 5E-5.

Even for carbon we are talking orders of magnitude below an hydraulic valve damper though.
  • 7 0
 @Vindiu: The next level on this design would be some sort of rotational fluid damper in the pivot.
  • 6 0
 @Vindiu: I was all set to reply "ACTUALLY ..." until your last sentence lol

The energy dissipated by the frame is so much less than from the tires - and so vastly below that of a "real" damper - that it's almost detrimental to the conversation to discuss energy dissipated within the frame.

That said, a spring with minimal damping can still have value. A frame with linkage suspension and a damper would still feel awful with road tires, showing the value of typical tires, which are springs with little damping - and the effect would be even worse on a fully rigid chassis. Similarly, softtail frames can have a more favourable ride feel than hardtails.

By contrast, 12" fatbike tires or a long-travel chassis with a blown damper would be nearly unrideable, showing there's an ideal amount of minimally damped travel.

The basic suspension formula is:

• Texture is handled by minimally damped suspension, preferably with minimal unsprung mass (ex. tires).
• Obstacles (ex. roots and rocks) are handled by linkage or telescoping suspension.
• Contours are handled by the rider's body movements.

Softtails deal mostly with the first, and a little of the second. They can be a good solution for some use cases.
  • 1 0
 @R-M-R: Good that you mention it, my answer is "ACTUALLY" Smile incomplete. Yes, frame material gives a certain feeling to the ride, as you mention, by filtering texture and small obstacles.
  • 2 0
 As an engineer that regularly post-processes simulations and model tests into frequency-domain plots, I can't for the life of me understand what they are trying to say with that first graph. What on earth is the y-axis? What are those generic signals on top for? why is the x-axis shaded red after 80mm, is that the danger zone?
  • 3 1
 It's just a MTB version of a Cannondale Topstone, which has 30mm of rear travel. It's based of the 2001-2010 Scalpels which had 80-100mm of travel and no main pivot bearings.
  • 1 0
 Cannondales are based on Castellano frames, nothing is new
  • 2 0
 @FarmerJohn: Tomorrow is...
  • 3 0
 Wait until you hear about leaf springs ...
  • 1 0
 @R-M-R: lauf springs
  • 1 0
 @wburnes: Lauf out Loud!
  • 4 0
 I'll wait for a 150mm travel version of this Hardtail.
  • 1 0
 Size specific Head Angles - but not Chain Stays...
Valid reason to down-size from a Large to get a 'Down-Country' 66.X° head angle on the Small.
The flexy-squishy Seat Stay junction is like the BMC - URS Gravel Bike....
  • 3 0
 Rampage and Hardline ready I reckon.
  • 4 1
 Complete with headset cable routing good luck selling these
  • 2 0
 It's a staggeringly beautiful bike. That's enough for me. I would ride it just for that reason.
  • 1 0
 Brian Park at a staff meeting: "Folks, I could really use a laugh. How do we get the comments section going today?"
Dario DiGiulio: "Hold my beer, watch this..."
  • 2 0
 Not enough travel to smooth anything meaningful out, but kinematics that will steal a bit of pedaling efficiency. Nice. -W
  • 3 5
 Looks cool but 420mm chainstays? Make them longer (size specific/L 435mm) and the bike would achieve more travel, handle better and more easily accommodate larger tires and chainrings. Oh and make the headtube slacker and the reach longer then take my money
  • 2 0
 I respect the different approach
  • 1 0
 I once had a Dean Ti softtail, nice bike actually, it had a little damper though.
  • 1 0
 Definitely a must for tuck to flat. Also, would be curious to hear an explanation of the steepening head angles.
  • 1 0
 SO what's old is new again....softails have been around before am I wrong???
  • 1 0
 Trek STP, Moots YBB (still made, I think?), Funk thingamajigs, etc. Yes, it's a bad idea that resurfaces every few years.

-W
  • 1 0
 First look at that tire to seat tube gap tells me they aren't ambitious about the travel on this one.
  • 2 0
 I’d like this
For
A
Gravel bike
  • 1 0
 Stones around here are 33mm...
Will it help if I add a 5mm insol to my shoes?
  • 1 0
 Thus has already been done much better before with the trek supercaliber. How is this even supposed to compete against that?
  • 1 1
 However, there's some inflexibility in Dario's photo gallery and the "high res" gallery....
  • 1 0
 would rag HARD in mini mullet
  • 1 0
 So, it’s not a hardtail.
  • 11 7
 a non-hardtail. shit, it's just like genders.
  • 1 0
 High MODULE? Really!?! I think you meant High Modulus - oh dear.
  • 1 0
 Is there just straight up not an XL?
  • 1 0
 I like the straight downtube.
  • 1 0
 Berria? as in Lavrentiy Berria?
  • 1 0
 About as much travel as most Reddit /r/MTB Enduro riders need
  • 1 0
 What was old becomes new again
  • 1 0
 Honey, I broke my tibia again.
  • 1 0
 Does that not make it a ‘softtail’ rather than a hardtail?
  • 1 0
 With a name like Tibia, you just know it’s immune to fractures.
  • 1 0
 Cable Spelunking through the headset
  • 1 0
 Nuts
  • 1 0
 14mm worth
  • 1 0
 Bravissimo
  • 1 0
 Squishytail
  • 1 0
 Not a hardtail
  • 1 0
 love it.
  • 2 5
 If not the stupidest, then one of the stupidest bikes ever invented.
  • 1 0
 I take it you haven't seen the latest Pinkbike field test then?
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