PFS - Mountain Bike
This concept was one of our own and in 2020 we got the opportunity to develop it on behalf of Amity bike co. The key idea was to capitalise on a gap in the market for a mountain bike that bridges the gap between Slopestyle bikes and Enduro bikes.
Slopestyle bikes are short travel (about 100mm) dual suspension bikes with 26 inch wheels and 1 gear.
Enduro bikes are mid travel (about 160mm) usually with 27.5 inch wheels and at least 10 gears.
Mountain bikers have already started experimenting with single speed freeride bikes and short travel mixed wheel size bikes however no bike is currently available to buy off the shelf with this specification.
Early proof of concept FEA
Rear triangle concept - FEA
Sketch to first model development for this concept
With a background in mechanism design and suspension design in-particular, this was the perfect project.
One of the hardest parts was selecting what linkage layouts to develop from ten years of suspension concepts. With this being the first Amity full suspension bike the decision was ultimately driven by reducing risk. The chosen variant of VPP layout is completely unique and was selected due to its excellent compact packaging potential and flexibility to tune suspension characteristics.
The concept was taken from crude sketches to a Solidworks development model very quickly to enable a realistic feasibility study. Once all high risk elements had been resolved and the key geometry targets agreed upon it was an intense few months finding suppliers and iterating designs to arrive at a well considered concept ready for prototyping.
Early designs used a 3D model to assess things like cable routing and to act as communication aid while most aesthetic development was assessed by generating a vast number of renders.
To reduce time to market it was decided to attempt a single round of prototypes. In order to make the most of these prototypes and learn as much as possible a large amount of time was spent designing a "mule bike". This bike allows us to change the geometry and suspension characteristics of the bike simply by changing some small hole offset spacers.
Here are some of the specification details that make this type of bike truly unique.
Rear wheel: 26" (and 27.5"compatible). Front Wheel: 27.5". Single speed (and gearing compatible). Rear travel: 135mm. Front travel: 140mm
VPP Suspension. 12x142 rear axle. Sram UDH compatible. 73mm threaded BB. Internal cable routing. Dropper post compatible. Bottle mount compatible. ISCG-05 Mounts.
1 Model, 2 sizes, 2 colourways.
In-house design: Frame only including bespoke Hydroformed Tubeset, Dropouts, Upper link, Lower Link, Linkage mounts
