Originally Posted by free_pizza
So those couple of inches in pivot location make a massive difference on how the bike handles while pedaling/braking?
And even still, i dont understand while its called single pivot when it pivots in multiple locations.
i have often wondered that too. although i dont know much about suspension designs etc, so someone please correct me if i am wrong, but from what i just read i think basically the pivot location refers to the pivot of the swingarm. that is the arc around which the rear wheel will move under bump force or whatever. like i just read somewhere: the basic intention of both front and rear suspension designs are to isolate the wheels from the rest of the bike. i guess to allow a path for the wheel to move under bumping etc in such a way that only the wheel responds to that bump, and when the wheel moves to absorb the hit, there is no, or atleast not much or a minimum, amount of force travelling into the frame itself, or force travelling outside the wheel. basically that is what most designs try to maximise i think, to try contain the force that hitting a bump creates within the wheel...?
eh. does that sound about right?
so i think the pivot location with single vs multi pivot designs etc refer to the number of pivots around which the feel finds an arc to move under bumping. so if there are a number of pivots for linkages for shocks etc, that doesnt matter, if there is only one pivot that allows movement of the wheel then the bike is a single pivot bike. if the arc along which the bike will move has been created by more than one pivot, well then thats not a single pivot bike.
okay, if ive just been talking crap or something someone please let me know, this stuff is all interesting but frankly i dont get a lot of the physics when i read the "experts" at ridemonkey or mtbr. so it would be nice if someone could babylanguage it for people like me. thanks!!