 |
| With most suspension systems, the length of the
chain run between the front and rear sprockets varies as the suspension
moves. The rate of this chain lengthening plays a vital role in
the overall pedalling characteristics of the bike. These suspension
systems only allow the designer to ‘tune’ the pedalling
characteristics by altering the wheel path. This means that the
other wheel path dependent design factors (bump absorption, braking
performance, dynamic geometry) are compromised. With i-track suspension, the pedalling characteristics can be tuned by altering the idler control mechanism (instead of the wheel path). Specifically, the idler control mechanism can be designed so that the idler follows a strategic path, such that the rate of chain lengthening meets desired values at all points throughout the suspension travel. Therefore, i-track suspension can be used to design a bike with desired pedalling characteristics, without being constrained to a specific wheel path. This gives more freedom to optimise the other wheel path dependent factors (bump absorption, braking performance, dynamic geometry). |
