There are loads of wacky concepts wheeled out at trade shows
every year. This one will either fly or land hard on it’s arse.
Called BIONICON, it’s a system designed to allow you to change your long-travel downhill
bike into a short-travel uphill bike, all without getting off the bike. Just by flipping
a lever on the bar you can adjust the amount of suspension travel front and rear,
and also the ride height of the bike.
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(c) Bionicon 2000
It’s this bit that interests us. In the review of the Pace
Airforce fork a few months ago, I commented that “it’d be nice if the locked
out position wasn’t at full fork extension, to sharpen up the handling a bit – you
don’t ride the fork with suspension fully extended, so why should you have to when
you ride it rigid!”. Marzocchi’s forks for 2001 sort of go half way there,
as there locked out position is fully compressed. Bionicon allow you to adjust the
amount of compression front or rear with a lever.
Check their website for more. It’s entertaining in a “German” sort of way,
and we’re still not quite sure how it works. They’re getting assistance, it
says on their site, from people like Marin and Rotwild.
Definitely something to think about though
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