Forbidden’s much rumoured big travel rig becomes official today with the unveiling of the new Forbidden Dreadnought.
Forbidden jumped into the mountain bike scene with the Druid, a bike which blurred the lines between trail and enduro with a downhill inspired high-pivot suspension design and on-trend idler pulley.
Ever since the release of the Druid the question of “What would a longer travel Forbidden bike be like?” has been asked on many a mountain bike forum, and it was hardly surprising to see the long-travel prototype online way before release.
Named the Forbidden Dreadnought, the new bike gains additional travel over the Druid as well as geometry tweaks, but the numbers might not be as radical as some riders might be expecting. The travel on the Dreadnought is a Super Enduro ready 170mm, however, rear-wheel travel is ‘just’ 154mm, but as we saw with the Druid, Forbidden bikes tend to handle much more than their travel might suggest.
The rear wheel travels in a rearward path on a high-pivot suspension platform with enough Anti-Squat built-in to offer a stable pedalling response. Forbidden says that thanks to the idler pulley the Dreadnought offers virtually no-pedal kickback. The Rate Control Linkage suspension is designed to offer adequate support while allowing the suspension to easily absorb repetitive compressions.
On the geometry end of the design, Forbidden has been conscious to not simply make the Dreadnought longer for the sake of impressive reach figures. Instead, the Forbidden approach has been to offer a slight reach increase with a dramatic head-angle reduction. These changes along with an increase in the rear centre provide the Dreadnought with a downhill ready long wheelbase for high-speed stability while retaining a lively low-speed character.
We developed a bike that can pedal up any climb with the enduro crowd, yet it exhibits DH bike confidence on the descents. “Fear Nothing” is the mantra of this bike; fear no climb, fear no descent.
Forbidden Bikes
Forbidden Dreadnought Geometry with 170mm fork
| REACH | 440 | 462 | 484 | 506 |
| STACK | 612 | 621 | 630 | 639 |
| HORIZONTAL TOP TUBE LENGTH | 593 | 617 | 641 | 665 |
| SEAT TUBE LENGTH | 400 | 420 | 450 | 490 |
| SEAT TUBE ANGLE (EFFECTIVE) | 76 | 76 | 76 | 76 |
| SEAT TUBE ANGLE (ACTUAL) | 73.0 | 74.7 | 76.1 | 77.1 |
| HEAD TUBE LENGTH | 90 | 100 | 110 | 120 |
| HEAD TUBE ANGLE | 63.5 | 63.5 | 63.5 | 63.5 |
| FRONT CENTER | 781 | 808 | 834 | 861 |
| REAR CENTER | 422 | 436 | 450 | 464 |
| WHEELBASE | 1203 | 1244 | 1284 | 1325 |
| BB DROP | -26 | -26 | -26 | -26 |
| BB HEIGHT * | 337 | 337 | 337 | 337 |
| STAND OVER HEIGHT * | 721 | 721 | 727 | 733 |
| FORK LENGTH | 583.71 | 583.71 | 583.71 | 583.71 |
| FORK OFFSET | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
*BASED ON A 29 x 2.4 TIRE (OD 746mm)
Forbidden will offer the Dreadnought in 3 colours. A stealth black option, Deep Space 9 a deep blue fading to black or Nerds, a purple to light blue fade.
The frame-only option with Fox X2 will cost £3299. The frame with EXT Storia is £3699 or you could opt for a Push Elevensix frameset for £3899. Complete bikes start from £4899 for an SLX build to an XT and Fox equipped bike for £5999.
Forbidden Dreadnought Complete Bike SLX
- Fox Performance Float X2
- Rockshox Zeb Select+
- Shimano SLX drivetrain
- Shimano M6100 four-piston brakes.
- Shimano SLX hubs on E*thirteen rims
- E*thirteen cockpit
- Maxxis Assegai EXO+ / DHR2DD
- Price: £4899
Forbidden Dreadnought Complete Bike XT
- Fox Performance Elite Float X2
- Fox Performance Elite 38 Grip 2
- Shimano XT Drivetrain
- Shimano XT 4 piston brakes
- DT Swiss 350 hubs on E*thirteen rims.
- E*thirteen cockpit.
- Maxxis Assegai EXO+ / DHR2DD
- Price: £5999
Forbidden Dreadnought Availability
Early Feb
- Frame (EXT Storia)
- Frame (Push Elevensix)
Q2
- Frame Fox X2
- Frame (EXT Storia)
- Frame (Push Elevensix)
- Complete XT Build
Q3
- Frame Fox X2
- Frame (EXT Storia)
- Frame (Push Elevensix)
- Complete XT Build
- Complete SLX Build
For more information about the Forbidden Dreadnought visit the Forbidden website.
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Meanwhile, in the forum..
Nothing found.
Those colours, oh my…
Has everyone forgotten this?
https://singletrackmag.com/2020/03/deviate-highlander-29er-world-exclusive-review/
Don’t really see it as the same thing tbh Brant? The Deviate’s numbers all say “long travel trailbike” to me and so does all their blurb, this is longer, more travel, slacker (the Deviate’s XL is closest in wheelbase to the Forbidden’s M…) I like the looks of both but they don’t feel like they’re butting heads.
But more importantly, TEH COLOURS!1!oNE Not just the colours but the names, we’re in peak I Understood That Reference territory.
Nowt to say about the bike (other than it looks pretty nice!) but that launch video has me reminiscing about the trippy music video section from Dirt…
Agree with Northwind, I own a Highlander and its more comparable to the Druid than the Dreadnought. Rated for use with dual crown forks I believe, this Dreadnought is a beast…
Even with the 150mm linkage the Highlander is a trail bike, all be it a very capable one.
I understand that not everyone likes long-reach bikes (although at 5’8″ on a Geometron G1 with a reach of 495mm I am convinced) but I don’t understand why the seat tube grows so much on the 2 larger sizes here – no chance of sizing up at all.
Sweet. Looks boss. Shame they are so spendy, but its a complex frame in carbon.