We have been waiting for this moment for quite some time. After a few years spent on developing of our first full suspension frame the journey is slowly coming to an end.
As you may know, our company is based on the north shore of Poland with loads of big cliffs, hills and amazing riding spots. Every freerider will feel at home here, as long as he is prepared for some pedaling. That is why most people here, including NS employees, own a light freeride bike. The owner of NS Bikes - Szymon Kobyliński is no stranger to downhill and freeride too. He had been competing successfully in Polish national downhill championships, taking the podium several times. So for us it was a very natural step to branch out of the dirt-street scene into the freeriding scene, but we didn't want to take any shortcuts, which is why everything has taken so long.
Our whole NS design and test team has been focusing lately on developing the freeride version of NS Bikes Soda. Our aim was to build a bike that could be best described as a new-school freerider which is light and agile enough for technical tricks, yet stable enough for fast, big lines. And yes it also has to go uphill so that we could get to our favorite lines that are deep in the heart of the forest. We think we achieved our goal, and if all goes well, the frame will soon be going into production.
One of the things that we decided at the beginning of the project is that we don't want to push any crazy new suspension design solutions just for the sake of having something to brag about. We all know that companies love to come up with designs that are “breakthrough”, just so they can say that they invented some revolutionary system. But we know from our own experience, that so many of these revolutions actually work pretty bad, and they are in the bikes ONLY to create marketing buzz. Instead we decided to take a pretty standard system, but instead focus on fine tuning it to achieve a great and reliable bike.
With proper set up this Soda FR can be used in extreme enduro marathons and trail riding. If you decide to go big you can swap the light fork, suspension seatpost and other light components for something stronger and shred away. And thanks to two suspension and two chainstay settings, the bike can be transformed from a flickable trick bike into a more traditional, heavy duty, stable freeride machine.
The project could not been completed without the help of our test riders. Our local star - Blaady was one of the guys to get involved in the testing. His prototype Soda, having previously been tested for many months in enduro-trail conditions by the boss, went on to take a beating in the toughest freeriding conditions. North shores, huge drops, fast single tracks, technical downhill sections. The Soda passed them all in flying colors.
Check out this short edit by Digital Kebab made during the testing.
A few words from Blaady himself: “The bike is an ideal option for new school freeriders who want a flickable bike on which you can do all the biggest moves, and at the same time pedal to your favourite riding spot. One of the most noticeable things is how easy it is to launch it on jumps. During the testing I rode all my favourite lines on which I normally have to pedal like crazy to clear them on my old bike. On the Soda, even when I take it easy, I can clear everything without even breaking a sweat. So knowing that the bike flies like a dream, in the short travel / short chainstay mode, I was worried about fast gnarly downhill runs. However here the Soda proved to be totally at home. You just have to adjust a few bolts and the bike becomes stable and plush. We still have a few minor issues to iron out, but I'm confident that this bike will be a great sucess in the comming season.”
The Soda in slopestyle and freeride versions will be offered as frames and complete bikes. The final configurations, colors and prices will be presented at the Eurobike trade show this year.
NS Bikes are distributed in Canada by
Lamacycles. For more information visit our official
NSBikes.com website and our
NS Bikes facebook profile.
peace
so not cute. why chrome??
