Liteville’s 2013 lineup will see a new Mark 11 version of the 301 full suspension mountain bike (Mark 10 shown), which shapes up to be their most versatile bike. They’re using what’s called Scaled Sizing and will allow for various wheel sizes to be mixed and matched on the same frame, with smaller frames working with 24″ to 26″, the middle sizes going 26″ to 650B and the biggest ones working with 26″ all the way up to 29″ on the XXL.
Geometry is being designed to work with a larger wheel in the front. Riders will get the tools to change things up, but there aren’t actually swappable dropouts. They simply make clearance for the recommended wheel sizes, and in most cases, they’re recommending the bikes with 650B wheels.
The 301 has either 140mm or 160mm travel by swapping out the linkages, which doesn’t change the shock’s eye-to-eye but does alter the geometry to work properly.
The Scaled Sizing offers a massive array of options, fortunately they summed it up in this handy chart:
To develop the bikes to work with all the wheel sizes and travel lengths, they used a test mule with 2D computer and testing equipment all over it:
The new 601 Mark 2 gets 190mm travel and is now their longest travel bike. It used to drop down to 165mm travel, but most riders were keeping it in the longer setting, so they made it fixed at 190mm. It’s aimed at the freeride crowd that has to pedal up the hill a bit but is really out there to thrash. The upper shock mount has several positions to change geometry and BB height, which is meant to work in conjunction with a (rumored) new eccentric headset. It’ll most likely branded Syntace if at all, and will allow adjustments from center to +/- 1º head angle changes. It’s not adjustable on the fly, you’ll press it in the way you want it. The bikes get a new head tube to accept the headset. It’s tapered, but that’s about all the info available at present.
All tubes are multiple-butted to save weight while improving stiffness and ride characteristics, and Liteville’s frames carry a five year full warranty followed by a five year period where replacement (warranty) frames are at 50% of retail.
