Forbidden Bikes Trifecta Suspension and the One Ride System

The buzz around Forbidden bikes is growing in the Southern Lakes mountain bike community as the crew at Bikes By Outside Sportsin Queenstown and Wanaka introduce more and more people to this amazing Canadian brand, named for the Forbidden Plateauin British Colombia. 

Forbidden has built its reputation by disrupting the conventions of mountain bike design. Rather than simply adding more suspension travel or making bikes longer and slacker, the engineers at Forbidden focus on how suspension, geometry, and rider position all work together to produce a better mountain bike. 

The three keyconcepts they’vecome up with comprise the ‘Trifecta’ suspension system and ‘One Ride’ proportional geometry. So let’s check them  out and see how they work. 

The three pillars behind Forbidden’sTrifecta suspension philosophy are axle path, rate curve and pedaling efficiency. The aim is to create suspension that maintains momentum and traction inrough terrain, while still providing the support you need when you’re pushing hard. 

The Trifecta system features a high main pivot that creates a rearward axle path as the suspension compresses. That means instead of the rear wheel being driven forward into an obstacle as the suspension moves, it can travel backwards and upwards with the impact. The result is a bike that can comfortably carry amazing speed through roots, rocks and repeated square-edge hits. 

There’s another benefit to having a high main pivot. When the suspension compresses, the rear centre effectively becomes longer, increasing stability when the bike is dealing with bigger impacts. That helps produce the exceptionalhandlingcharacteristics that Forbidden bikes are known for – fun and playfulineasier terrain and super stable when things get rowdy. 

Forbidden’s Rate Control Linkage manages the suspension leverage curve. The objective is exceptional sensitivity and grip early in the travel, support through the middle, and increased resistance deeper in the stroke to soak up big hits and landings. 

The idler pulley allows Forbidden to tune pedaling characteristics independently of the high-pivot axle path, producing strong anti-squat for efficient pedaling with minimum kickback. In other words, the suspension remains active and generating traction even when you’re putting power through the pedals. 

Many mountain bikes use the same chainstay or rear-centre length on every frame size. But as the front of the bike becomes longer on the larger sizes, the rider’s weight distribution between the wheels changes. That’s obviously not ideal, especially for smaller, shorter riders. That’s why Forbidden takes a different approach. On their bikes all riders can experience optimised handling. 

With One Ride, rear-centre dimensions are scaled proportionally with the frame size, so the relationship between the rider, front wheel and rear wheel remainsconsistent as the frame size changes. Forbidden also adjusts seat angles and head-tube dimensions proportionally across the size range. 

• Trifecta is about controlling how the bike interacts with the trail  

• One Ride is about controlling how you interact with the bike 

Combine the two together and you get a suspension system that maintains traction, momentum and composure, combined with geometry designed around the proportions of the person riding it. 

If you haven’t already experienced a Forbidden analogue or eMTBget in touch with the team at Bikes By Outside Sports in Queenstown or Wanaka to arrange a demo.