BH Bicycles showed off two new (and darn good looking) new mountain bikes, both exciting for what they represent beyond being a couple of firsts for the Spanish brand.
First up is the Zenith 29er alloy hardtail. It uses curved tubes to bring the rear wheel in tight and so the brakes could fit on the chainstay. It should be coming to the U.S. soon enough…but they stopped short of saying definitely and giving a date.
Chris Cocalis worked with them on the geometry. Yes, the very same Chris Cocalis that founded Pivot…which begged the question if BH’s delay in bringing mountain bikes to the U.S. was because Cocalis also handles BH for the U.S. and there could have been a conflict of interest. Not really, according to him, but these new bikes will offer something Pivot doesn’t have (excluding their new dirt jump bike): Hardtails.
Oh, and they also had a very, very nice looking 26″ full susser that won’t be coming to the U.S., but it’s a taste of things to come…
Walking around Eurobike for the first time, I gained an appreciation (or lack thereof) for the vast ocean of me-too, carbon copy (pun intended) 29er frames. Almost every booth had a new 29er, but there wasn’t much originality beyond the bigger brands. BH’s Zenith falls into the latter category. The tightly spaced chainstays (they didn’t have final geometry) give a ready-to-pounce look. The tube shaping should keep it plenty stiff where it needs to be.
The Lynx is a new 100mm 26″ race bike with Dave Weagle designed suspension that uses the Split Pivot rear axle. This one probably won’t be coming to the U.S., but a 150mm version should eventually come across the pond.
The floating suspension puts the lower shock mount is behind the lower pivot. Weagle designed the concentric pivot and linkage to allow for a low recommended PSI in the shock and minimal platform damping. The result claims to be a very supple suspension that uses the mechanical leverage ratio built into the design to keep it from bobbing under hard pedaling and climbing, but one that’s free to do it’s job effectively on the rough stuff.
All of the pivots look pretty beefy. Other than the lower shock mount placement, the design looks somewhat like Trek’s Fuel line overall.
Rear derailleur cable exit is pretty slick.
The headtube is massive, with a broad flat section underneath that could almost double as a fender. Overall it’s a great looking bike and whets the appetite for the longer travel version that may eventually follow on the same suspension platform.
