A couple years ago, Bold launched their brand with a unique frame design that hid the rear shock inside the seat tube. That bike, the 154mm travel Linkin Trail, used vent ports in the head tube, downtube and other spots to bring fresh air to the shock so it wouldn’t overheat. Now, their new prototype Unplugged ups the travel and makes improvements to the design to increase user friendliness and tenability. They’ve also partnered with KS Suspension to build the bike around that brand’s all-new integrated dropper seatpost design.Sure, we’ve seen integrated droppers before, but this one leaves the frame with a standard internal seat tube diameter, so if you wanted to run something else, you could. Here’s how it all works…
The Bold Unplugged gets that long, low and slack modern geometry, then makes it massively adjustable at multiple points throughout the frame.
There are two head angle options, using oversized upper and lower cups that fit fixed bearing units inside and lock into fore or aft positions. Note the notch and peg in the pics above, and the off center bearing placement inside its bezel. Flip-flopping the top and bottom will have an effective 1.7° change, from 65.2° to 63.5° with a 170mm fork. They say you can run anything from a 160mm to 180mm fork.
The rear pivot has flip clips that let you lengthen the chainstay 11mm, which lowers the BB by 20mm. Different level clips provide intermediate positions, too, letting you dial it in for skinner 29er tires up to 29+. Max tire sizes are 29×2.6 or 27.5×2.8.
One of the big improvements is easier access to the rear shock. A durable plastic cover uses a simple, hand-tightenable knob on the bottom, with magnets and a slotted tab to secure the top.
It’ll have 161-165mm rear travel options, and can now run any shock brand, fitting most models including piggy back trunnion mounts. There still working with DT Swiss, but you can sub in with Fox and Rockshox (shown).
All cables run internally. Note the small air intake above the cable ports, along with ports on the downtube cover plate and the seat tube.
The suspension gets stiffer with a move to 30mm spindles on upper and lower pivots. A new chainstay protector wraps all the way around the yoke and under, with a catch to prevent chain suck. There’s even a new chain guide integrated into the design.
KS Suspension Integrated Dropper Seatpost
The last big feature is its use of a new KS integrated dropper post that mounts to the frame at the post’s base.
The bolt visible on the back of the seat tube secures the bottom of the dropper post. What makes this system so special is that it’s super clean looking from the outside, doesn’t suffer from over-tightened seatpost collars, and can be trimmed to fit any rider height. Just cut the post’s top to set the height.
More importantly, it uses a standard seat tube ID, so you can run it with any traditional dropper. The integrated post can have up to 150mm on the large frame sizes (for this bike), and 125mm on small and medium. If you want a longer travel dropper post, just use a regular model. KS Suspension says they’re already talking with several bike brands for OEM placement of this new post, so possibly 2019 bikes for smaller players and 2020 intros on the big brands.
