Trust Performance today announced the launch of its highly anticipated debut product, the Message — a trailing multi-link front suspension design for 29” and 27.5” mountain bikes. It is the first linkage front suspension design from Trust Performance and its founders, industry veterans Dave Weagle, Jason Schiers and Hap Seliga.
The message delivers 130mm of contour travel through a Trust engineered twin-tube thru-shaft damper and features a trailing multi-link design that pedals like it’s running XC suspension but descends like a full-on enduro suspension. With its full-carbon chassis, steerer and links, the Message is also competitively lightweight and resoundingly stiff. It includes a lifetime bearing warranty and boasts a 250-hour service interval. Retail price is $2,700 and is available starting today at www.trustperformance.com.
Tech Specs
- Design: Trailing multi-link front suspension
- Construction: Full carbon chassis, steerer tube and linkages with aluminum pivots
- Travel: 130mm contour travel
- Wheel Size: Fits 29” / 27.5”+ / and 27.5” wheel sizes
- Tire Clearance: 29”x 2.6” (762 x 66) max or 27.5” x 2.8” (744 x 78) max
- Rotor Size: Direct mount 180mm rotor (with adapter: 203mm)
- Suggested Bikes: 29” / 27.5”+ bikes designed around 110mm to 150mm of travel; 27.5” bikes designed around 130mm to 150mm of travel
- Weight: 1980 grams
- Damper Technology: Trust engineered twin-tube, thru-shaft damper
- Adjustments: External rebound; three-position compression adjust (open, medium, firm)
- Hub Spacing: “Boost” 15x110mm thru axle standard, or with “torque caps”
- Axle to Crown: 535mm
- Steer Tube Diameter: Tapered (1⅛ - 1½ inch)
- Price: $2,700 USD
“The Message stems from a desire to answer a question that had plagued me for quite some time: Why does the rear suspension on every bike and motorcycle I’ve owned or designed always feel better than the front?” - Founder and Technical Director, Dave Weagle
“What would happen if I designed a device that increased front end stability while riding rather than decreased it? Is the ride better? Is it worse? Or does it just not matter? After building and riding a number of prototypes, the answer became very clear — it’s a lot better; I realized that I had to start Trust Performance,” said Weagle. Trust Performance formally incorporated in 2015 and today has 25 staff members between its Salt Lake City, Utah headquarters and its own Taichung, Taiwan production plant.
The Message’s contour travel allows the axle to move up and away simultaneously from an obstacle. Capitalizing on the trailing multi-link design, the leverage ratio maximizes damper performance and provides progressive ramp and predictable handling. The function of the chassis and damper are also separated, meaning the chassis is optimized for strength and stiffness and the suspension is free to move smoothly with minimal stiction.
Because of its versatile contour travel, the Message is also suitable for a wider range of axle-to-crown lengths and travel — one model is capable of replacing 29” / 27.5”+ telescopic forks with 110mm to 150mm of travel and 27.5” telescopic forks with 130mm to 150mm of travel.
Trust Performance Co-Founder and President Jason Schiers added, “The performance of the Message allows the front end of the bike to reap the benefits that rear suspension designs have enjoyed for years — supple performance early in the stroke, supported with a progressive mid-stroke and more bottom-out resistance at the end of the travel. One of the main goals in creating the Message was centered around the ease of setup. By simply using the rider’s weight, your front suspension can be set up to optimal performance in a matter of seconds.”
Hap Seliga, Co-Founder and CEO of Trust Performance stated that the first production cycle will be limited to 2,500 pieces and shipped on a first come, first served basis. “We started small on the Message — only building a couple thousand in order to inspect each piece and fully test our supply chain, quality inspection, inventory control and fulfillment systems. The intention is to give our customers the best possible product and experience. It’s been hard to keep the Message secret for the past few years and we’re thrilled to let people know that units are hitting shelves now.”
The Message maintains caster through the range of travel, giving the rider predictable handling in a wider variety of trail conditions. The contour wheel path of the Message also lessens the feel of head angle, axle-to-crown height, and fixed offset.
The Ride Experience
The main difference of the Message is not just the full carbon construction and multi-link design — it’s the effect that it has on the ride.
Caster Effect: Modern mountain bikes use slack head angles and shorter fork offsets to increase caster measurements (mechanical trail) as a way to improve high-speed handling. Longer front centers increase stability at speed; however, this results in slower turning in tight or technical situations. Due to the unique design and axle path of the Message, the front end of the bike is now capable of providing both. The wheel behaves like a caster and provides a self-aligning dynamic in which the rider experiences greater control and more predictable steering in most conditions.
Ratio Effect: Because of the linkage design, the Message brings to front suspension what rear suspension designs have enjoyed for years — supple performance early in the stroke to provide ground-hugging traction, support through the mid-stroke and more bottom-out resistance at the end of the travel. Ratio provides the rider a progressive and predictable ramp through the travel — light resistance at the beginning, heavy resistance at the end.
Trust Effect: Trust Effect is a sensation that makes you realize you can have more control, compliance and confidence. It is the combination of Ratio and Caster effects that result in a third effect — the Trust Effect — which is a sensation that the bike pedals as though it’s running XC suspension but descends like an enduro suspension. Simply put, this Effect is a multiplier for your front end performance.
Simple Setup
The Message is designed to be incredibly easy to set up and operate. The air springs and rebound are set to the rider’s body weight — rider weight in pounds is equal to the air spring pressure in PSI (1-to-1). A 3-way mode adjust provides on-the-fly adjustments to control compression performance across three positions: open, medium and firm. The firm setting operates with a unique blow-off characteristic and there is an additional compression speed adjustment for fine tuning the medium setting.
The Message is available at www.trustperformance.com.
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