The Deviate Guide is a carbon enduro bike with a gearbox and high pivot point suspension design for supple suspension and worry-free riding.

Deviate Guide need to know

• 160mm carbon enduro bike
• 27.5in wheels
• Pinion C-Line gearbox
• Metric shock (210m x 55mm)
• High pivot point suspension design with idler
• 2.7in tyre clearance
• Enduro Max bearings and twin lip wiper seals on all pivots
• Direct sales – www.deviatecycles.com
• Builds from £5,699. Frame only £3,399.

A background in developing Aston Martin race cars (Deviate Chris) combined with ten years of being an Alpine mountain bike guide (Deviate Ben) bodes well for the Deviate Guide. Technical knowledge and real world experience.  So yep, the bike is called the Guide as a reference to the founders’ background in bike guiding.

The Guide joins a select few of modern mountain bikes that use a gearbox such as the Zerode Taniwha and the Nicolai Ion GPI.

Why have they ditched the derailleur?

What’s good about gearboxes?

From a rufty-tufty point of view derailleurs can be vulnerable. They get bent. They get smashed. Derailleur drivetrains are also a pain to keep clean and lubed.

From a range point of view they’re impressive; this setup has a whopping 600% gear range (SRAM Eagle is ‘only’ 500%).

From a suspension point of view a gearbox removes weight from the rear wheel and thus improves the unsprung mass and the suspension is freer to move. With the fixed chainline it’s also possible to specify and optimise things like anti-squat (110% in this case, squat geeks) and pedal kickback.

The Deviate Guide features an idler (a small jockey wheel above the front chainring) which virtually eliminates pedal feedback. Weight placed low and central claimed to result in better handling and cornering.

The high pivot point design used on the Guide would ride terribly on a derailleur-based bike, with loads of pedal kickback. On this idler and gearbox bike the high pivot’s advantage of rearward axle path is free to do its thang (namely soak up square edged hits without loss of forward momentum).

The result should be a drivetrain that doesn’t get bent and broken and a bike that supply tracks the ground – and takes big hits too – much better than a traditional derailleur bike.

What’s bad about gearboxes?

They weigh more (although the weight is in a ‘better’ place in the bike). They cost more (although they don’t wear out or get damaged easily). The shifters are usually not very nice to use. Changing gear whilst pedalling is often impossible (although you can change gear whilst not pedalling so…)

Deviate Guide UK Build, £5,699

• Cane Creek DBAir Inline Shock
• Cane Creek Helm Forks
• ZTR Arch MK3 Wheelset160m
• Cane Creek 110 Headset
• 9point8 150mm Dropper Post
• Shimano XT Disc Brakes 180mm Rotors
• Renthal 35m 800mm Bar & 33mm Stem
• Maxxis HR2 Exo 3C TR Tyres
• Fabric Scoop Pro Team Saddle (Carbon rails)

Deviate Guide Alpine Build, £5,799

• Cane Creek DBAir CS Shock
• Cane Creek Helm Forks
• ZTR Flow MK3 Wheelset
• Cane Creek 110 Headset
• 9point8 150mm Dropper Post
• Shimano XT Brakes F: 200mm R: 180mm Rotors
• Renthal 35m 800mm Bar & 33mm Stem
• Maxxis HR2 F: Exo 3C TR R: DD 3C TR Tyres
• Fabric Scoop Pro Team Saddle (Carbon rails)

Geometry-wise the Deviate Guide isn’t anything hugely radical – 65.8° head angle, 75° seat angle, 450mm reach (Medium) – but it’s certainly not old fashioned. And anyone interested in a bike as techy as this will already be fully aware of the various ways how to change your mountain bike’s geometry.

The first batch of bikes will be shipped to customers in February 2018.