VHP12 Concept Bike

Written By Giacomo Großehagenbrock

How we made it

We took our standard VHP platform frame and made minor changes; we 3D printed a shock mount and mounted a 185x47,5 Fox DPS Shock. We installed a Fox 34 with 130mm travel in the front and added light XC wheels and tires. 

The resulting Geometry is very close to what we wanted, and only the Seatangle turned out to be slightly too steep. But we could easily correct that by maxing out the saddle rails.

  • Reach: 495mm (Rotating our regular 480 Reach Frame to fit a short travel Fork results in a 15mm gain of Reach)

  • Headtube angle: 65,5° (Bring it on. This is what we wanted)

  • BB-drop: 44mm (Perfect low but still good claerance to pedal with no pedal strikes)

  • Seattube Angle: 78,9° (It was good for quick afternoon laps but for XC and Tour we´d prefer 77°)

We also added a 16T Printed Steel Idler Pulley to improve drag. The bike's weight is 13,5 kg, which is pretty good as the main frame is ready for Downhill.

How it feels

Interestingly, the result of the experiment was excellent; the bike is super playable and stable. Like all the VHP family bikes, it's perfect on the uphills, but since it's an XC configuration, it flies up like a charm. During fast and bumpy descends VHP12 feels super stable as for 120mm of travel; of course, it's not as stable as an enduro bike. But trust us, you could easily ride all trails in your local bike park on this thing. On the jumps, the bike feels very confident and light; you can easily throw whips and other tricks.

What we love about it

Since there is only 120mm of travel, you feel everything is more intense and direct. Honestly, we loved this. In this way, you are having more fun on the bike. The VHP12 is a very agile and fun ride; it's also a perfect bike to take you to the peak. It climbs well and offers tons of traction. We would say that this bike could easily be your daily ride; it doesn't matter if you are a freerider, downhill racer, or an uphill beast.

Right now, VHP12 is just a fun project, but maybe we will bring something like this to the market. Would you like to give a bike like this a try?

Giacomo Großehagenbrock
Previous

Kavenz gearbox prototype