Photo: Spot

While cruising the Outerbike venue I spotted a seductive-looking carbon frame with smooth lines, an understated but attractive paint scheme, and snappy-looking geometry from none other than Spot Bikes.

The Mayhem 29er is a new model that Spot will be launching at Sea Otter. Unfortunately, they only had one prototype on display at Outerbike and it wasn’t available to ride. Still, I had to stop and snap a few photos.

The Mayhem is the little brother of the Rollik, offering a more trail-oriented 130mm of suspension travel front and rear vs. the 140/150 on the Rollik. The head tube angle measures 66.7 degrees. Click over to Spot’s website for full geo and spec information.

The model I spotted featured 29er wheels (the Rollik currently offers 27.5″ wheels) with a set of aggressive treads, but according to the Spot website, “We also offer the Mayhem in a 27.5+ size for those who want more rubber on the dirt. Overall, both Mayhems offer some elegant engineering solutions that meet the needs of modern riders.” This makes it sound like Spot will eventually have wheel size-specific frame options and that one Mayhem frame will NOT be able to switch between wheel sizes. But exactly how this will play out, we’ll have to wait and see. Currently only the 29er model is listed on Spot’s website.

Update 04/19/17: According to Spot, “the Mayhem uses the same frame for 29×2.35″ and 27.5×2.8″.”

The most unique part of Spot’s full suspension offerings is their Living Link leaf spring near the bottom bracket. Spot provides a lengthy explanation of the Living Link on their website, but here’s the gist of it:

The Living Link™ system re-imagines and reinvents full-suspension technology to provide riders with multiple benefits over conventional systems. We accomplish this by replacing the standard, maintenance-prone cartridge bearings with a highly-developed composite leaf spring. We pair it with a finely-tuned air shock, which works in conjunction with the leaf spring, to harness the advantages of both. The Living Link™ leaf spring is both laterally stiff and vertically dynamic, providing a progressive flex through its range of motion. The result is a leap forward in bike handling, durability, longevity and pure fun.

While some of the claims like durability and longevity can only be tested over the long term, having ridden Spot’s leaf spring on the Rollik, I can safely say that it rides pretty dang good. At some point, I’d love to put the Living Link to a long-term test.

Prices will start at $3,200 for a frame+shock, with completes offered at $7,000 and $8,700.

Last updated at 11:20am MDT on 04/19/17 by Greg Heil.