Liteville 301

After a bit of a bike transport failure on the weekend I was left without a ride for the 2^nd round of the National Gravity Enduro Series. However I did manage to get to the brewery in time to ask around for a spare ride, If you don’t ask you’ll never know right? Lo and behold fifteen minutes later a guy with his arm in a sling asked me if i wanted to use his ride for the weekend.

After talking to Krischan from http://www.eightyonespices.com.au/

I managed to get a ride on a Liteville 301 complete with an outstanding spec.

For me the frame was setup with a 27.5″ wheel and fork, combined with a rear setup with a 26″ wheel which gave the bike a very very snappy feeling when throwing it into corners. This is called scaled sizing so larger riders would have a 29″ front and 27.5″ rear end.

With only having a few minutes in the carpark before the race to adjust the shock settings I was straight into a fourty minute climb to the race start, lucky for me Krischan is almost the same size as me so we didn’t there wasn’t too much to change in the way of setup. Climbing the mountain was a breeze, I notice the most minimal amount of bob while seated with atouch more bob while standing on the pedals.

Descending, the bike felt almost bottomless, I did make the mistake of doing the first few runs with the shock in trail mode which made me think the bike felt a touch harsh, but that was my fault not knowing where all the buttons were on the bike. Once I had the shock in descend mode it became a different creature,the bike felt completely solid with endless travel which you could sprint effortlessly at a snap. Some bikes suck up the first amount of pressure when you put the hammer down, this wasn’t the case with this frameset.

When traversing off camber trail littered with roots the rear end smoothed them out without a bother.

I didnt get a chance to measure the angles but it felt very comfortable as soon as I sat on it.

according to the website the Head angle was 66.5 and the seat tube angle is 74.5 which is very similar to my personal all mountain ride.

All in all I was only on the bike for close to an hour which isn’t really enough time to give a full indepth review.

What it did do though, was get me onto the top step of the podium

I would definately consider building up one of these frame if i needed a new gravity enduro race / all mountain / trail / machine. The liteville 301 looks clean and straight and there’s not an overload of pivots which could clog with mud, from a distance you could even mistake it for a hard tail.

The frame:

The Liteville 301 frame does not look very much different from a conventional full-suspension MTB frame where the shock is placed parallel to and under the top tube. The main difference is, that the shock is not mounted with the front connected to the frame, but instead with the rear connected to the connection of top tube and seat tube of the main triangle. This means, that all forces are to be introduced into the frame as softly as possible for frame and shock. The unique and patented Neutral Center Path (NCP) provides non-length changing and uninterrupted gear cable routing resulting in the longest cable service intervals ever seen by mankind.

The suspension system:

Apart from eliminating the much feared suspension bob and providing best pedalling efficiency, the 301 was also able to provide superior small bump compliance and optimal travel usage.

To design such a suspension Liteville first had to fully understand the cause of bobbing. To eliminate this cause, the best thing is to work on a smooth pedalling stroke – you either have it or you need to practice it. Secondly – and this is the critical cause – the chain torque, brought into the system by the rider, also causes bobbing. However, through optimum positioning of the 4 pivots of the rear triangle (of major importance is the position of the rocker link) the chain torque introduced into the system by the rider, can be completely uncoupled from the movement of the rear triangle.

TCL (Tuned Chainstay Length).

Liteville is world-wide the first frame manufacturer to introduce 6(!) different chainstay lengths that lengthen or shorten in length depending on your frame size. Only like this, it is possible for all riders, tall or short, to have the same leverage ratios and are able to experience the same riding characteristics.

But that’s not all. In order to provide the smaller riders (frame lengths XS and S) with a low stand over height and improved rider manoeuvrability, all S and XS frames have a 15mm and 30mm lower top tube respectively.

In order to provide the exact same handling characteristics, Liteville even goes to the extend of equipping the frame length XS with extra short 405mm chain stays for a 24” rear wheel. Thanks to the 480mm long, 34.9mm large diameter seat post, the seat can always be raised to the required height.

for more information visit http://www.eightyonespices.com.au/#!litville/crxw