PinkBike finally reveals the mystery under the Specialized cover of Loic Bruni and Finn Iles' bikes. Rumors and theories circulated among enthusiasts about what was hidden under the covers of the prototype bike downhill by Specialized.
It is, at its core, a Pull shock system, already adopted for several years on Ancillotti bikes.
On a bike from downhill, the ability to keep the weight of the bike as low and centered as possible is one of the biggest advantages Specialized is working on.
These studies will be called Project Black: Specialized relies on feedback from professional athletes in both the development and testing of advanced pre-production products in real-world applications. With this high-level feedback, some of these design and product elements will eventually appear in future retail product offerings.
What you see at the center of this prototype is the UBB suspension system. This new linkage system allows us to independently optimize key components of driving dynamics, including axle path, shock leverage and anti-squat/anti-rise characteristics for braking. This decoupling not only allows us to fine-tune the bikes, but also provides us with valuable qualitative and quantitative data.
What most won't know is that these UBB prototype bikes are 100% handcrafted with precision at our innovation center in Morgan Hill, California. Each carbon tube is hand rolled by our in-house composite experts. The lugs, linkage, swingarm and all billet parts are precision CNC machined within the same facility, with the bonding process meticulously carried out.
The UBB system has proven to be an extremely effective product development tool for our Ride Dynamics team in influencing the development of recently launched bikes, as well as those that will shape the future of cycling across multiple disciplines. We understand that there will be additional questions about the UBB suspension system, but we will not provide additional information at this time – Specialized
