Polygon's New 6 Bar Enduro Bike - Sea Otter 2022

Apr 8, 2022
by James Smurthwaite  
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Polygon's race team has been spotted at Sea Otter on a new enduro bike that is due to replace the current Siskiu N9.

The bike has the new 6 bar Independent Floating Suspension system that we have previously seen on Polygon's Bromo emtb. As the name suggests, the system is designed to control the wheel path and anti-squat independently of the leverage curve. For a deeper dive into the system, read Seb Stott's first ride of the Bromo, here. It has to be said, without a motor getting in the way, the design looks a bit more refined on this enduro bike than on the Bromo and we don't doubt that it has been tuned differently as well.

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The bike rolls on 29" front and rear and has tweaked geometry from the previous Siskiu N9, although Polygon didn't have any specifics for us at the booth. The geometry has apparently been worked on with the brand's race team so we wouldn't be surprised to see a longer, lower, slacker treatment to suit modern race tracks.

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Amy Morrison's bike had a water bottle fitted and there's also room for a tube on another mount above the shock.

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These prototypes are aluminium and we're expecting the release version of the bike to be the same.

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Protection can be fitted using the downtube mounts

The bike should be launching around July and we have reached out to Polygon for more information and will update this piece as it comes in.

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech First Looks Enduro Bikes Polygon Polygon Siskiu Sea Otter 2022


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76 Comments
  • 61 0
 Mechanics hate them for this one simple trick
  • 32 0
 I’m holding out for the eight bar suspension
  • 15 0
 With 2 high pivots
  • 4 0
 Sorry with inflation it's now 10 bar
  • 1 0
 Twice as many bars than this one then!

(It's a 4-bar, not a 6-bar.)
  • 1 0
 Why? This isn't even a six-bar system. It's a four-bar.
  • 24 0
 Suspension cycle video please.
  • 36 0
 I’ll try and get one tomorrow Smile
  • 1 0
 @jamessmurthwaite: cool!
  • 2 9
flag mtbflow24 FL (Apr 8, 2022 at 22:41) (Below Threshold)
 @jamessmurthwaite: What is a MOD????
  • 2 0
 @jamessmurthwaite: very cool! Did you notice that's a trunion mounted shock with the trunion eyelets bolted to the extension link. That means it's not really an extension link, It would need to be part of the upper link or it would flop.
  • 2 0
 @mtbflow24: moderator. Means they have power in the comments section!
  • 29 0
 @mtbflow24: A Mod was a person who followed a subculture of simple but tailored style and modern jazz and rock music in Britain in the Fifties and Sixties. Probably best exampled as those early followers of The Who. Loved scooters / mopeds.
  • 1 10
flag mtbflow24 FL (Apr 9, 2022 at 7:55) (Below Threshold)
 @iamamodel: What i meant was the MOD on @jamessmurthwaite profile!
  • 1 0
 @goldmund: looks like the seat stay tuns through to the trunnion so it would have to pivot at the trunnion. It's going to push and lift.
  • 6 0
 It's not a pure 6-bar design like Atherton bike's DW6 is. And I dare to say it's 4-bar with another linkage driving the shock and providing needed structural stiffness.
.
This design has rear wheel mounted on member that you usually call chainstay which is mounted via two short links to the mainframe above the BB. Everything else there just drives the shock and provides lateral stiffness.
What seems like shock extender here is just extension of seatstay link.
.
DW6 on Atherton bikes has rear wheel mounted on linkage member that is between the two low short links and upper link (rocker link).
  • 1 0
 This is in fact the same principle like Knolly's 4bar I-dont-know-how-they-call-it where there;s another linkage to drive the shock. But I very much like more this approach because it uses short links instead of FSR like 4bar of Knolly. The advanteges are clearly mentioned in Seb Stott's video.
www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-polygon-mt-bromo-a-relatively-affordable-ebike-with-six-bar-suspension.html
  • 4 1
 @mtbflow24: it means shut up already
  • 1 0
 @WillW123: got it, now I see that looking at Amy Morrison's bike with the seat stay\ extender that are color matched. Pretty cool design! It's the offspring of the cannondale fulcrum and the whyte\ Marin bikes of the mid 00's
  • 1 0
 @WillW123: that upper link had better be pretty stiff, or they're going to have unhappy shocks...
  • 1 0
 @fluider: on point. Remove the seatstays and the rocker and the axle path stays the same. Same as the Demo, Enduro, Sender, etc.

Remove a link from a 6-bar (Supreme, E-bike Yeti, Atherton) and the rear axle is all over the place, i.e. undefined.

When defining the suspension 'barness', the shock driving linkage is not part of the equation.
  • 18 0
 I heard you like links...
  • 13 4
 Budget bike youtubers seeing this licking their lips... But seriously, glad they're updating their bikes and seemingly in a good way. Old enduro frames looked a little awkward but the new trail bikes are popping up everywhere and I wouldn't be surprised to see these flood the trails as well. Interesting that the solution to ratios for them is a whole separate linkage system and not just moving to 4 bar or split pivot or whatever. Would love to hear what their thinking is and what they were trying to achieve. The trail bikes feel pretty soft but definitely don't 'feel like a single pivot' as evidenced by PinkBike's own field test...
  • 10 0
 Maybe they've naild it this time.
  • 5 0
 It was pointed out previously that this linkage is not a 6 bar. It is clearly a 4 bar (with a linkage driven shock) and a concise explanation of why that is can be found in the comments by @bogey and @Cord1 at the following link on this site:
www.pinkbike.com/news/first-ride-polygon-mt-bromo-a-relatively-affordable-ebike-with-six-bar-suspension.html

Only the DW6 linkage on the Atherton bikes and the Yeti Sixfinity linkage are 6 bars. The Felt Equilink was too but Felt doesn't appear to make MTBs/suspension bikes anymore.
  • 1 0
 Thanks! At least one person gets it...
  • 8 1
 Guess that they aren't getting naild anymore? I do like the way this looks though. I hope that they are successful with it.
  • 6 1
 Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if you gonna do 6 (six!) bar linkage and end up with trunion shock driven by extender from behind the seatube, you did shitty job because it will eat shocks faster than chains...
  • 6 0
 That actually looks kind of cool, wonder how it rides
  • 5 7
 like a full susser. *sigh*
  • 4 6
 @baca262: another person who doesn't know what they are talking about but still feels like leaving a meaningless comment. *sigh*
  • 1 9
flag baca262 (Apr 9, 2022 at 8:52) (Below Threshold)
 @zombiejack33: ur a good joke mate, i posted that because i DO know what i'm talking about.

to actually notice a difference, it has to be a high pivot vs basically anything else. the only tangible difference between the designs is the amount of pedal kickback and progression which is basically minuscule.
  • 2 6
flag zombiejack33 (Apr 9, 2022 at 8:58) (Below Threshold)
 @baca262: hahaha you obviously have no idea m8 quit while your ahead
  • 1 8
flag baca262 (Apr 9, 2022 at 9:08) (Below Threshold)
 @zombiejack33: well if being a (braindead) zombie floats your boat, keep at it, your mileage may vary
  • 1 6
flag zombiejack33 (Apr 9, 2022 at 11:41) (Below Threshold)
 @baca262: hahaha so lame
  • 1 6
flag baca262 (Apr 9, 2022 at 11:50) (Below Threshold)
 @zombiejack33: yeah it indeed is, i'd do something if i were you
  • 1 7
flag zombiejack33 (Apr 9, 2022 at 12:15) (Below Threshold)
 @baca262: hahaha I’m laughing at you, it’s all I can do
  • 1 7
flag baca262 (Apr 9, 2022 at 12:19) (Below Threshold)
 @zombiejack33: sucks to be only able to laugh. what do you do after you did the toilet? remain like that all day?
  • 1 6
flag zombiejack33 (Apr 9, 2022 at 12:22) (Below Threshold)
 @baca262: wha? Calm down m8 your all worked up, move along
  • 1 7
flag baca262 (Apr 9, 2022 at 12:23) (Below Threshold)
 @zombiejack33: you should wipe your mouth, though. there's both drool and shit there.
  • 1 6
flag zombiejack33 (Apr 9, 2022 at 12:33) (Below Threshold)
 @baca262: hahaha!
  • 3 1
 I am totally onboard with seb scott, especially in this case, what is the benefit of this compared to a classic 4bar with 2 short links? Must be very very marginal. Also I do not see the point of the lower lower link(s). Normally on a 6bar upper and lower link are connected and to have it not over-confined you implement a pivot in the otherwise solid rear triangle. This seems pointless, unless there is a hidden trick, that you cannot see in the pics. Might be the case, would be interesting to know.
  • 2 1
 To add one last thing: the only 6bar, that kinda makes sence, seems to be the canyon, because there you really can decouple axle path/anti squat from leverage ratio. I understand that. All the others not so much.
  • 1 0
 @ArturoBandini: the lower and upper links are joined because the lower and upper links are at the bottom and what you call the “bottom” links. These control the wheel path. The upper link controls the shock only.
  • 1 0
 This IS actually a 4-bar system with 2 counter rotating short links and not a 6-bar as claimed by the article... The editor who wrote this article probably just didn't know any better.
  • 5 0
 POLYgon. Name checks out.
  • 1 0
 Can we please stop calling bikes "six bar" if they absolutely aren't a six-bar system? In engineering terms, this is actually a four-bar linkage. The additional fluff added on top purely controls the shock rate and thus has nothing to do with kinematics.
  • 3 0
 Didn't think I was ever going to say this about a Polygon, but so far this looks really promising!
  • 5 1
 After seeing this, an orange starts to make sense...
  • 3 0
 Only 6 bar pivots, I was hoping for 8 or 10 bar. Lol.
  • 1 0
 That skyscraper seat post almost made me start over counting the bearings on this bike
  • 2 0
 I just can't get into that paint scheme
  • 2 0
 The 18 bar suspension setup on my bike is better
  • 2 0
 Any six bar suspension... that's gonna be a no from me dawg.
  • 2 0
 I'm afraid this will flex a lot.
  • 2 0
 Nine pivots...
  • 1 0
 Damn someone from Polygon saw what I did to my 951evo
  • 1 0
 Polygon's new bike. Link in the description down below.
  • 2 0
 So many bearings..
  • 1 0
 How many suspension designs does Polygon have??!!!
  • 4 0
 'Poly' means 'many', so I'm going to say many.
  • 1 1
 The hell is that tire combo? Whoever chose that better not choose the production spec.
  • 5 0
 Those are race bikes so they are running a rear semi slick to roll fast, sea otter courses are smooth hardpack.
  • 2 0
 @goldmund: Well at least I know why now, but I still don't agree. Because I don't race and am an average rider so I should know what's best in a place I've never ridden.
  • 1 0
 @noopinion: haha!
  • 1 0
 Bearing maintenance aside, this thing looks like PITA to just keep clean.
  • 1 0
 200 quid to change bearings haha
  • 1 0
 Get more pivots..
  • 1 0
 Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!
  • 1 0
 interesting rear tire
  • 1 0
 Looks like an Intense.
  • 2 3
 This looks like a 5 bar setup. How are they getting 6?
  • 1 0
 Damn, mistakenly downvoted and PB doesn't allow changes Frown

It's a 4-bar - two short links and the chainstay (with the 'fourth' bar being the frame connecting the two short link pivots on it). Plus, for the '6-bar' design you then have the rocker and the chainstay.
  • 1 0
 In engineering terms, this is actually a four-bar system.
  • 1 3
 Nope nope nope and nope
  • 2 0
 Bearing$Bearing$Bearing$and...Bearing$







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