sometimes I found brakejack an advantage being able to squash the bike into corners so it pops out, the rest of the time it’s crap which is why people worked so hard to design it out.

I’ve never actually worked out what it is. OK, I’ve read about it and kind of know what it should be, but I’m blowed if I can feel it. But, as I said, maybe I’m just not going fast enough for it to be an issue.

I can’t say i’ve noticed a lot of brake jack on the Heckler, or possibly after riding it for 6 years I just don’t notice it. I’ll report back once i’ve ridden my VPP2 on a full outing!

the vpp design is as prone to brake-jack as any single pivot.

the place to go looking/feeling for brake-jack is on fast alpine Dh runs*, with fields of foot-deep braking bumps as far as the eye can see.

and even then, it’s a subtle thing. Braking bumps are harsh anyway, brake-jack just makes them *slightly* harsher.

even on a bike with zero-brake-feedback, you still need your damping set up well to deal with braking bumps, most of us don’t bother adjusting our suspension settings, or even know how to adjust them suitably, and even if you DID, you’d probably find you’d affected (probably badly) the damping settings for other stuff you have to ride over.

it’s not something to lose any sleep over.

(*obviously, the forces/effects occur in other places, but it’s even less obvious)

After threads like “when do you retire your full sus for winter” it kind of goes to show some of the strengths of single pivot… i.e. tons of mud clearance and less to maintain/ go wrong. Companies like SC do free bearing replacements but it’s a bit of a PITA when change time does come around if there are lots of them. After 18 months riding throughout the week in all conditions I only replaced the lower bushing on my Santa Cruz Superlight!

As for the ride of a single pivot then I would say understanding shock setup and getting someone like Loco to give it a once over (I felt it was a bit wallowy mid stroke) makes a big differences. A single pivot seems less robust to poor setup than some designs. The thing I love is single pivot is so intuitive to ride and quite like the fact you can feel the balance of the bike change as you change front/ back brake balance and get it to pop in and out of the trail. End result fast and fun… but then the OP knows all of this already 😀

I would be looking at a old model Superlight or Morewood Zula if looking to buy a single pivot for a bit of do everything riding. Only reason I no longer ride my SC Superlight is becuase I went zero pivot with a Cannondale Scalpel 8)

I was thinking about this brake-jack thing as I was sliding my Five around the greasy trails last night. I guess the feel of the Five as you brake into a bend is a bit different to the feel of the Trance. But they are different bikes and they feel different everywhere really. Maybe the Five digs a bit more on the way in (no bad thing really) and relaxes a bit more on the exit. But it’s pretty subtle and could just be in my head. The main issue last night was the the lack of grip from the Nobby Nic rear tyre in the crappy OEM Performance Line compound. Any subtleties in the handling were pretty irrelevant compared with that.

I had not heard of jackbrake before this thread and not noticed it on the prophet or the morewood. So its not an issue for me.

However I have changed all the bearing on a giant glory after 3 years of light use (Fuk doing that again).

Never needed to changed the one on my prophet after 5 year, still feel solid.

In my opinion Single pivots are fun to ride and simple to maintain.
I will never buy a bike with as many bearing as the glory again. For me its more hassle than it worth in the long run.

Might consider a single pivot + linkage but not this time round.

Heckler never head the bearings changed since 2008, and with the shock taken out still smooth as new 8)