Your thoughts on this swingarm please

Anonymous
Anonymous Posts: 79,666
edited October 2009 in MTB general
1256812794543-peha7m9fbym1-500-90-500-70.jpg

What do you reckon to the design of the Sunn Kern? Let me know either below or on the article comment box.

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/f ... bike-23786
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Comments

  • x-isle
    x-isle Posts: 794
    Strange, but also strangely nice looking.

    Wierd angle of the shock attachment......

    It's almost trying to be a hardtail :)
    Craig Rogers
  • MacAndCheese
    MacAndCheese Posts: 1,944
    Honestly, before I saw the transmission and the shock, I thought I was some design from the mid nighties I hadn't seen before....not sure why I thought that, but I did. Not the best looking bike in the world.
    Santa Cruz Chameleon
    Orange Alpine 160
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,673
    so why cant the phjoto guys get a shot of the interesting bit?

    IE how does the lower link connect to the other bits?

    I just needed the crank arm moving a bit.

    if it is how i think.

    not new.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    look at the other pics on the article nick. Oh, and read MBUK soon for more details ;)
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,673
    I have done and on the Left side the crank arm is in the way for it to be clear.

    Is is just an extra single link or??
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • I think i've see one of those in ASDA!
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    I'm with Nick, it's impossible to make out what the hell's going on.

    As for aesthetics, it reminds me of a late 90s pro-flex. Also, is that a brace around the rear tyre? What's the mud clearance like on it?
  • joshtp
    joshtp Posts: 3,966
    bigbenj_08 wrote:
    I think i've see one of those in ASDA!
    +1, it does look like a swing arm from a crudy halfrauds special.
    I like bikes and stuff
  • Dobbs
    Dobbs Posts: 186
    Looks like a saw for cutting small branches.
  • Not feeling any love for that! :mrgreen:
  • bigbenj_08 wrote:
    I think i've see one of those in ASDA!
    +1, it does look like a swing arm from a crudy halfrauds special.

    +2
    Hope it rides well 'cos it's a pig to look at.
  • scale20
    scale20 Posts: 1,300
    bigbenj_08 wrote:
    I think i've see one of those in ASDA!
    +1, it does look like a swing arm from a crudy halfrauds special.

    +2
    Hope it rides well 'cos it's a pig to look at.

    +3, friggin horrible
    Niner Air 9 Rigid
    Whyte 129S 29er.
  • jay12
    jay12 Posts: 6,126
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    jay12 wrote:
    +4, waste of money
    Awesome! You haven't even ridden it yet. It may well be the most sorted suspension system ever created.
    Do you base all your purchases on looks?
  • LoUiS1985
    LoUiS1985 Posts: 841
    I quite like the look of it, although i've just sold my FS bike in favour of another hardtail!

    Who's idea was it though to have it in that yellow colour, bloody ridiculous
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    As i said on the page on the homepage. It looks awful, it'd have to ride very very well for me to consider it.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    It just occured to me, I'm sure that's the old manitou "mango" colour!
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    It must have another pivot somewhere, you can't get any movement with only the three visible...
  • jay12
    jay12 Posts: 6,126
    jay12 wrote:
    +4, waste of money
    Awesome! You haven't even ridden it yet. It may well be the most sorted suspension system ever created.
    Do you base all your purchases on looks?
    oh, good point and no i don't
  • mikeage
    mikeage Posts: 150
    It must have another pivot somewhere, you can't get any movement with only the three visible...

    think it's like an MX bike, but with the yellow arm simply for stiffness and not having any bearing on the suspension action.

    large_216_110SW2.jpg

    kind of set-up
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    What's so special about the MX bike? That's just the same as an orange 5, an old marin, a Patriot, etc etc etc.

    There's an extra arm on this bike, for something, and it has a pivot where it attaches to the "main" swingarm.
  • mikeage
    mikeage Posts: 150
    nothing special, its a very simple/crude design, there's an extra arm for stiffness. with a pivot so it can follow the movment of the active suspension arm, it has no bearing on the action of the suspension. It just makes a stiffer back end without using girder style tubing on the actual swingarm.
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    That doesn't make sense, it isn't a high single pivot with an extra bar...

    There has to be an extra link somwhere or the chainstay would be put under tension as the swingarm moves up. Think about it, if the suspension is just:

    top pivot, swingarm, pivot, chainstay, pivot frame to top pivot

    then you've only got three movement points, rigid triangle and doesn't move.
  • mikeage
    mikeage Posts: 150
    If my thinking was right...

    The chainstay IS the 'swingarm' it actuates the shock! The pivot on the 'seatstay'/downtube is positioned so that the 'seatstay' follows path of the swingarm, just the angle where the 2 arms meet (by the dropout) changes under movement, hence the pivots there.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    no, mikeage, that wouldn't work.
  • Soul Boy
    Soul Boy Posts: 359
    From the review pics, it seems to have 2 x pivots under the BB (you can see another red pivot), and maybe a link between them....?
  • jmj
    jmj Posts: 100
    Yep, it looks like there's two pivots under the BB. Stacks of little gaps in there to clog with mud. Plastic guard under the BB will last around 3 seconds before getting ripped off...
    Pinch bolt on the upper swingarm pivot looks especially naff.

    Summary..
    It looks terrible, made worse by the supermarket special colour scheme.
    It's uglier than a Whyte E120, and that's saying something...
    Commencal Meta 55 Team custom build
    Giant Trance 06
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    It is a single pivot bike with a linkage actuated shock (the linkage runs underneath the swing arm rather than above it).

    The axle path can only be an arc around that big main pivot.

    The linkage looks superfically like a Horst link, which is why they have probably done it.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    See, if the photographer had actually taken useful photos, we could have deduced that!
  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    Lol.

    Well my opinion is - why? Why make a simple design so bloody complicated? Single pivot (even linkage driven ones) are all about simplicity and light weight. By doing this they have put the pivots and links in an exposed place, have had to put a hole in the seat tube to actuate the shock which means even more weight and engineering and as far as I can see it will have no benefits at all (maybe a slightly lower COG).

    It is a fecking abortion.

    img_7991.JPG