PAUL TURNER’S MAVERICK BECOMES A REALITY–FEB 1

Last Fall, RockShox founder Paul Turner was testing a dual-suspension prototype he designed that utilized a single fork leg behind the seat tube. MBA paid Turner a visit at his Boulder ,Colorado home to see how the project was moving forward. The Maverick, as it is now called, is slated for limited production at Klein’s facility in Chehalis, Washington.

WHAT ABOUT THAT SUSPENSION?

Paul Turner’s novel rear suspension is actually quite simple. In fact, it’s the most common form of front suspension used in contemporary automobiles. The rear triangle is attached to a modified fork slider that pivots at the seat tube junction above–and swings on a beefy cast aluminum link below where the bottom bracket would normally be attached to the frame. The link houses the bottom bracket (which makes his design a floating drivetrain type), and serves as a front derailleur mount as well.

The advantage of using a sliding strut (fork leg) instead of a conventional linkage is that the strut doubles as the shock and the suspension’s upper frame member, which saves weight, and should cancel out lateral flex better than a series of flimsy aluminum plates with ball bearing pivots. Although hard rear braking puts an additional friction load on the bushings sliding inside the strut, the Maverick’s suspension should remain active under braking. Also good news for the dual-suspension cross-country set is that the linkage geometry should cancel out the tendency for the Maverick to bob under power. Stay tuned for more on the Maverick.