As of today, a small Scottish brand by the name of Deviate Cycles is launching its first bike. Called the Guide, this carbon fibre enduro bike is equipped with 160mm of suspension travel front and rear, and is built around a 12-speed Pinion C-Line gearbox. Using the Pinion gearbox has allowed Deviate to design the Guide with a high single pivot suspension design, which claims to offer incredible bump-sensitivity. By using an idler wheel for the chain around the main pivot, Deviate claims the Guide escapes the negatives associated with using such a high pivot.
To learn more about the brand and the two fellas behind it, check out Sanny’s World Exclusive First Ride feature here. Otherwise, scroll on for the specs and the full press release from Deviate Cycles below;
Deviate Guide Features
- Long travel carbon fibre enduro bike
- 27.5in wheels with clearance for up to 2.7in wide tyres
- Pinion C-Line Gearbox Drivetrain (12 speed C-Line with Magnesium casing)
- High single pivot suspension design with 160mm rear travel
- Designed for 160mm travel forks
- Head angle: 65.8°
- Seat angle: 75°
- Reach: 450mm (Medium), 475mm (Large)
- Chainstay length: 440mm
- 135x12mm singlespeed rear hub
- Integrated (and replaceable) chain tensioning system & bash guard
- Enduro double row, angular contact, max fill bearings on all pivots with twin lip wiper seals
- Available sizes: Medium & Large (Small coming soon)
- Claimed frame weight (M): 2782g | 12 Speed C-line Gearbox: 2100g
- Frame RRP: £3399 (with Pinion C-Line gearbox and Cane Creek DBAir Inline Shock)
- Complete bike RRP: £5699 – £5799
Deviate made it clear from the outset that it wanted to develop its alpine-capable enduro bike around a gearbox system. The gearbox it’s gone for is the latest C-Line gearbox from Pinion, which uses a magnesium casing that drops a significant amount of weight over the machined alloy casing used on the P-Line series. Internally, it’s the same 12-speed system with a huge 600% gear range that’s evenly stepped from top to bottom.
Why use a gearbox? For Deviate, there are loads of benefits including;
- No vulnerable rear derailleur saving expensive replacement costs and major inconvenience
- Shift while stationary: No need to pedal to engage a gear – select your gear at anytime
- Maintenance: Fully Sealed Drive System Hermetically sealed gearbox results in significantly less maintenance than a traditional drivetrain system
- Superb Handling: The mass is positioned low and centralised for optimal handling and cornering
- Improved Ground Clearance: A small front chain ring achieves a high degree of ground clearance
In addition to those benefits, the gearbox also helps to reduce un-sprung mass by removing the traditional rear derailleur and cassette off the rear wheel. With less weight at the hub, the rear wheel (in theory) can move more quickly out of the way of incoming impacts. Because the chainline is constant and the chain is wrapped around the idler wheel and an integrated chain guide, there should be less chance of derailment too. And with that constant chainline, suspension anti-squat can be optimised – Deviate says it’s achieved 110% anti-squat in order to provide a “slight suspension extension under pedal input to increase grip on difficult climbs”. All sounds good to us!
For the full press release from Deviate Cycles, read on below. You can get more information via the soon-to-launch Deviate Cycles website, and if you want to know how it all rides, then check out Sanny’s review here.
Deviate Cycles is proud to release two full carbon, gearbox complete bikes, with a frame-only option. Deviate Cycles are a UK-based bike brand specialising in gearbox bikes selling direct to the consumer.
The ‘Guide’ draws its name from decades of guiding experience by the founders, augmented by a naval and motorsports (Prodrive/Aston Martin Racing) mechanical engineering background, and reflects what will become the heritage of the company.
At the beating heart of the Guide is its Pinion C-Line gearbox. While the gearbox is nothing new in mountain biking, the new breed of Pinion gearboxes offer reliability and performance at an acceptable weight, allowing us to focus on creating the best suspension system we can. The suspension is optimised to work with the fixed chainline the gearbox provides. The Guide also features a high pivot point, which when coupled with our idler means that we can fine tune the suspension to have both desirable anti-squat characteristics and zero pedal kickback. We have designed what we feel is a game-changer in terms of how a full suspension mountain bike should perform.
The overall design is also borne of what Ben and Chris have spent the last decade riding. The end result is a bike that tracks the ground like no other, reducing fatigue on long descents and allowing the rider to focus on the trail ahead. However, it’s the finer details that make the Guide shine. Twin lip wiper seals throughout are testament to the tough conditions the bike deals with in the UK and the Alps. Weight is not a headline, but with the UK build coming in at under 33lb, the Guide sets the benchmark for gearbox bike weights. The Guide is ready for whatever you have planned for it.
With the end user in mind, we are happy to offer two subtly different builds, a ‘UK’ and an ‘Alpine’ build that reflect the different requirements of each environment. These builds are complementary to our frame design with each component selected based on proven reliability and performance.