Field Test: 12 Bikes & the New Grim Donut Get Hucked to Flat in Super Slow Motion

Dec 24, 2021
by Henry Quinney  


PINKBIKE FIELD TEST

12 Downcountry and Trail Bikes Hucked To Flat

All-out Bottom-out




The final piece of our Field Test series, and what you're all here for, the huck to flat. It's amazing to see how these bikes flex and deform under high load, even if it is from a relatively small ramp.

The beauty of the huck to flat is not showing how bikes perform under extreme, hard to replicate jumps that load up the bike to within an inch of its life, but rather seeing how the bike handles of a reasonably common sized jump even if it is to flat.

The 120mm bikes all held up without any spectacular failures. This is something that would be the minimum you'd hope for, especially for something that can cost thousands upon thousands of dollars but it hasn't traditionally been the case.

This Field Test also has the extra layer of comparing different sized forks. For instance, how do the svelte Fox 34 and RockShox SID compare against more aggressive offerings from Fox, Rockshox, Formula and Ohlins?

Previous Huck to Flat videos
Field Test: Enduro and eMTBs Get Hucked to Flat in Ultra Slow Motion
12 Bikes Hucked to Flat in Gratuitous Slow Motion
13 Bikes Hucked to Flat at 1000 FPS
8 Value Bikes Hucked to Flat in Super Slow Mo
9 XC Bikes & the Grim Donut VS the Huck to Flat
10 Trail and Enduro Bikes Hucked To Flat at 1,000 FPS
10 Value Bikes Hucked to Flat In Slow Motion at 1,000 FPS





Pinkbike Huck to Flat presented by CushCore

photo




The 2021 Fall Field Test is presented by Rapha and Bontrager. Thank you also to Maxxis, Schwalbe, and Garmin for control tires and equipment.




Author Info:
henryquinney avatar

Member since Jun 3, 2014
319 articles

125 Comments
  • 41 0
 I’m surprised the Ghost didn’t burst into flames.
  • 6 0
 I think the Formula suspension was the only two on any bike that did not bottom out
  • 1 0
 @Staktup: If you Look at the leverage curve of the Ghost ist no Wonder. This Bike has so much bottom Out Support you likley never use full travel
  • 2 0
 @JustMaffin:
Actually, both are bottoming out, fork and damper fork normally has 10-15mm on th stanchions, which are left when bottoming out, little less with the damper, but they bottomed out.
  • 1 0
 It’s definitely using the bottoming bumper on the shock. The spring just isn’t going into a near coil bind like the Starling.
  • 43 4
 Could actually see the Blur's seat stays flex.
  • 7 3
 It looked the least happy about being hucked to flat.
  • 15 3
 They didn't just flex, it looked like they wobbled - like a wave passed through them Eek
  • 20 1
 Aren't they supposed to do that?
  • 16 1
 Flex stays, imagine that!
  • 24 1
 So the Grim Donut isn’t even a bike now? Transcendence.
  • 6 0
 The singularity has happened
  • 11 2
 its an NFT bike.... read a little.. ; )
  • 1 0
 did Fox make them put a dual crown on it or has it always had one?
  • 1 0
 @Lagr1980: i mainly come here for the comments
  • 20 0
 Should let it roll a little more, just to see the suspension going back uo
  • 19 0
 Is it just me or did the rear tire on the starling actually hit the seat tube??
  • 2 0
 This is what I came to ask
  • 2 0
 Couldn't fit a mud hugger to any of those rear wheels, so all unrideable. Once you've got used to a dry arse it's hard to go back.
  • 1 0
 Pretty sure it did not as the rear wheel never stops rotating (at least from what I can tell). The part that would contact is right behind Jason’s ankle so hard to say for sure. It could just be *really* tight clearance.
  • 1 0
 @feldybikes: the part that would contact was infront of his shin not anywhere near his ankle lol you can also clear as day see when in full compression the maxxis logo does a weird little pause right before the bike starts decompressing.
  • 1 0
 That Starling rear wheel definitely made contact with the seat tube. Shame I had a Banshee that kept doing that. Eventually they agreed to replace the frame as it was a fault.
  • 1 0
 @mhoshal: you’re right that shin would’ve been more accurate to say than ankle. I was watching the rotor before. Went back and watched the tire logo as you suggested but can’t see the skip you mentioned. But maybe this is a function of me watching it on my phone.
  • 2 0
 @feldybikes: It wouldn't stop if it touched, unless it really was buried into the seat tube. The ground is much more grippy than the seat tube, and the bike won't stop moving in that much of a hurry! Wouldn't take much rubbing to get through the paint and expose the steel
  • 17 0
 Did the old Grim Doughnut die? Was the suspension kinematics just crap unless gravity?

Seems like we never really fully explored version 1.0 before getting version 2.0?
  • 37 0
 V1 Donut will be a big part of the next video Smile
  • 18 1
 @mikelevy: with all of the retro things becoming popular again, are you going to make a counter Grim Doughnut? Like a Virtuous Veggie? Take first generation bikes and go the opposite direction on geometry from second generation bikes and onwards
  • 18 0
 some of those forks had some nasty flex induced stiction
  • 6 0
 Head angle on the donut was not helping matters!
  • 6 0
 @Tambo: The Stumpy EVO suffered from this as well, that poor Fox 36 was all kinds of wobbly.
  • 1 0
 If we’re talking about the same thing, it seems like the tire may be to blame by acting like an un-dampened spring.
  • 1 0
 @chamberlink: For sure, but it's not the sole cause!
  • 16 1
 Also, remarkable consistency from @jasonlucas with the landings.
  • 2 1
 I don't imagine they took multiple tries and posted the best ones....
  • 2 0
 @VelkePivo: good point!
  • 3 0
 @VelkePivo: After all that I bet his physiotherapist has just been able to buy themselves a new Yeti...
  • 12 0
 I only watch for the abrupt chaos of the chains whipping about i have no interest in the smooth functioning of everything else
  • 12 0
 Nice. Motion to include drive side shots!
  • 3 0
 Problem is he rides right foot forward. Can't have his foot get in the way of all the action
  • 9 0
 Two observations:
1) The rear wheel on the Starling must've made contact with the seat tube
2) That live valve fork on the Giant bottomed like there was no damping at all (shock also looked very unsupportive)
  • 1 7
flag Glory831Guy (Dec 24, 2021 at 15:25) (Below Threshold)
 I'm pretty sure they did this test in the open mode, just like the efficiency test. It's doubtful that all these bikes would be bottoming out both ends in 'trail' mode. They would be bobbing like crazy in open mode if that were the case.
  • 12 0
 Nothing broke? Illegal
  • 5 15
flag CamLamson (Dec 24, 2021 at 11:48) (Below Threshold)
 ya know it’s rly not that big of a jump. it would be better if it was a solid sized drop
  • 10 3
 I get that Rapha paid them a bunch and gave them kit to wear, but putting everyone in exactly the same outfit for the entire field test has made the footage from this iteration more than a little annoying. Doesn't that jacket come in other colors?
  • 6 4
 Wearing the same outfits works for continuity purposes. They wouldn’t have filmed in the same order we viewed the videos in and it would have looked a mess if the outfits changed as they did the climbing and descending segments for each bike.
  • 6 0
 @ODubhslaine: but each person can have a different outfit. So one individual is always wearing the same stuff for continuity, but they don’t all look the exact same
  • 2 0
 @sdurant12: Exactly.

Also, in past field test videos, they didn't wear the same outfit and it worked out just fine. This is a field test, they're not going for shreddit of the year here. It's OK if they wear different stuff on different days.
  • 8 1
 What kind of pressures are these running? I can't believe my bike setups would bottom out on such a small ramp, but alas I am curious as to what hsc, lsc, and rebound numbers are,
  • 19 2
 That's a pretty good kicker...you could get a nice 20ft'er if you put that in a fast trail. But it's really the flat landing onto asphalt that's doing the "bottoming out". Flat landings are just rough, even compared to a slight declining trail.

The bike setups are normal. Normal sag.
  • 7 0
 Yes, it's the flat landing. Just try it and you'll see.
  • 3 1
 There's a 2' drop to flat on a local trail, I bottom out every time. Transitions make a huge difference!
  • 1 1
 @Remonster: yeah but my question is numbers. I want to know what "ideal" is for jason for each bike.
  • 6 0
 @HollyBoni: I try it all the time, that is what i'm saying is I have my setup to NOT bottom in that size and style huck to flat.
  • 3 1
 @tprojosh: Uh, yeah, who knows. I mean you could find out...lookup every setup manual for every fork and frame but... You really wanna know all that? For Jason? Why haha
  • 2 0
 Near the start Jason said the suspension was dialed for his weight, no info on lsc or hsc.
  • 2 0
 @tprojosh: You jump ramps and land to flat all the time? Why? Big Grin I find that hard to believe.

Some of these bikes don't even have external compression adjustment on the shock and/or the fork, and i'm fairly sure they set up the sag correctly.
  • 1 2
 @Remonster: Because I want to know why the suspension is acting so inefficiently.
  • 5 2
 @HollyBoni: I come from motorcycles and jumping 50 or 60 feet is commonplace. I ride my bikes hard and im a suspension nerd, need your shock rebuilt? Shim stack adjusted? Car shocks, motorcycle, bikes, I love quality suspension and few of the forks/shocks I see on the market today do a job I count as "acceptable". Worse then that is the lackluster mounting hardware from Rockshox what a disaster.
  • 1 0
 @tprojosh: ..... that's a damned good answer happy Christmas
  • 5 1
 @tprojosh: most bikes will bottom out on a drop to flat. It’s supposed to. There’s no point setting your bike up not to bottom out on flat drops unless all you ride is drops to flat. it’s much better to set your bike up correctly for the terrain you ride the most and just avoid dropping to flat or take the occasional bottom out than to make your suspension harsh and ineffective just so it doesn’t bottom out on an occasional drop to flat.
  • 6 6
 @tprojosh: That's a cool story, I still don't get why you ride ramps with flat landings all the time and set up your suspension to that tho. Big Grin That's not hard riding, that's just a bit dumb IMO.

Like the others said I think the suspension is acting perfectly fine here. With decent speed you could go pretty damn far off this kicker, and with a proper landing your suspension wouldn't bottom out at all. Jason is going slow and he's like a sack of potatoes in the air. He's landing in pretty much the worst way possible on purpose.
If you set up your suspension so it wouldn't bottom out like this, it would feel brutally harsh on the trails, especially with some of these bikes that only have a 110-120mm of travel.
Bottoming out (not harshly) when you land badly on a stupid jump with a flat landing is not a bad thing. But i'm sure you disagree because you jump 60 feet on motorbikes and that's somehow relevant. Smile
  • 4 1
 @tprojosh: the only background that matters around here is a BMX background.
  • 1 0
 @HollyBoni: It's because with my PERSONAL bicycles they WILL NOT bottom out on something so small while still riding at 20-25 percent sag, these are not impossible feats but it does take some internal tuning to the suspension which is why they have "tune codes" written on the side of the air cans. I understand if the point is to see how they move through full travel but if you think people are running the pressures in this video and are going to survive a moderate size jump or an aggressive trail they will be much slower on the mash potato setting you see in these huck to flats then what people should be running.
  • 3 0
 @tprojosh: yeah nobody’s running rampage setting on trails bikes though. They’re just going to avoid hitting drops to flat.
  • 1 0
 @thenotoriousmic: Friday fails like they do it all the time.
  • 7 0
 Anyone else notice the fork on the specialized kind of hang up when it flexed out?
  • 1 1
 Yeah, that head angle really does the fork no favors when it comes to flat landings
  • 1 0
 @ripridesbikes: Probably needs skf seals
  • 8 2
 I’m old enough to remember when the grim donut was a bike that Pinkbike actually made interesting videos with and not just an ad for Pivot.
  • 7 0
 huck to flat just isn't the same without something breaking....
  • 7 0
 Some of those rear tires come very close to the seat tube.
  • 13 0
 We still need to know if the Starling actually made contact...
  • 2 0
 @Tambo: Sure looked close. Some claggy mud could make the difference.
  • 6 0
 man the water coming off that niner (and a few others) is wicked sick!
  • 2 0
 From a viewers perspective, I think Jason could qualify as one of the luckiest Dudes on earth ,maybe it’s because as viewers, we only see the fun stuff, On another more positive note he does seem to be a perfect candidate for the job as well as the the rest of the PB staff and PB just wouldn’t be the same w/o em. Anyway, just wanna say thanks for all the cool content this year and all the years to come. Although Im still convinced FF is def. some form of online voodoo.I could not possibly count how many times a video of somebody shredding down some trail somewhere or an article posted by PB has influenced me to get out and ride! Thanks Pinkbike you R Awesome Sauce. Smile
Happy Holidays
cRaNkHeD
  • 5 0
 Emmet could have done with a CushCore sponsorship.
  • 2 1
 jason bottomed out on all rigs but the trek and the donut. that tells me that if jason was aiming to ride/own any of these rigs he would’ve had to spend more time dialing in the shock of those other bikes. the vid was fun to watch, but didn’t really tell me much.
  • 5 0
 The starling fared better than I expected.
  • 5 0
 My 3 y.o. watched this with me and she said she wants a ramp like that.
  • 1 0
 While watching the fork compression, I noticed that they all go through about half of their travel and then there is a brief pause, then they start compressing again until they go through the rest of the travel. They all do the same. I am curious why the pause. Please reply if you understand why that happens.
  • 4 0
 I'm going to hazzard a interneer guess here and say that the forces directed into the forks are pushing the lowers along the stanchions and also flexing the unit. This is because the impact isn't directed into the fork but vertically upwards - the forks are not verticle which would be the ideal angle to absorb this impact. The point at which the fork sticks is probably the point at which the amount of flex overcomes the ability of the bushes to direct the stanchions into the lowers. As the force dissipates, the bushes can cope with the flex again and continue allowing the stanchions and lowers to glide. Longer bushes could help, larger diameter tubes, or maybe even shape the tubes to have a dorsal fin travelling the length of the lower at the rear...
  • 3 1
 It's the tires
  • 1 1
 Seems like the force of Jason’s full weight (after his legs flex and stop absorbing) contributes to the restart of compression.
  • 2 0
 It's the tyres; they compress initially on impact, then rebound, then compress again. The pause in fork movement happens when the tyres are compressing for the 2nd time. It's even more pronounced on the rear, where the tyre sometimes comes off the ground mid-compression.
  • 2 0
 Jason Lucas definitely needs a raise, Pinkbike. I wouldn't huck all these bikes to flat without a minimum 20-30 PSI increase, front and back. That Ghost shock would definitely get about 4 extra turns of preload too!
  • 4 0
 I found the Trek's suspension movement the most pleasing to watch.
  • 3 0
 Check out all that chain slapping. Some have more slap than others. Could be a good derailleur review tool.
  • 2 0
 I’m sad that’s the last time I hear the intro music for this round of field tests. Loved it.
  • 2 0
 It's very "Grand Tour"...
  • 1 0
 I was hoping for more from the Starling with its "flexy" stays. Nope... just a single pivot doing exactly as one would think it would do.
  • 5 0
 Seems to be the smoothest transition to bottom out of all the bikes, all the others seem to have “notched” 2 stage transition.
  • 1 0
 @Murfdog: I've wondered about this... is it HSC being too light?
  • 2 0
 Jason in a XC lid and on dual crowns almost looks like OG stripped era Kurt Sorge
  • 2 0
 This video made me happy. Nice work Pinkbike, and happy holidays!
  • 1 1
 I still dont’t understand the reasoning behind choosing Stumpjumper instead of Epic evo. Stumpy is no DC-bike. Epic evo is almost identical with Blurs TR specs…
  • 2 0
 The Stumpy was chosen in the trail bike category.
  • 3 1
 What's down country? I'm old and out of touch...
  • 2 0
 It's when you only have xc bike so you swap for fork with 20-30mm more of a travel and put on 2.5 highrollers and a dropper with the hugest possible drop and top it with 800mm rise bars
  • 2 1
 It's a bullshit marketing for an XC bike to make it more trail compliant.
  • 2 0
 Jump the Mini Cooper! Why we pussy footin around on these 7 to 10k bikes?!
  • 1 0
 Man, the fork on the niner was just gushing! Where did it all that water come from?!
  • 1 0
 funny to see the front wheel bounce a little before the front shox gets fully compress. i wonder if all tires have equal PSI
  • 1 0
 When the downcountry bikes fall less than the enduro bike that's are actually designed for this stuff.
  • 1 0
 I'm old and can't see shit, but I swear some bikes compress and return the top tube.
  • 1 0
 Thank you for this awesome xmas present :-)
  • 1 0
 He really does live in that Rapha jacket.
  • 1 0
 That's his comforter Wink
  • 1 0
 Great video. But please show the drive train side
  • 2 1
 Was that oil blowing out of the upper seals on a couple forks??
  • 2 0
 i saw that too. its gotta be from the rain
  • 1 0
 Waiting fit the grim Donut Test Session and more Details
  • 1 0
 Never knew how violently the deraileur gets shocked before
  • 1 0
 Giving the people what they really want for xmas!
  • 1 0
 The GD2 Bottom Bracket could be even lower!
  • 1 0
 @mikelevy how much for the grim donut 2. i want it.
  • 1 0
 Rapha sponsored this?
  • 2 1
 Best Christmas present!
  • 3 3
 you can tell they use sram derailleurs because of the garbage clutch
  • 1 0
 The DONUT is FUCKABLE.
  • 2 1
 That's really GRIM! Guess if you fuck it, they will cum!
  • 5 6
 Rocky Mountain seemed out of its Element.
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