Mondraker, Corratec, Polygon - Eurobike 2014

Mondraker Dune RR

Best looking bike at the show? I think so. The Dune RR is actually one step down from the top of the line XR, but the KTM-esque colours of the RR seemed to pull my camera in its direction. The 160mm travel bike is assembled to be an enduro race machine, or at least a bike that you'd ride on some pretty rowdy terrain, and it features Mondraker's interesting Evo Forward geometry. What the hell is Forward geometry? Here's an explanation from our January 2014 review of last year's Dune XR: Anyone who has ridden both a pure cross-country bike with a long stem and more aggressive bike with a short stem on the same rowdy downhill can attest to which one made them fear for their life and which one had them looking for air time. But if using a short stem has that sort of effect, why not go to an even shorter stem? Well, it isn't quite that simple, because employing a 10mm long stem on a bike with standard geometry will only create one very awkward riding package that will feel too short in reach, as well as not place enough weight on the front wheel for proper handling when you're climbing and descending.

Bottom line: a 10mm stem like the one used on the Dune requires frame geometry designed around it. More specifically, a longer front center length to compensate for the length taken out of the stem, which is exactly what Mondraker have done with their Forward Geometry. Simply put, instead of Mondraker designing the bike around a 60mm stem, they instead added 50mm of that to the bike's front center length and then went with a minuscule 10mm stem to balance it out. The result is that the rider is in the same position, but the front wheel is further out in front of them and the bike's wheelbase is a touch longer.

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Corratec's Inside Link 10Hz Suspension

Here's one that's sure to stir the pot: Corratec has used what they're calling an "MDU bumper" at the forward shock mount of their 120mm travel Inside Link 10Hz lineup that is claimed to better isolate the rider from high frequency vibrations, which is where the design takes its name from. But isn't that the shock's job, you ask? That's the exact question that I posed to them, and their answer was that the bumper is essentially frictionless and able to react to small, high frequency impacts much faster than a shock can due to the friction in its seals. They went on to say that it takes a certain amount of force to overcome the friction and pressure within a shock, which results in the tiniest of delays before it begins to take in the impact, and that is exactly what their bumper system is designed to handle.


The layout creates a floating front shock mount due to there being a bumper both ahead of and behind its mounting point, and the two bumper arrangement is said to allow riders to tune its on-trail feel by swapping in different density units - each bike will come with two low density and two high density bumpers, and they can be configured any way you'd like. Using the stiffer two will result in an extra 10mm of travel overall, while combining the softer bumpers will add up to 18 - 20mm of extra cush. It's also worth noting that it doesn't appear to require a proprietary shock. Corratec is well aware of the incoming "The 90s called and they want their rubber bumpers back" sort of comments, but believe in the system's benefits enough that they told us the 10Hz layout will likely find its way onto other suspension and hardtail platforms in their lineup.

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Polygon N9 XTR

Polygon's 160mm travel, 27.5'' wheeled N9 employs the Indonesian brand's dual link FS3 suspension layout that's an evolution of the FS2 system used on their 200mm travel downhill race bike, with two links that control a floating shock and a low center of gravity. The lower link no longer rotates concentrically around the bottom bracket like with FS2, which not only helps to shed weight, but also means that Polygon was able to shorten the chain stays far beyond what would have been possible with the older design. Both the upper and lower links, which are single-piece units rather than being bolted or bonded together, rotate in the same direction to compress the shock. As its name suggest's the N9 XTR is spec'd with Shimano's 11 speed XTR group.

View entire Eurobike 2014 Product Gallery Here