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Tech Update with Lennard Zinn - Nice rides for 2010
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There were a number of special bikes that I saw at Interbike that I have still not had much opportunity to write about. So I’ll use this week’s column to do so.
Ibis has been very successful with its carbon mountain bikes, particularly the Mojo. Coming soon is the Mojo HD, which, at 160mm of rear travel, is the biggest-hit Ibis to date. The bike has been in development for three years, and Ibis founder Scot Nicol says that this ability to work on a bike for years before introducing it is one of the advantages that his small company has over the big bike manufacturers.
“We’re not on a model-year cycle,” says Nicol, “so we can optimize everything. We don’t release a bike until it’s ready. We have super bomber perfected layups on the Mojo HD because we’ve been working on it constantly for years.”
Nicol bemoans the plight of engineers at bigger companies, who he says are not only under such pressure to come out with a new model that they can’t possibly put all of their best ideas into, but that they can’t enjoy the accomplishment of completing the bike, because they have to get going on next years’ models as soon as it’s done.
Nicol waxes almost poetic when he talks about the DW-Link suspension design that the Mojo HD shares with the Mojo and Mojo SL. He claims that the suspension design, named after its designer, Dave Weagle, is so efficient that there is no need for a pedal-platform shock with a low-speed damping system designed to eliminate pedal-induced bobbing.
It is designed for an air shock, and the linkage offers a falling spring rate, which, when combined with the rising rate of an air shock, provides a “bottomless, super-linear feel,” according to Nicol.
Ibis and Weagle have worked to optimize the DW Link on the Mojo HD for anti-squat in each gear combination. “Squat” is a suspension system's reaction to the transfer of mass during acceleration. Effective anti-squat balances the reaction to such mass transfer.
Brian Lopes chose to race the Mojo HD in the downhill at the world championships this year. Its tapered head tube with 1.5-inch lower bearing and King Inset headset has stiffness and strength to match the 180mm big-travel fork it is designed to accompany for gravity-aided competition.
The left dropout is magnesium and is drilled and tapped for a post-mount disc brake. The rear axle is a 12mm RockShox Maxle to hold everything in alignment and minimize wear on the dropout slots.
The long development cycle doesn’t mean that an Ibis model stays static once it’s been introduced, however. The Tranny hardtail gets an improved layup for 2010, new colors, and a single-speed option.
While Quintana Roo is a triathlon brand, its new Cd0.1 aero bike would be one of the fastest time trial bikes money could buy. It was awarded the gold design award at the Eurobike show in Germany at the beginning of September.
Key to the speed of this bike is the down tube being offset to the drive side, rather than being centered on the bottom bracket shell. Its designer, Brad Devaney, also built in a bulged seat tube to smooth off the jet of air coming off of the front wheel.
Even at a sub-$800 price, the Look 464 AL P aluminum track frame comes with long-wearing stainless-steel dropouts.
Perhaps the ultimate in convenience for an urban assault bike, the Montague Boston is, according to Montague, the “world’s first folding single-speed bike.” Complete, it sells for a mere $699 in a black matte finish in three sizes.
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