Our design notes section is for those who are keen on taking a deeper dive in to our thinking with each model we produce. You wont find any fancy marketing jargon here, rather an honest view of what we are trying to achieve when developing one of our bikes.
You will note that the The Link’s geometry is neither super progressive nor conservative. It is modern and suits a broad range of riders creates a stable predictable ride feel for riders of all skill levels.
Head angle – We have chosen to use a 65° head angle. In our opinion head angle numbers of late have been pushed too far, resulting in overly long bikes which hamper the manoeuvrability and playfulness of the bike. 65° is a great middle ground that is plenty slack enough for steep trails and high speed without making the bike feel like a bus on the tight stuff.
Reach - Our reach numbers are spacious but again are not overboard. E-bikes will naturally tend to have longer chainstays to clear the motor, which means the wheelbase is also longer. Adding very long reach numbers to this mix mean you may get a bike that can steam roll rough stuff like a boss, but won’t be fun in the twisty bits.
Seat tube angle - the 76° effective seat tube angle puts you in a powerful pedalling position without being too far forward. Again we feel that in recent times it was a race to who could have the steepest seat tube angle on their latest bike, resulting in many running their saddles far off the back of the seat post. Modern but practical we would call it.
BB height - We have chosen a moderately low 30mm BB drop. This gives the bike a super planted feel and increases all round stability and cornering.
We are stoked with how these geometry numbers all work together. This bike handles well up or down and is really capable while still being playful and fun on tamer trails.
The link uses a 4 bar suspension layout with a rocker link and vertically positioned trunnion mount shock. We feel this is a great layout to achieve good suspension kinematics as well as for more practical reasons like good rear triangle stability and bottle cage clearance.
The Link uses a progressive leverage ratio giving the bike great small bump sensitivity with good ramp up on big hits. It’s not too progressive though, which allows you to use full travel without harshness or under use of travel linked to overly progressive designs.
We have used a neutral amount of anti squat. Enough to keep pedal bob minimal whilst still allowing active suspension movement. We find that you can carry considerable amounts of speed uphill on an E-bike over rough terrain, and too much anti squat can result in noticeable pedal feedback which in turn momentarily stiffens the rear suspension. Your motor naturally provides smoother power delivery than normal human pedalling motions, so high anti squat numbers are not necessary in this case.
The link uses a mix of 10, 12 & 15mm mounting hardware with commonly available sealed bearings.
We are firm believers of keeping things simple when it comes to serviceable parts on this bike. All of the bearings in the frame are almost certainly available at your local bike store making pivot services are simple and uncomplicated.
We have designed a neat cable management system in the down tube that allows you to adjust the cable guides from the outside of the bike.
This makes adjusting your seat post height simple, just loosen the bolts on the down tube, adjust the saddle, and tighten everything back up. This systems means all cables are securely fastened in the frame with no chance of cable rattles.
We have used the SRAM UDH hanger to keep things simple. Where ever you are, there will always be one of these little guys near by as they are available at most bike stores. This also means our frames are compatible with the latest SRAM Transmission drivetrains.
