Details are sparse surrounding Scott’s new downhill rig, which Brendan Fairclough and his Scott11 teammates will race at this weekend’s opening round of the 2012 World Cup series in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
What we do have are detailed photos from Scott Sports of the bike from the pits in Pietermaritzburg.
Travel has yet to be announced, but Scott say the hub, bottom bracket, and head tube are all within the normal range of today's downhill machines, so: 150mmx12mm rear axle, 83mm bottom bracket shell and 1.5in head tube.
We do know, prior to this weekend’s World Cup the team was first seen testing the new rig in San Romolo, Italy, however, Scott reps told us here at BikeRadar that the team only has about 2-weeks of time on the new bike.
The suspension design is an intriguing, but simple single pivot with linkage-activated shock. The interesting aspect, however, comes with Fox’s longest — 3.5in stroke shock, and the wild-looking linkage, which looks complicated, however, is straightforward in operation. A link connects the front of the single-pivot swingarm to the top of the shock to compress it as the rear wheel moves through its travel. A second link connects to the seat tube to help control the shock rate.
Scott tuck a Fox Racing Shox DHX RC4 rear shock away behind numerous linkages on the new bike. At the lower shock attachment point Scott have built in convertible chip, which allows for tunable geometry. Chainstay length is also adjustable between two settings via flip-flop sandwich style dropouts.
Other, new, features include integrated fork stops, and semi-internal derailleur cable routing through the rear swingarm.
A better look at the massive main pivot