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2021 Viral Skeptic hardtail gearbox MTB sees radical redesign, Viral Derive updated

Written by Jessie-May Morgan
2021 viral skeptic gearbox mountain bike frame
16 Comments
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The 2021 Viral Skeptic and Derive bare metal beauties have arrived, and with them the chance to get your hands on a free Industry 9 wheelset valued at $1355. More on that later… The new Skeptic frame is redesigned from the ground up with a dropped top tube for additional standover and longer reach figures. The Viral Derive gets some subtle geometry updates too.

2021 Viral Skeptic

2021 viral skeptic gearbox mountain bike frame

The 2021 Viral Skeptic titanium hardtail mountain bike frame sees longer reach figures of 440mm to 500mm over the S-XL frame size range. Built around a 150-160mm travel 29er fork the Skeptic can, as always, be run with either 27.5+ or 29” wheels. With this redesign, Viral were aiming to make the new Skeptic a more aggressive version of their all-mountain hardtail.

Viral titanium mtb sliding dropouts chainstay length adjustment
Sliding dropouts allow for chainstay length adjustment
2020 Skeptic           2021 SKEPTIC    
                   
  SMALL MEDIUM  LARGE  XL   SMALL MEDIUM  LARGE XL
                   
Wheel Size 26+/27.5 27.5+/29 27.5+/29 27.5+/29   26+/27.5 27.5+/29 27.5+/29 27.5+/29
Seat Tube Length 390 432 480 520   390 432 480 520
Top Tube Length 584 605 625 645   592 624 646 670
Head Tube Length 105 115 125 140   105 115 125 140
Chainstay Length 430 435 435 435   430 435 435 435
Front and Center 737 759 781 805   745 778 802 829
Wheelbase 1166 1191 1212 1237   1174 1209 1234 1260
Seat Tube Angle 75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5   75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5
Head Tube Angle 65.5 65.5 65.5 65.5   65.5 65.5 65.5 65.5
Stack 588 636 644 652   588 634 644 657
Reach 432 441 459 476   440 460 480 500
BB Drop 25 45 45 45   25 45 45 45

2021 Viral Derive

The Viral Derive remains the same in terms of its frame design. Viral chose to keep the Derive as a more traditional double diamond shape to ensure maximum frame bag sizes for the backpacking contingent.

viral derive small frame titanium hardtail mtb

Viral say its reach has lengthened slightly, with geometry optimised for a 120mm travel fork. 

2020 Derive           2021 Derive    
                   
  SMALL MEDIUM  LARGE  XL   SMALL MEDIUM  LARGE XL
                   
Wheel Size 26+/27.5 27.5+/29 27.5+/29 27.5+/29   26+/27.5 27.5+/29 27.5+/29 27.5+/29
Seat Tube Length 390 432 480 520   390 432 480 520
Top Tube Length 584 605 625 645   589 621 643 667
Head Tube Length 105 115 125 140   105 115 125 140
Chainstay Length 430 435 435 435   430 435 435 435
Front and Center 722 744 765 789   727 760 784 810
Wheelbase 1151 1175 1196 1221   1156 1191 1215 1241
Seat Tube Angle 75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5   75.5 75.5 75.5 75.5
Head Tube Angle 66.5 66.5 66.5 66.5   66.5 66.5 66.5 66.5
Stack 577 624 633 641   577 624 633 646
Reach 435 444 461 479   440 460 480 500
BB Drop 27 47 47 47   27 47 47 47

 

“The Derive is really a chameleon and works so well in so many different situations,” says Steve Domahidy, Viral Bike’s owner and designer. “I’ve built them up with rigid forks, Lauf forks, and of course suspension forks up to 130mm. It’s the perfect bike for getting into the backcountry, but it’s so much more versatile than that.”

Pricing & Availability

Frame kits for the 2021 Viral Skeptic and Derive retail at $4795. That includes a Viral triple-butted titanium frame, a Pinion C1.12 gearbox, CNC cranks, shifter, Gates Carbon Drive belt and cogs, a lockring tool, and the first year oil change for the gearbox.

With a pre-order special, that price also includes $1355 credit towards any Industry 9 wheelset. Colors for 2021 remain the same as last season: raw ti, green with yellow decals and blue with orange decals.

Viral.bike

Jessie-May Morgan
Jessie-May Morgan
1,362 articles

Jessie-May Morgan is the UK & Ireland Tech Editor of Bikerumor. She has been writing about Mountain Bike Riding and Racing, and all its weird and wonderful technology for 4 years. Prior to that, she was an Intern at the Mountain Bike Center of Scotland, and a Mountain Bike Coach and Leader in the Tweed Valley.

Based in Innerleithen, Scotland, Jessie-May can often be seen riding the Glentress Trail Center, and its neighboring Enduro and Downhill Tracks. She regularly competes in Enduro at a national level, and has recently competed on the World Stage at a handful of Enduro World Series events.

For Bikerumor, Jessie-May is testing the latest mountain bikes, equipment and kit, letting readers know what’s hot and what’s not.

For context, she weighs 60kg and stands at 5ft 4″ tall (163cm).

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16 Comments
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Geoff
Geoff
4 years ago

For the love of mercy can we please stop using the phrase “double diamond”? Look at the bike, it’s a single diamond, there’s never been a double diamond frame, it’s actually not a thing…

1
Reply
Joenomad
Joenomad
4 years ago
Reply to  Geoff

So the asking price doesn’t bother you, only that they used the term double diamond to describe the frame.

0
Reply
Mackxi
Mackxi
4 years ago
Reply to  Joenomad

Why should the asking price be an issue? Its expensive, yes, but so is titanium, a pinion system and a belt drive. The cost is an actual representation of what it is. Its like complaining about the cost of a Mercedes. If its too expensive for you then get a lower end vehicle and quit trying to think that everything should be your version of ‘affordable’.

0
Reply
Tim
Tim
4 years ago
Reply to  Mackxi

Nordest makes a full custom ti hardtail for 1500 euros. Not sure how much the Pinion drive adds to the price, but it sure will come out far, far cheaper than 5000 euros.

0
Reply
gonebikingmad
gonebikingmad
4 years ago
Reply to  Geoff

Double Diamond is an old school term, you are right about it not looking like 2 diamonds but replace diamond with triangle and then think of 2 triangles meeting at the same point and that’s when the term Double Diamond tends to be used.

0
Reply
OldDoc
OldDoc
4 years ago
Reply to  gonebikingmad

And let’s not forget GT’s Triple Triangle!

0
Reply
Sevo
Sevo
4 years ago
Reply to  Geoff

Double diamond is what it is: two triangles, front and rear triangles. This is an appropriate term despite the fact you don’t see it or the fact it bothers you is irrelevant.

0
Reply
Gergely Gabor
Gergely Gabor
4 years ago

Any of you living in higher GDP countries, have resentment about this prices? $5000 for a frame, $10-15k for a bike… is it normal??? For us, in Eastern Europe, it is not.

0
Reply
Cheakysdf
Cheakysdf
4 years ago
Reply to  Gergely Gabor

Gabor, YES! there are some of us who resent ridiculous ‘high-end’ bicycle prices!

0
Reply
Mark
Mark
4 years ago

Very neat looking bike except for that ugly fork that some companies are insisting on.

0
Reply
Dockboy
Dockboy
4 years ago
Reply to  Mark

The Lauf? That’s performance driven design through and through. It gets specced because it gets ridden.

0
Reply
Jason L. Kahn
Jason L. Kahn
4 years ago

The Priority Process 600 x same idea, same gearbox, $1700 less.
https://www.prioritybicycles.com/products/600x

0
Reply
Me
Me
4 years ago
Reply to  Jason L. Kahn

Yeah, but the guy who designed it rides with no helmet in tennis shoes. There’s a picture of him on this site. So, probably not as good. . .

0
Reply
Tim
Tim
4 years ago
Reply to  Jason L. Kahn

That bike is aluminum, this is ti…

0
Reply
Ibikefeb
Ibikefeb
4 years ago

I sell bikes for a living and 9-10K bikes are not super uncommon.. We sell a bunch of them and are not really even in a very affluent area.. It comes down what you prioritize. My son rides a $7500 bike and has a $225 car..

0
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Randy White
Randy White
4 years ago

Bicycles shouldnt cost more then motorcycles high price bikes I like to ride kinda scary now after seeing my brother killed by impaired hit&run driver i cant even get a new mountain bike to retire the bike i was riding with him when he was killed i couldnt even get a bike company to donate one to ride in memory of my brother they all say no

0
Reply

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