Chromag, the Whistler based bike brand most known for their steel hardtails, has made a foray into the high pivot market with a world's first.
We sat down with them to see what went into the thought process behind this project.
| This is definitely going to work. |
You've held off from doing the high pivot thing for a while, why now?Well, we saw how much success and exposure these things are getting on the world cup circuit, and we thought why not us? We could be on the podium in France, but we're not. We're at work.
So it was purely a bottom-line thing?Exactly. We have investors, share holders and board members that all demand results, and a HP (high pivot) was the only way to get there. Not to say there weren't other advantages of HPHT. Adding 33% more chain has made us feel integral to the current global supply issues, as well as making our bikes even heavier.
How much time and energy went into this project?We were expecting to have to go through years of R&D for HPHT, but actually it only took about 10 minutes. Turns out HP's are really easy, you take a regular
low pivot, raise it up slightly and add 27% to the retail price. We had the added foresight to combine it with a seat clamp too, I must admit that did add a few minutes to the design process, but after we plugged it into the cost/benefit matrix it was a no-brainer, the spreadsheets don't lie. Plus that makes it the highest pivot available on the market if I'm not mistaken.
[Edit: this was true at time of writing] I did notice the idler is what you might call extra high...If you want to generate some buzz around an "extra" high pivot then go ahead. Do what you need to for the clicks, that's what we always say here in Canada, ask anyone.
| The beauty of this design is that the height of the idler is directly related to the length of the seat tube, which surely has to mean something. |
Did you consider that things might get trapped in the chain with it running dangerously close to the nether region? Like I said, this took about 10 minutes to develop, we really didn't consider much, but given the advantages of HPHT we think it's a small price to pay.
| Removing the seat-stays and replacing them with additional chain-stays was one of the smartest things we've ever done. |
Well thanks for your time, we're really excited to get our hands on The HPHT!There is no
"the".
What do you mean?It's not
The HPHT. It's HPHT.
Oh! It's like the bit in that Facebook movie when Justin Timberlake's character is all like "drop the THE" and everyone is blown away by how clever (and handsome) he is so they decide to go with just Facebook instead of The Facebook!No it isn't.
Yes it is.No it isn't.
It is.Nope.
A little bit.No.
Agree to disagree?Namaste.
The HPHT seat clamp retails for CA$69.420 (CA$73.20).
It's obviously sold out, but should be available by the time the sun envelopes the earth circa 7.6 billion years from now.
/s
Did you read it? Did you look at the Date?
I thought this was an absolute cracker of a AFJ one of the best ones I’ve seen in a while
It would look great on all the Tacomas in my neighbourhood.
ps. nice touch that the price in CA$ is converted into CA$!
Needs 3 more charts to highlight why it’s a good idea though, and maybe some test results from a lab with some acronyms sprinkled in.
Those super short shorts look good :-)
8.5/10
Is it wrong that I want one, though?