Commencal was looking to shake things up a bit in their gravity fueled line-up, so they developed an all-new bike that simplifies their suspension design to bring proper DH race capabilities into a more affordable package. At the same time, while only a few riders dedicate their time exclusively to racing downhill, the new Furious is just as happy to bang through the gate as it is to spend its time playing in the Freeride park. The new aluminum bike opts for a 200mm travel, high-pivot faux-bar design built off the technology of Commencal’s World Cup proven Supreme DH line and popular Meta AM enduro bikes…
The new Furious is built from triple butted 6066 aluminum to balance stiffness and weight, but also to allow Commencal to control how the bike flexes for a precise, yet forgiving ride. It may have downhill racing in its heart, but the Furious is built to be a fun freeride bike as well. To make sure it holds up to seasons of abuse no matter what riders throw it off of, the Furious uses big oversized bearings to ensure a long life. Its big rocker link is also designed to limit the stress that gets translated to the shock, offering both improved shock durability and smoother suspension action.
The Furious gets 200mm of travel at the rear end through a 12 x 150mm axle. The bike sticks with the single pivot design, as there really isn’t any other design that can match the overall consistent performance overtime, without the need for a lot of maintenance. The goal was to offer a bike that would be easy to handle, predictable and well-balanced from front to back, while limiting complexity to keep the bike affordable and easy to keep running.
The high pivot is a well established design that balances pedal feedback to utilize chain tension to get a lively frame feel. That works well to build speed in compressions and out of corners, but also gives back some support when hucking it off of jumps.
The Furious is also the first bike to use what they are calling the Progressive Contact System. That is essentially size-specific suspension kinematics, resulting in more linear travel for the smaller bikes and more progressive for larger sizes. The logic makes sense, as smaller riders tend to be lighter than those on an XL, so overly progressive suspension will usually keep that smaller rider from getting the full benefit of all of the bike’s travel. At the other side, bigger riders often could benefit from more progression to limit bottoming out.
Like most of Commencal’s bikes, the Furious gets internal cable routing, with cables passing close to the main pivot to keep movement to a minimum and ensure good short performance over time. Commencal has also upgrade the seals around the cables to keep mud & water outside where it belongs, and prevent extra wear to either the housing or frame.
The frame includes a dual density polypropylene+rubber chainstay protector on both the top & bottom of the stay to keep things quiet and a similar downtube protector to keep rocks at bay. Up front the frame has a tapered ZS44/ZS56 for a 1.125-1.5″ internal headset, and it opts for a press fit BB107 bottom bracket.
With respect to geometry, the Furious is all about long and stable. It still gets short 440mm chainstays for a quick and maneuverable ride, but the longer front end ensures stability and good front wheel grip even over the craziest, steepest terrain. The 27.5 wheeled Fusion is available in four frame sizes from S-XL, and in four color options depending on the complete builds.
The lower priced Furious Origin build comes with a RockShox Boxxer RC fork, Kage R shock and SRAM X5/X7 9 speed drivetrain, and is available in yellow, black, or green. At $2500/2500€ it gets a healthy dose of Commencal’s Ride Alpha branded alloy cockpit components, plus a set of wheels with 25mm inner width Alex FR32 rims and Formula DH hubs.
The $4000/4000€ Furious Race works with the same frame, but steps up to Fox suspension with a Factory 40 Float fork & Factory Float X2 shock. Drivetrain wise it gets upgraded to a proper SRAM GX DH 7 speed groupset and wheels built with the same Formula hubs but Spank’s 28.5mm internal Spike Race 33 rims. It gets the same 2.4″ Maxxis HRII front & DHRII rear tires as the Origin, but this time in Super Tacky rubber vs. the standard dual compound tires on the cheaper bike, and comes only in racing red.
The new bikes will be available in May 2017, but you can place your pre-order now to be sure you get one right when they drop in, just in time to hit the DH race circuit.
