To increase stiffness the WTB Laserdisc Super Duty rear hub has a removable 12mm aluminium axle with a 8mm head on one end and a 15mm nut on the other. Our bike was supposed to have a 2.5in tyre up front and a 2.35in at the rear but got two 2.35s. One of the reasons for the 36.44lb overall weight is the 920g WTB Timberwolf tyres and 540g DT rims, the heaviest combo on test. The 26in Evolve DH could do with another inch but both are easily changed. As a nod to light weight, Iron Horse has fitted an Evolve XC stem but at 100mm it’s too long.
Our favourite saddle, the WTB Pure V, is bolted to a Race Face Evolve XC seatpost, and there’s a full range height adjustment. With the design there’s no need for ProPedal so none is fitted - the bike comes with a DHX Air 3.0 with only rebound and compression (boost valve) adjustment. With 160mm of rear travel this isn’t a true six and six bike but it’s extremely effective and, due to the DW Link’s three stage anti-squat, pedals extremely well but still feels compliant, whilst still retaining the capacity to deal with the big hits. Other than the colour it is similar to the 2007 model. It’s also a 2006 product, but gets a standard 20mm thru-axle, position and speed-sensitive RC2 damping. It lacks the travel adjust feature of most AM forks and actually every other fork on test, having a fixed 150mm of travel. Iron Horse hasn’t fitted an All-Mountain fork to the 6point6, instead it’s opted for a Marzocchi Z1 FR SL. Suffice to say everything is bombproof and should stay that way for the foreseeable future. The pivots are made from 7075 aluminium and feature Max-E bearings, which are made by Enduro in the USA and have 40 per cent greater load capacity. An ISCG-05 chainguide mount is machined into an oversized 83mm shell and an e.thirteen ORS chain guide is fitted.Īll the links feature 10mm pivot axles, which Iron Horse is claiming as a new standard for suspension bikes. Iron Horse says it wanted to retain Saint compatibility. It looks like the 150mm spaced rear end is borrowed off the longer-travel 7point7 and, while most of the forged parts are the same it avoids the 7point7’s thru-axle for conventional dropouts. A zero-stack headset allows for a longer and stronger head tube without the increase in stem height. There’s very little manipulation on the frame but it does have an S-shaped down tube for fork crown clearance and added strength where it’s welded to the top tube. We suspect it’s the latter, so you’re looking at just over 8lb all in. Iron Horse claims the 6point6 frame weighs 7.3lb but didn’t say if that’s with the shock or not.