When we caught up with Dan Stanton of Stanton Bikes at the London Bike Show last month, he mentioned he was working on an exciting project involving a little more squish than usual. Well, it looks like the cat is out of the bag now!
We dropped a line to Dan Stanton to find out a little more about the brand’s first full suspension frame.
“I first organised the design in aluminium“, says Stanton. “However, after speaking to customers and friends in the industry, it seems that people are expecting us to make a steel full suspension frame. I see no real benefit in manufacturing backends in steel, because they’re either too heavy or it creates too much flex, which offers an inconsistent shock actuation and applies stress on the shock unit. So I decided to use the original aluminium backend off the first prototype and all the linkage system off the first prototype and add it to a steel Switchback front end.”
“As you can see from the little image the rocker is flipped upside down and forces the energy up the tube into the shock rather than into the shock and into the tube. I think this will work much better as it means the force is not taken directly into the thinest walled part of the tube. Also using aluminium for the back end means we get the stiffness needed to make sure there’s minimal flex transferred into the shock path and we get the lightness people would expect from a quality, modern full suss frame.”
Given that the prototype full suspension frame is using a Switchback front-end, that should give an indication as to the type of bike that Stanton is developing. The ISCG tabs and piggyback shock on the prototype drawing should also hold some clues too. Our guess is the new frame will feature 140-160mm of travel and will be ready for a similar-length fork on the front. The rear end is without doubt a linkage-activated single-pivot design. There’s a solid swingarm, with a small link connecting the swingarm to the rocker that drives the rear shock.
While Stanton still has some time to go with development of its full suspension frame, he’ll be heading to Taiwan later this month to finalise development of the first steel sample. Stanton is hoping to have the frame ready by the end of this year, though we’ll surely have some news for you sooner than that…
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Hmmm, I’m not sure if stating that you’ve changed your design due to peer pressure/what people expect you to do is the best way to make people want to buy your stuff.
It reads as though Dan believes the frame would be better if it was made out of aluminium.
Commercially, the steel/alu combination makes more sense though. It’s certainly more intriguing than another alu full-susser which will be important as the price will no doubt be higher than mass-produced frames.
Not quite the bike for me, but I do love the idea.
I read it as the design for the rear end is using alloy as it’s light and stiff and that’s ideal for unsprung weight and tracking efficiently. Steel would be too flexible for a rear triangle. Stanton are well known for producing top quality steel bikes and have masses of know how re frame design in steel. So I see it as blending the best of both bikes rather than bowing to pressure. A 631 front end would come up as light as an ally version. And an ally front triangle wouldn’t have the same design aesthetic as a steel one as you’d need much bigger tubes and be hydroformed so wouldn’t look like a Stanton. Personally I think it looks amazing and nice to see something different out there. Can’t wait to see a finished prototype!!