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Giant’s Maestro Rear Suspension

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N8 v2.0

N8 v2.0

Not the sharpest tool in the shed
Oct 18, 2002
11,003
149
The Cleft of Venus
What's new from Giant...

GIANT’S MAESTRO REAR SUSPENSION
MBA | November 23, 2004 | R. Cunningham





Giant USA went in search of a single rear suspension design to replace the three different types that it used last season. The goal was to find one suspension that could be configured to perform as well for a short-travel cross-country application as it could for a long-stroke gravity racer. After a series of sleepless nights on the computer and some real-world testing, Giant developed “Maestro”--a dual-link setup similar to the Santa Cruz VPP. Reportedly, negotiations with Santa Cruz required Giant to reconfigure the linkage in the latter stages of Giant’s design and pre-production process. Remarkably, Giant rebounded en-force with a revised linkage that could meet or match the performance of the best players on the dirt.

MEET MAESTRO
Giant’s Maestro rear suspension does not have a conventional swingarm pivot. Instead, a triangulated swingarm rocks on a two levers in much the same way as the rear derailleur swings on its parallelogram. Giant configured the upper and lower linkage geometry so that the rear axle moves in a near-vertical path—not in an arc, like a conventional swingarm would. Giant claims that its Maestro linkage design, combined with a specially tuned stable-platform shock, accelerates without bobbing and stops without locking out the suspension.

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Echo

Echo

crooked smile
Jul 10, 2002
11,819
15
Slacking at work
I suppose Giant will do what Giant feels it needs to do to sell bikes, but they haven't ever innovated anything in my opinion.

edit: and I'm not the least bit surprised that Cunningham is kissing their asses for this ripoff.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
Damn True said:
Just a chain tension dependant vpp.
Not anything super new.
Click to expand...
Still pushing to get a real description of the suspension traits - wheel path, chain interaction...

Almost everything is a "virtual pivot point" of some type, and all suspension designs are "chain tension dependant" (what does that mean anyway? Everything has chain interactions, so the suspension design is dependant on chain tension in some way)...

Are you saying that it's a "VPP" as originally patented by Outland and developed by Santa Cruz (i.e. S-shaped axle path, chain tension keeping it in the middle of the travel, etc.)?
 
Lexx D

Lexx D

Dirty Dozen
Mar 8, 2004
1,480
0
NY
binary visions said:
Are you saying that it's a "VPP" as originally patented by Outland and developed by Santa Cruz (i.e. S-shaped axle path, chain tension keeping it in the middle of the travel, etc.)?
Click to expand...
No what he's saying is that it's not made by specialized so it sucks :thumb:
 
Damn True

Damn True

Monkey Pimp
Sep 10, 2001
4,015
3
Between a rock and a hard place.
binary visions said:
Are you saying that it's a "VPP" as originally patented by Outland and developed by Santa Cruz (i.e. S-shaped axle path, chain tension keeping it in the middle of the travel, etc.)?
Click to expand...
Yup, pretty much. Minor tweak here and there to avoid patent funny biddness.

Lexx, please don't put words in my mouth.
 
binary visions

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,165
1,261
NC
Damn True said:
Yup, pretty much. Minor tweak here and there to avoid patent funny biddness.
Click to expand...
Care to elaborate? Tweaks to the axle path - and if so, how much do they affect functionality.

Is this a "seat-of-the-pants" analysis (not discounting that, just curious), inside information, a few minutes spent with a CAD program to map it out...?

Interested to hear some factual information - there's a lot of random guesses that are being thrown around various boards right now.
 
Wingnut

Wingnut

Turbo Monkey
Nov 12, 2003
1,670
197
Sorry, I'm Canadian ..sorry...
Echo said:
but they haven't ever innovated anything in my opinion.QUOTE]


Well, one argument for Giant: (Quoted from th MBA article) Giant’s mother factory in Taiwan developed the hydro-formed “hockey stick” top and down tubes that many firms have copied this year, (end quote)

Oh, and their DH bike is still damn sexy!! :love:

Also, does the DW link look exactly the same? Or is the shock mounted to both swing-links on the DW? Just to satisfy my own curiosity..
Click to expand...
 
S

snowskilz

xblue attacked piggy won
May 15, 2004
612
0
rado
Giant DW VPP F1 are all "similar" linkage designs they all use 2 links bolted to a solid rear triangle. I havent mapped out any of them in cad but you can see a few differences.

a. Giants is in front/on top the bottom bracket
b. dw's and VPP is right behind the BB
c. dw's and vpp have different upper linkages
d. the f1 has the shock mounted to the lower and the link is much longer

If you mapped these designs in Cad id bet most look very very close, maybe a mm difference here and there. From what i have read the f1 prolly has the most different axle path bc it is matched to the way the front fork moves
 
Curb Hucker

Curb Hucker

I am an idiot
Feb 4, 2004
3,661
0
Sleeping in my Kenworth
snowskilz said:
From what i have read the f1 prolly has the most different axle path bc it is matched to the way the front fork moves
Click to expand...

Ill put that in my own words: From what i have ridden the f1 has the most different axle path bc it is matched to the way the front fork moves and makes everything feel so small :D
 
powderboy

powderboy

Monkey
Jan 16, 2002
258
0
See Dar Hills, OOTah
Broken_Spoke said:
I still think the Faith is an ugly bike
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DITTO!!! It looks like the old Iron Horse SGS or, even better the Gary Fisher Joshua URT! It's an ugly steed.

The Reign looks pretty damn sweet if you ask me. I should have one as a test bike in the Spring, so I'll be sure to post my thoughts.
 
gschuette

gschuette

Monkey
Sep 22, 2004
621
0
Truck
I kind of like the look of the Faith. It looks better than a Demo 9 in my opinion. I really just wanted to see if my new avatar works.
 
powderboy

powderboy

Monkey
Jan 16, 2002
258
0
See Dar Hills, OOTah
gschuette said:
I kind of like the look of the Faith. It looks better than a Demo 9 in my opinion. I really just wanted to see if my new avatar works.
Click to expand...
Looks are very personal, that's for sure. I just think that interrupted seat-tube bikes should be done away with. Bike manufacturers should consider the seat tube as immovable. IMHO... it's just a pain to have to use a telescoping post all the time.

The proof is in the pudding and I'm sure the Faith rides nice. I may be able to swing one of those for a test too...
:D
 
TheInedibleHulk

TheInedibleHulk

Turbo Monkey
May 26, 2004
1,886
0
Colorado
Echo said:
I suppose Giant will do what Giant feels it needs to do to sell bikes, but they haven't ever innovated anything in my opinion.

edit: and I'm not the least bit surprised that Cunningham is kissing their asses for this ripoff.
Click to expand...
Ive never seen an MBA artcile that did anything but kiss ass, worst mag you can read.
 
S

snowskilz

xblue attacked piggy won
May 15, 2004
612
0
rado
TheInedibleHulk said:
Ive never seen an MBA artcile that did anything but kiss ass, worst mag you can read.
Click to expand...
look back to the begining of the summer, they an a small article on the easton carbon seatpost and how the broke 2 of them. gave it one star
 
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