F
irst time lucky? The Druid is the
founding founding model of a new
company called Forbidden Bikes.
Formed by ex-pat Owen Pemberton
(based on Vancouver Island) and Ali Beckett,
this fledgling brand has created something
remarkable with its first bike. With a full
carbon frame that looks as slick as anything
from the likes of Santa Cruz or Yeti, on-point
geometry and sizing, 29in wheels and the
trendiest suspension layout around, it’s not
bad for a first go.
OK, so it’s better than not bad, it’s
outstanding to behold such a polished
and well-heeled machine within two years
of starting up a company. It’s puzzling too,
until you understand that the man behind
the design is UK-born Owen Pemberton.
Owen used to work at Norco, and designed
the current Aurum downhill bikem ay 2 019 mbr 17
ridden by Sam Blenkinsop. A bike that just
happens to be designed around a high pivot
and an idler.
Owen’s contacts in the industry, his
pedigree as a designer and his experience
with big brands, opened doors for Forbidden
that would remain firmly shut to other
start-ups. “Our bikes are made by the most
respected carbon frame factory in the world,
using clean processing — most other brands
aren’t,” Owen explains. What he won’t say is
that this factory also makes some of the most
blinging bikes out there, and that you don’t
pick them — they choose you.The kaleidoscope
Mark Twain said that there is no such thing
as a new idea, just old ideas put through a
mental kaleidoscope. He’d have approved
of the Druid: it uses a high pivot suspension
design with an idler taking the chain up and
over the pivot to stave off pedal kickback.
Dozens of brands have used this idea over
the decades, from contemporary bikes
like the successful Aurum and Commençal
Supreme DH. The high single pivot (HSP) andidler combo has traditionally been used on
downhill bikes because they were single-ring
only, leaving room for an idler. Now, with the
front mech dead and buried for all but XC
bikes, there’s space for HSP bikes to emerge
into trail bike territory.
“I knew how well it works for downhill bikes
and how well it would work for trail bikes, but
I also knew it was going to be risky,” Owen
says, because the public perception is that you
need multiple links to make great suspension.
“Plus it needed to be a design where I could
grow and shrink the back of the bike in
proportion to the front end, something most
brands don’t do.”
The Druid is a 29er with 130mm travel,
designed to work with a 150mm fork. It’s
available for now as a frame-only bike,
complete with Fox DPX2 shock and upper and
lower guides. It costs £3,150, far from cheap,
but certainly comparable to other high-end
carbon frames on the market.
Why the name Forbidden? Did Norco
forbid Owen from building a short-travel HSP
bike, prodding him to move on and start his
own brand? No, says Owen, the name comes
from both the Forbidden Plateau on Vancouver
Island, where Owen rides now, and a cheeky
track in Northern Ireland that co-founder Ali
used to poach. We’ll have a first ride next
issue, and hopefully answer the question, first
time lucky?high pivoT
hype?
Amaury Pierron won the World Cup
downhill overall last year on a Commençal
Supreme DH and Sam Blenkinsop had his
best season to date on the Norco Aurum
HSP — is it a coincidence they were both
on high-pivot bikes? Probably. That’s the
hype, anyway. What we do know is that
high-pivot bikes create rearward axle
paths (the Druid extends by 9mm), which
in theory makes the rear wheel move up
and out of the way of bumps, while you
keep moving forward. It causes plenty of
pedal kickback though, because as the
suspension extends it pulls the chain back
on the top of the chainring, which in turn
rotates the pedals backwards or locks
them out. And this is where the idler comes
in, minimising the growth and kickback by
running the chain close to the main pivot.Fullcarbonframewith
with130mmtravelout
backandbuilttoruna
150mmforkIdler counteracts the
pedal kickback of
high-pivot design