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Spot Ryve turns down travel (and weight) for new full suspension XC racers

Spot Ryve 100mm full suspension XC mountain bike with Living Link
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Spot is back with their Living Link suspension platform, putting it on two all-new, short travel lightweight XC/trail full suspension mountain bikes. What started out in 2015 as a prototype concept went onto the original Rollik, then the 130mm Mayhem 29er, and then an updated, longer travel, enduro-ready Rollik.

For the new Spot Ryve, they’ve dialed back the travel to 100mm and 115mm to create efficient XC and lightweight trail bikes, all still using that unique leaf spring design…

what is the living link suspension from spot brand bikes

Fill me in, what’s Living Link?

The Living Link is a composite leaf spring that acts as a lower linkage between the front triangle and the rear triangle. The upper linkage is a more traditional rocker arm, and between the two, the connect the rear to the front. The Living Link flexes in something of an “S” shape as the suspension compresses, and they say it’s good for about 3,000,000 cycles…which is almost certainly more than you’re likely to put on it before other things break. You can see it in action here:

Besides being laterally stiff and keeping the rear triangle in line with the front even under hard corners, it’s designed to work with the rear shock to control the motion and provide a very linear mid-stroke suspension curve so that it can be active over most of the chatter. What’s more, it’s captured inside the two halves of the frame, so there are no lower bearings to wear out or develop play. They say it’s so efficient, you don’t need a lockout, either. Sweet, because that saves weight.

Why two versions of the same bike?

Spot Ryve 100mm full suspension xc race bike

Above, the 100mm Spot Ryve, and below, the 115mm version. Basically, some people want a more playful bike with a little extra travel, and some people want a race-tuned, ultralight XC weapon with which to win races and marathons. So they made both. And both of them come with a dropper seatpost, because even XC racers like to get rowdy once in a while.

Spot Ryve 115mm full suspension lighweight trail mountain bike

They say the Ryve 100mm is built as light as 22.9lbs with a dropper, with other build kits available (for both models) ranging from $4,599 up to $7,999 with the new SRAM AXS wireless group. Framesets are $2,999 and include the rear shock. Both models are offered in sizes S, M, L and XL. The 100mm comes with matching fork movement, and the 115mm gets a 120mm travel fork.

The upper rocker link is carbon fiber and uses the wider trunnion mount design with dual-row full complement bearings on all the main pivot points…

…and the lower shock mount uses a box shaped structure to maximize stiffness. It’s also open to the bottom so water and crud won’t get stuck in there.

Other features include their Groovy Guides for low-profile external brake hose routing…

…and a separate metal rear brake mount that keeps braking forces off the seatstay (so they could make it lighter). It’s also directly part of the axle interface, so your rear brake stays aligned with the rear wheel all the time.

SpotBrand.com

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Colin M
Colin M
5 years ago

Looking forward to taking this one for a spin on a XC loop. KOM sniper

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
5 years ago

Someone at Spot really likes red.
Even their black bikes are… red.
Which is OK… if you like red.

Sevo
Sevo
5 years ago
Reply to  Celest Greene

Quite the Spot on observation.

James Hoile
James Hoile
5 years ago
Reply to  Celest Greene

Could not have been said better. They love red. I unfortunately do not. Their bikes pedal better than any other bike out there. Its unreal. Rode one at outerbike.

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
5 years ago
Reply to  Celest Greene

It’s not inherently bad, but the point of having multiple options is usually to allow people who don’t like one to choose the other. And it starts to look weird when bikes are shipping with oil rainbow chains and orange fork details. I’ve heard good things and would like to try one, but know that I won’t end up buying a red bike so why risk falling in love?

Plenty of peaches for me
Plenty of peaches for me
5 years ago
Reply to  Celest Greene

It’s not red, it’s HOT Tomato !!!

Andrew Fleming
Andrew Fleming
5 years ago
Reply to  Celest Greene

Red bikes are fastest. Prove me wrong. (I ride a black bike and I know I would be faster on a red bike.)

Sevo
Sevo
5 years ago

So, what’s a frame weigh?

Shafty
Shafty
5 years ago
Reply to  Sevo

A lot less than a complete bike.

Kyle Riedel
5 years ago

Bikerumor is getting its Pinkbike on in the comments section!

d
d
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Riedel

I dunno, nobody is saying it looks like a Session.

dockboy
dockboy
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Riedel

I don’t see what you mean. Nobody is saying this looks like a Session!

Colin M
Colin M
5 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Riedel

I wish it was on Pinkbike to discuss. Doesn’t seem like Spot is going to pay the mega $$$ to get the bike on Pinkbike for a press release or even a quick review. Anyone know what it costs these days? $20k?

FritzP
FritzP
5 years ago

This trend of race/racey frames with +20mm travel is awesome, especially with the geo influence from the rowdier XCO courses. Light and really capable!

The BB/linkage cluster looks pretty stout. I like how the Ryve shock is driven by the rocker instead of the Mayhem config.

Dan
Dan
5 years ago

Consumer direct and still $3000 for frame?

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