In this video, the Frameworks team discusses their offseason testing of a floating brake arm on their downhill bikes, a project developed in collaboration with Faction Bike Studio. The goal was to experiment with different anti-rise values—a metric that affects how the suspension behaves under braking—while isolating this variable to see how it impacts performance. Their standard setup runs around 72% anti-rise, but the floating brake arm allows for quick adjustments between 50%, 70%, 90%, and 110% using a 6-bar linkage clamped to the seat tube. This enables testing without altering other suspension settings, giving them a clean comparison across runs.
The video breaks down the effects of anti-rise on ride feel: lower anti-rise values keep suspension more active during braking but can pitch the rider forward, while higher values make the bike squat more, offering a stiffer feel and a more defensive geometry. The team notes that higher anti-rise might suit advanced riders who brake hard and late, while lower values benefit riders who tend to drag their brakes or ride flatter terrain. Different track conditions also influence which setting feels best—steep and rough favors higher anti-rise, while flatter, choppy tracks benefit from more active suspension.
Ultimately, the floating brake arm isn’t intended for racing use, but as a tool to learn and possibly inform future frame design. The Frameworks team emphasizes the importance of finding the right balance of geometry, suspension feel, and rider preferences, with no one-size-fits-all answer. Special thanks go to Faction for engineering the system and Adam Proce for machining the parts, highlighting the collaborative effort behind the experiment.