Launching out of Switzerland, Bold Cycles’ is making a statement with its debut bike, the Linkin Trail.
Yes, it’s a full suspension frame, but the shock is completely hidden inside the seat tube, driven by the upper rocker arm. The carbon frame has ports in the headtube to let air inside to cool the shock, with exit vents just below it. Behind that, a Boost 148 rear axle makes room for a 27.5+ tire or a less rotund 29er. Travel is 130mm, and it’s got all manner of trails in its sights…
The shock inserts from the bottom of the frame, putting air valve and any damping controls within reach after removing a protective cover plate.
Inside the frame is a DT Swiss shock, developed in partnership with Bold Cycles.
The purple-ish lines show the airflow through the frame to help cool the shock. Without some method of moving heat off the canister, air and oil pressure could rise under heavy use and harsh the ride.
Even with the room for tires, it’s front derailleur ready and Side Swing compatible for Shimano’s latest.
Even the packaging is elegant, which suggests a direct to consumer model. Their website says things go live May 8th, which should be soon considering they’re a quarter day ahead of us. More as we get it.
Despite some of the complications that come with that shock location, it looks like a killer ride. So clean looking!
Why?
When does the Park version come out?
Cool. Is setting optimum shock pressure / sag going to be a pain with the shock tucked away like that?
How are users supposed to adjust the shock or simply switch the lockout?
Airflow? I see moisture, dust, and mud getting the inside of that frame all gummed up. Is there some kind of performance benefit or convenience that I missing here? This appears to be a major inconvenience.
Oh so freaking nice…hiding the strut is always an issue…so clean..I want one.
Who are they hiding it from? Trolls?
I have a couple of questions regarding installation of the rear shock: 1) How much lubrication is required before installing the shock into the frame’s bottom? 2) It appears that the opening in the frame’s bottom is large enough to accept this DT Swiss shock, but can other shocks from Fox or RockShox be inserted into the frame?
I have a stupid question. You have all that space, why not a second water bottle mount? And don’t say “just carry a camelback. Doesn’t hurt to have another mount.
Looks clean, and getting the shock inside will protect it from muck. That pivot near the seat tube looks awesome, too- it’s absolutely huge. Personally, if I had this frame, I would put an old inner tube over the top of the seat tube to make a gasket to keep water from dripping in there. And hopefully if there’s a slot on the seat tube, it faces forward so muck flung forward by the front wheel doesn’t get into the frame.
looks really great and clean. WOW !
BUT the inner seal of the shock will not get enough grease in this position (upside down). I’ve done this (shock upside down) with Monarch and RP23 at a spark to have more space for the bottle. both shocks squeacks after some rides until I shacke the bike to get grease to the inner upper seals of the piston. i guess it will be the same with the DT shock, it’s just a question of time.
what about a shock with a lever (RP23, RT3 …)
hey, why use a regular reverb and not a stealth?
Shut up and take my money!
Why is nobody saying anything about what apears to be ned “all mountain carbon wheels” from DT… In the spline series
This is very cool. However the shock stroke appears quite short. I wonder what the ratio is to travel? There must be some internal trickery inside the shock to aid damping, (if it’s a high ratio that is).
How does one access the upper shock mount? I probably do more maintenance on shock pivots than any other part of suspension…
It looks nice, but I don’t see any other benefit to hiding the shock like this. And there are several drawbacks. Pulling off a cover just to access the adjustments? Really?
Judging from comments here and at other bike sites, there is a substantial crowd that doesn’t really care if their bike works or not so long as it looks good (evidence: the existence of crank bros); I’m sure Bold is catering to these types.
Also, if they made a way to pack up a bike as easy as that looks… Make it out of some sort of rigid plastic and I’ll buy one, I pretty much don’t care how much it costs.
Never mind, I see in the Pinkbike blurb about it (where they actually rode it) that there’s a window on the NDS for accessing the shock hardware.
This is awesome. I’m sure there is validity to both side of the hidden shock argument, but in any case, it looks like an exceptionally well thought out solution given the design goal they had. And that animation….holy cow!
Looks clean but I prefer my shock where I can access it since I wrench and tune my own bikes.
great looking bike! i’ll wait to see what experienced and unbiased reviewers have to say about it. so far so good.
i echo concerns about debris entering the tubes from the air flow vents and how to clean the interior. also, i’m interested in what the reviewers have to say about adjusting the shock canister and how aggravating it might be.
just looks like a whole heap of cleaning trouble to me. Airflow holes are gimmicky too. best cooling would be open to the elements all over. a design solution to a pure aesthetic problem that may just then create functional use.