How long have you been working in the bike industry, and what other mountain bike brands have you designed suspension for?
DW: I started my first bike company (Evil Bikes) with two friends in 2000, which quickly
became e*thirteen components after I invented what has become the modern
chainguide. My main interest was suspension, and I had a breakthrough around 2001
which ultimately fueled the initial development of DELTA system, dw-link and Orion.
Later I developed a budget alternative suspension called Split Pivot that I abandoned
working on in 2013. I have worked for a lot of brands over the years, not only in
suspension but across almost all aspects of their businesses. Currently I have the
fortune to work with Ibis Cycles, Pivot Cycles, Evil Bikes, Atherton Bikes, Esker Cycles,
and RMU.
How do you stay ahead of evolving bike geometry and design trends?
DW: All of my frame geometry development is done based on real world testing
feedback with a cross section of riders. The same goes for suspension and new
nonexistent bike categories. I don’t look at what other companies are doing for
inspiration, which is likely part of the reason why the suspension, products, and frame
geometry I’ve developed is typically ahead of the curve or mimicked by others later on.
What made this project different or special from others you’ve worked on?
DW: Working with a team that is already so accomplished in other industries, but just
getting to know how the bike industry works was really rewarding. The technical and
sourcing / manufacturing side of the product development was pretty straightforward
and went as expected. But it was super fun working with the RMU on the backend
product management and product definition/value proposition framework, and then
seeing how the team applied that successfully across other business units.
If you had to describe the NIGHTTRAIN personality, how would you describe it?
DW: If I had to describe the NIGHTTRAIN I’d say it’s a surprisingly nimble
bike that is at home on the local trails but can absolutely smash bike park laps in the
same breath. It’s not a specific race bike but you sure could race it. It’s big bike capable bike and pedals way better than people would expect, so it’s kind of a jack of all trades in a way. It’s not a lightweight by any means, it’s made to last a long time, take som abuse, and it’s definitely pretty spectacular in many ways - rather than being
compromised in many ways.
What is Orion Suspension?
DW: Orion started out as a linkage suspension solution for motocross bikes, which by nature need to be supple and controlled on power. Years later, I adapted Orion in a 4-bar layout to mountain bikes that could benefit from that supple ride, geared towards long distance days in the saddle.
The 4-bar Orion really lets you stay seated in the saddle and pedal through bumps especially on those 30+ mile rides where the total distance is more the goal rather than the elapsed time.
What makes the 6-bar variant of Orion different, and what is its intended application?
DW: The next generation of Orion debuting with RMU is different. The system has been
completely reconfigured to provide support and suspension control similar to what I
would design for a World Cup DH race bike. The result is a suspension feel completely
unlike any of the past Orion layouts. It’s supple on the small bumps, but when you get
into berms and want to pop features on the trail, there’s support to work with, and as
soon as you get into the bigger square-edged hits, that support gives way to big bump
compliance. The harder you push it, the more it rewards you, which has been a
hallmark of my most successful suspension designs over the years.
The NIGHTTRAIN features a dual idler system with two chains, what was the idea
behind that?
DW: I invented the dual idler as a suspension solution to achieve a mid-pivot vertical
chainline location without the efficiency loss drawbacks of a single idler. The dual idler is a thoughtfully engineered dual chain layout that uses large odd numbered tooth primary chainrings coupled with an even number of chain links. This makes for very low chain wear and great chain life, while using 100 year old chain engineering principles to gain extremely efficient power transfer to the secondary drive. The secondary drive chainring is also quite large compared to a single idler, which makes it very efficient. It uses an even toother narrow wide chainring setup. At the same time the elevated slack side of the chain dramatically reduces pedal feedback and the effect of the rear derailleur clutch on the suspension. So there are suspension gains all over the place with this layout. It’s definitely one of those engineering solutions that at first seems to be fraught with compromise but the further you look into it the more sense it makes.
The NIGHTTRAIN uses a 6-bar flex stay version of Orion, what does that mean?
DW: The flex stay replaces the bearing style pivot that would be somewhere near the
dropout with a flexing element in the frame structure. Performance-wise compared to
the bearing pivot, the flex stay does offer the option to use frame flex to work in
conjunction with the shock spring to affect wheel rate, which is a nice tuning aid with the air shocks we use. Structurally there are some flexural stiffness tuning advantages and the layout also helps to reduce overall parts count on the bike, saving cost. That’s not to say that future designs won’t use a bearing pivot rather than a flex stay - they might, but for the NIGHTTRAIN the flex stay made the most sense.
Why don’t all bikes use flex stay designs?
DW: Not all suspension layouts lend themselves to a flex stay layout. The 6-bar Orion is
super conservative when it comes to the structural characteristics of the flex stay, so it
made a lot of sense in this application. Additionally, the the 6-bar Orion, the way that the flex stay forces can be characterized, there are some advantages over the bearing pivot for the long travel vertical shock layout. I wouldn’t say that the flex stay is a feature in and of itself, but it does offer some unique tuning and structural options in the layout we’re using on the NIGHTTRAIN and that’s why I went that direction on the design.
How do you make a 170mm bike feel playful?
DW: That’s what I do, and I’ve been doing it for a long, long time. Some people think it’s magic, some people never rode one and think it’s fake. But it’s just applied physics
mixed with a little bit of vehicle dynamics theory, spiced up a little data acquisition and
dyno testing, and topped off with a healthy dose of ride testing by some badass test
riders. Repeat that a few (hundred) times and there we have it.
