For years, the jump from 4" to 5" of travel in the Ventana line was stout. On one hand you had the cult classic, El Saltamontes, a stable, nimble trail bike. On the other you had X-5, a burly all-mountain machine named for the X-brace design which anchored the frame. Great if you needed the burly or the standover clearance, but those of us looking to build up a lightweight Ventana 5" trail bike typically did so by customizing an El Salt with 5" rockers. Ventana watched the trend, took copious notes, and responded by introducing El Ciclón, a burly -- yet respectably lightweight -- 5.5" travel trail machine ready to tear up some singletrack. Ventana dissected the data on the 5" El Salt customizations and optimized the geometry for aggressive trail riding and 140mm forks. El Ciclón employs a low 2.5 to 1 compression ratio design to offer its five inches of plush, bob-free rear travel in a non-Horst linkage, non-VPP suspension design obsessively crafted by Ventana to provide an inspiring ride. El Ciclón provides a stable pedaling platform by maximizing lateral stiffness allowing you to hold higher, tighter lines on off-camber terrain, and jump and slide more predictably by keeping your rear wheel in the same plane as your front triangle instead of flexing outward and giving the tire enough outward bite to throw you out of your groove. Ventana’s four-bar linkage uses the shortest rocker possible to provide such incredible stiffness. The shortened rocker creates a more triangulated rear triangle design than the parallelogram-like design of the Horst link. This compactness of the rear triangle minimizes lateral flex and the detrimental effects such flex has onto the rear suspension. And if you’re a glutton for stiffness, you can upgrade your El Ciclón to quad bearings to further reinforce the pedaling platform, making the frame track like a hardtail, but still deliver 5.5” of glorious travel. Like all Ventana frames, El Ciclón is built with proprietary butted and ovalized 6061-T6 aluminum tubing. Because of it's superb balance between burly and . And Ventana doesn't sacrifice the least bit of toughness in El Ciclón: Its internally butted BB, one piece, CNC machined bottom bracket shell and main pivot, and internally butted headtube with wrap-around gusseting are designed specifically to provide stiffness and durability for the long haul. The frame’s robust yet lightweight construction and spacious clearance for 2.4” tires make it extremely versatile. If you are a larger or aggressive rider, we recommend that you opt for a quad bearing set to further enhance El Ciclón's lateral stiffness and ensure prolonged bearing life. El Ciclón comes stock with a Fox Float RP23 (View our set-up video). Ventana finishes the frame with a handcrafted stainless steel headbadge proudly displaying the Ventana "V" with the year of their inception, 1988. Ventana El Ciclón is a disc-specific frame that uses double-sealed, oversized cartridge bearings at the pivot points. It has 10mm bearing axles at minor pivots, 15mm bearing axles at the main and tower pivot points and rebuildable 17-4 bearing axles at the upper pivot points. It requires the use of a 1-3/8" (34.9mm) traditional top pull front derailleur, International Standard disc brake mount and a 27.2mm seatpost. It has vertically slotted dropouts with a CNC-machined replaceable derailleur hanger. Electric Superdust or Red Metallic is the stock color option for the El Ciclón -- or, for an upcharge of $150 and a short wait, it is available in any of Ventana’s luscious powdercoats – Electric Blue Metallic, Gloss Black, Gloss White, Grinch Green, Army Green, Cosmic Grey and Cosmic Orange.
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configure/buy El Ciclón
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