Back in 2017, after three years of development by Pat Campbell Jenner and Michael Bonney, Identiti launched its first ever enduro bike – the Mettle. Previously more well known for dirt jump bikes, the Mettle was the brands first full suspension bike and today Identiti have released the brand new Mettle. Based around 27.5 wheels, the new Mettle is a long travel, big mountain, enduro race bike.
At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the same bike just with an updated paint job. Dig a bit deeper into the details though and you’ll see that Identiti has completely revamped the Mettle. On launch the original Mettle was progressive in its numbers with a slack head angle and long reach and was designed for going fast down big hills and enduro race tracks, but also perfectly capable of pedalling your way back up. With the new Mettle, Identiti have built on that original geo and pushed things even further.
Identiti Mettle Specs
The original Mettle had a generous reach of 485mm on a size large (the size we’ve had a look at) but with the new Mettle, Identiti has pushed it even further and that number has grown to a massive 500mm (Size Large) giving even more high speed and steep track stability. It’s not just the reach that has changed on the new bike though, both the head angle, and seat tube angle have been altered with half a degree coming off the HA, which is now slacked out out to 64.5 degrees, and a full degree being added to the seat angle, pushing that up to 76 degrees.
During the re-design process, one thing that Identiti didn’t want to change was the general seated position on the bike. By making the alterations to the HA, SA and reach (top tube) they’ve actually kept the seated climbing position similar to the previous model. The new Mettle still uses the same 4 bar suspension system with a Horst link on the chain stays. Travel is 160mm of trail taming rear travel via the big old L forged rocker link.
The new Mettle still uses the same oversized alloy tubes and 4 bar suspension system with a Horst link on the chain stays, and big pivots for stiffness. This is coupled with a big old L shaped forged rocker link driving the shock to give 160mm of trail smashing travel.
All the pivot points have anodised branded covers with all hardware and using the same size hex key for ease of maintenance. The frame features internal cable routing through the front triangle and cables pass through the rocker link keeping things nice and tidy, and there’s bottle bosses on the underside of the downtube for those that prefer to go pack-less.
Availability & Prices
The Indentiti Mettle is available from today, there are two full bike options along with a frame only option, with full bike prices starting at £3,199 for the R model (that we’ve got here) and frame only is £1,799. A big plus point for the new Mettle is that all options now come specced with a massive 230mm x 60mm RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate shock, so there’s no compromise on the rear end whether you’re going for the introductory R model, or the top end RCX.
Keeping with the RockShox theme, up front on the R model is a stout chassis’d, 35mm stanchioned, RockShox Yari, giving 170mm of composed travel. With the new Mettle, Identiti has also chosen to go down the route of short offset and the R model comes specced with with a 37mm offset fork.
SRAM take care of Drive train duties on all models and the R comes fitted with a full NX groupset with an 11-50T cassette and 34 tooth chainring giving a big range of gears for winching yourself to the top of mountains and race stages, then charging back down.
Stopping is also taken care of by SRAM with a set of powerful Guide T 4 pot brakes matched to 200mm front and 180mm rear rotors for dropping the anchor when things start getting rowdy. The rear brake mount also features replaceable threaded barrel nuts for crash damage and cack handed spannering!
Gusset are in charge of the cockpit and contact points on all models of the Mettle and the R features a Gusset S2 bar and stem combo. The big 800mm bars wide come with 20mm rise and benefit from a 35mm clamp for added stiffness and are held in place by a nice short 40mm stem.
The saddle and grips are also from the gusset S2 range, with a set of chunky S2 grips that feature an offset eccentric core design along with a multiple pattern grip for added comfort and security. Rounding out the contact points is an S2 saddle attached to a KS dropper with southpaw remote.
Mettle Wheels
The Mettle R runs on set of boost spaced Halo Ridge Line 27.5 wheels. The aluminium rims feature a good sized 30mm internal rim width and are laced to matching hubs with Cro Mo axles and offer a 5 pawl 30 click engagement.
Those rims are shod with an aggressive Schwalbe magic Mary up front and a Hans Dampf out back, both in Addix Soft compound making them a great choice for UK trail riding and racing. The wheels also come already set up tubeless which is a great addition and somehting other brands should take note of.
The Mettle will be available in two colours, Satin Rich Rust and Gloss Night Time Navy, in both R and RCX specs, and is available from today. The RCX shares the same frame and shock as the R model, but benefits from a few component upgrades such as Halo Vortex wheels, MRP Ribbon fork and a RockShox Reverb dropper post.
If you’re in the market for a new long travel, mountain conquering, enduro stage smashing wonder bike then head on over to the Identiti website to for more info and details of where you can buy one.
Comments (1)
Leave Reply
Post Comment
its definitely not their first full suspension bike, they have recently had the Mogul DH bike and they also had some full sus frame out moons ago although cant remember what it was called (dr jekyl era)
Like the look of this new Mettle and the price is decent.