As Voodoo bikes has expanded over the past few years, which recently included a new factory, the company has been moving into more and more complex frame builds at the hands of designer and mountain bike legend Joe Murray. This year, Voodoo was proudly displaying their latest creation, the Zobop, with little regard for anything else in their line, making the new 26″ all mountain 5.5″ travel frame their top priority.We have the full rundown of the new beast after the break.
The display bike had some massive welds up front, although product photos provided by Voodoo don’t show the reinforcement plates seen here. Either way, the simple, solid aluminum tubing should be able to take quite a beating. Up front, the bike uses a zero stack headtube, and is designed for a 120-140 mm fork.
A Rock Shox Monarch rear shock will anchor the rear triangle system. The Zobop will ship as a frame only, but the Monarch shock will be included with the frame. The floating pivot point is designed to maximize climbing efficiency, and differentially pivoting rear links should minimize power loss on the flats. The unified rear triangle adds extra stiffness, so this bike should do well if you are riding flat trails without much incline.
This reinforcement of the rear triangle is only found on the non-drive side, to minimize flex while cranking on the pedals or jamming on the brakes. Again huge welds show that this bike is built to last.
The lower pivot point creates much of the “virtual arc” that dictates the ride quality and style of this bike. As you can see, the rear triangle brings the wheel in fairly close, not leaving much room for mud clearance down below.
The s-curved downtube of the Zobop plays a crucial role in giving it the climbing and flat riding efficiency it boasts, but still gives some comfort while descending. Bottle bosses mounted underneath would be touch to reach while riding, but could keep a reserve bottle out of the way until it’s needed.
More reinforcement at the seatpost junction ensure that the only flex you feel under you will come from the Monarch rear shock. The display bike was equipped with a dropper seatpost (not included with the bike), which is what the extra cable is running to up the seatpost.
The Zobop is scheduled to ship at beginning of the year. MSRP is $999 and will only be sold through shops. Voodoo says this bike was focused not only on ride quality, but value as well, and will show up in small to medium sized shops, being sold as a frame only. Shops are free to build them up, but the riders Voodoo had in mind when designing the frame will be taking parts off of other bikes, making the Zobop an ideal upgrade frame.
You can see the rest of the Voodoo line on their website. There isn’t much info on the Zobop, but their page should be updated once the frame starts shipping.
