Polygon Square One ride like nothing

"Welcome. Here’s a bike. It has 180mm of travel. Now go climb a trail that many locals haven’t climbed from the bottom because it’s so steep, and there’s an easier way to do it." That was the way we were greeted once we made it out to Westfir, Oregon for the launch of Polygon’s latest bike. To this point, Polygon had kept their cards very close to their chest. We knew that we were there to ride a new enduro bike, but honestly had no idea what to expect. I for sure wasn’t expecting to start off the day climbing more than 2,000 feet straight up on a bike that technically has more travel than some DH bikes.

Then there was the setup. Typically on these launches, the companies use precise measurements and fuss over the details to make sure the bikes are perfectly dialed in. Not here. Instead, after starting with a rough baseline sag, NAILD founder and industry veteran Darrell Voss watched us accelerate from a standstill, both sitting and standing, then watched as we rode over a square-edged concrete block. Without saying anything else, we were sent out to climb the Alpine from the bottom which at least according to Strava has sustained sections of climb with 15% grade all the way up to 23%. I mentioned this bike has 180mm of travel and no form of a lockout, pedal platform lever, or travel adjust, right? Oh, and our tires were pumped up to a ridiculous level as well.

Figuring there had to be a method to the madness, we set off a few riders at a time wondering what the hell we were getting ourselves into…

What Goes Up, Can’t Wait to go Down

It wasn’t long into the ride before I was able to get over the initial shock to my system of blasting straight up with no warm-up, and started to think about the bike. Yes, I was hurting, but most of it had nothing to do with the bike. Based on how well it was climbing the steep slopes, it was clear that the Polygon Square One is built for climbing. With no discernible pedal bob whatsoever, the bike also managed to make good on that mythical ability to soak up bumps while traveling uphill, while staying completely efficient, and offering loads of traction at the same time. It was definitely a bit of work to keep the front end from wandering thanks to the super wide bars, short stem, and 180mm fork, but the angles while climbing seemed steeper than comparable bikes. Tight switchbacks were dispatched with ease, and in spite of the rock-hard tire pressures, very rarely was I left wanting for traction.

The reason for the high tire pressures turned out to be that Darrell wanted to show that the Polygon wasn’t relying on low pressures to aid in grip or to provide a smooth ride, somehow compensating for poor suspension design. After completing the first ride on pressures almost double what I would normally ride and experiencing Darrell’s point, I went back to more normal pressures as the riding got loose and slippery as storms moved in.

Ground Tracing Devices

As good as the bike is when pointed uphill, it left me a bit unprepared for what would transpire as things started to point downward. Without skipping a beat, the Square One morphs into the most ground hugging enduro bike I’ve ever thrown a leg over. It’s this characteristic that leads Darrell to claim, “we don’t build suspension systems, we’re building ground tracing devices.” That phrase, “ground tracing device,” is probably the best way to picture what riding the Square One feels like. It’s almost as if the rider is suspended in the same position in space, and the two wheels are just perfectly tracking over the ground – never leaving it, or getting hung up, just in a state of nearly perfect flow.

Clearly, Polygon and NAILD are onto something – though we wouldn’t find out the specifics until after we completed two more rides. Ride number two for the day had us shuttling up to an upper point on Alpine, only to find deep snow preventing us from reaching the drop-off point. So we got out and pushed. It was about 1.5-2 miles before we found a rideable trail but then it was all smiles as we turned onto Tire Mountain and found glorious sunshine and an extended loamy descent. Day two found us in much less desirable conditions as storms had moved in overnight, knocking out power to Westfir and bringing in soaking rains in the process. That rain turned to snow as we climbed in the van towards the drop-off point for Heckletooth, but as soon as we started down the rocky section of the trail, the weather started to improve. A bit more technical than the other trails we had ridden, Heckletooth dropped out at the bottom where we traversed over to a brutally steep road climb nicknamed “the wall.” The climb was worth it though as we were rewarded with a fast and fun descent down Aubrey Mountain.

NAILD x Polygon

A collaboration between NAILD and Polygon, the wheels were set in motion for the bike in 2010 when Darrell met Zendy Renan, the Product Development Manager for Polygon Bikes. Polygon might be a relatively new name to many riders in the U.S., but the Indonesian company has been building bikes since 1990 out of their own factory in Surabaya. What started as contract manufacturing for other brands grew into the addition of their own brand Polygon in 1992/93. Selling mostly to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, Polygon went international in 2010, though domestic sales are still their main business. In 2012 Polygon started selling into the U.S. through a handful of dealers – but also through Amazon as well (this bike will also be available through Amazon later this year). Wanting to expand into other categories, Zendy knew they had to start from scratch – and true to the meaning of their name, they would have to look at it from all sides. Fortunately, Darrell and Zendy saw eye to eye in the desire to create bikes that make riders happy and “make their life simpler, so they can have a better experience.”

R3ACT-2Play

Calling it a four bar suspension system (slider, slider housing/swingarm, main link, and frame member making the four bars), Darrell is quick to point out that it’s not like any other four bar system out there. There’s the obvious addition of the frame slider hidden behind the bottom bracket, but more importantly it has to do with the kinematics. Called the R3ACT-2Play suspension system, the 3 refers to Newton’s third law – every action has an opposite but equal reaction. Focusing on the acceleration of mass, body mechanics, and the inertia forces acting on the frame, Darrell claims that “everyone looking at kinematics is looking at the wrong loads. They should be focused on the rider mass, not the mass of the bike.”

Accurate Geometry

When it comes to the geometry, that’s another sticking point for Darrell. Citing the propensity for companies to provide geometry numbers at showroom (how the bike sits without a rider) and not at sag, Darrell comments that “the problem with our industry is that we’re giving bunk data.” Due to the bike’s desire to keep the same angles when climbing or descending, the Square One is said to have a 66° head tube angle at any time, along with a 73.5° effective seat tube angle, and 425mm chainstays. Given the room in front of the rear tire, Darrell says they could go even shorter with the stays, but were looking for the ideal performance and weight balance. Part of the seat tube angle equation is a custom KS dropper post with a 15mm offset head. This gets the seat back far enough while providing enough clearance for the rear wheel and fender against the seat tube at full compression. Looking at the frame with the truncated seat tube, I thought for sure I wouldn’t be able to run the full dropper post – but all the frames have been built to allow each dropper to be slammed to the seat collar. Coupled with a 125mm dropper for the medium I was on (150mm for L & XL), and there was plenty of room for the full extension.

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At the end of the day, the Polygon Square one was honestly unlike anything I’ve ever ridden. The closest thing I could think of would be the Missing Link suspension system from Tantrum, but it’s not really a fair comparison given the Polygon’s massive amounts of travel. As usual, two days of riding hardly gives an impression worthy of a full review, but first impressions are usually pretty indicative of the final results. I left the camp still struggling to comprehend the thought of a 180mm travel bike as your “one” bike, but the experience indicated that you totally could. It climbs as well as anything out there, it snaps out of corners with ease, and the suspension goes from efficient to ridiculously plush almost telepathically. There’s really no reason to want any less travel out of an all mountain/Enduro bike. I wouldn’t be surprised to see shorter travel R3ACT-2Play bikes pop up in the future, but the climbing abilities of the Square One will have riders considering far more travel than they typically would given the circumstances. The fact of the matter is that we climbed some of the steepest stuff I’m likely to encounter on most rides, and I never wished I had a different bike. Different legs, yes. But different bike? Not at all. The Square one is a bike that will leave you shaking your head – and grinning ear to ear after you blast back into town from the top of the mountain.

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