Sea Otter 2011: Ellsworth’s new 180mm-travel prototype

Ellsworth’s new 180mm-travel platform made its official debut at this year’s Sea Otter Classic, still dressed in raw aluminum with a somewhat haphazard amalgam of cable routing while final details are being sorted out and even still lacking an official name.  If you come up with something that sticks, though, Ellsworth will give you one to keep.

The new prototype is intended for aggressive all-mountain and light gravity duty with 180mm of travel using the company’s highly refined Instant Center Tracking four-bar rear suspension design (and Sea Otter attendees can feel free to ignore the new “Anti Squat” note on the hang tags – nothing’s changed).  Head tube angle is set at a slack 66 degrees but if that doesn’t suit you, the addition of Cane Creek’s new tapered AngleSet will allow around 1.5 degrees of adjustment on either side of that, too.

Versatility is a key draw of Ellsworth’s new bike with a reasonable claimed frame weight of 4.1kg (9.0lb) and what we expect to be good pedaling performance considering the generous travel.  Ellsworth have made their latest model front derailleur-friendly but ISCG tabs are also included for single-ring drivetrain setups.  Ellsworth’s first interrupted seat tube is also sized for a bigger 30.9mm seatpost, too, to more readily accommodate the growing crop of dropper seatposts.

Ellsworth Momentum

Among other things, Ellsworth were also showing off their Momentum slopestyle/4X machine.  Sporting just 120mm of rear wheel travel (and designed for use with a 100mm-travel fork), the Momentum is nonetheless equipped with more suitable geometry that includes a low bottom bracket and slack 67-degree head tube angle.  Other features include a tapered head tube, Ellsworth’s latest SST.2 hydroformed tubeset with integrated upper link pivot, and ISCG tabs.  Should your jump line also require some pedaling to get there, Ellsworth have also made the Momentum front derailleur-friendly.