Auckland Cycle Works is all about the suspension performance.
Our unique KOLARP suspension design performs brilliantly, but doesn’t correlate with the accepted theory. This gave us the opportunity and the data to re-think the theory which influences how bicycle and motorcycle suspension systems are designed.
Because of this, Auckland Cycle Works represents a very significant moment in the mountain bike development story.
All Auckland Cycle Works bikes are protected by our own KOLARP patent. Marra is also protected by the I-Track patent.
Photo: Alexej Fedorov/Bespoked
So why is this KOLARP suspension design so special?
How techy do you want to get?
This is all about acceleration anti-squat. The dominant and accepted theory calculates the instant-centre of the chain tension and swingarm position as though it’s a triangle of forces, and then cleverly extrapolates from this, incorporating wheelbase and centre-of-gravity height, to give us a convenient percentage value to contemplate.
But it’s not a triangle, it’s a parallelogram.
If you’re designing a conventional-style suspension system, the existing anti-squat method (published 1982) roughly correlates with what is actually happening. But correlation is not causation, and we have learned that over-reliance on this flawed theory has restricted innovation. For decades.
It became clear to Gary that making the bikes was not enough. He also needed to re-write the theory for both acceleration anti-squat and braking anti-rise. This is currently being independently validated and we’ll publish details here in due course.