One of our core philosophies is that everyone who rides our bikes should experience a similar ride characteristic, regardless of your size or stature. To this end, we have put extra effort into our geometry and sizing and one of the major contributing factors behind a bike’s overall ride feel is its weight balance. The term ‘weight balance’ refers to the relationship between the rear-center and the front-center, and the resultant position of the rider’s center of gravity between the tire contact patches. How each tire is weighted, directly affects the grip characteristics of the bike. 

This weight distribution will also have a profound effect on both the [bike’s] agility and its stability. Many brands talk about their bikes having “balanced geometry”, yet they only use a single rear-center (chainstay) measurement across all frame sizes. If the rear-center remains constant with each size while front-center change, then it stands to reason that each size [of bike] will see a different weight distribution and therefore a different ride characteristic. At Forbidden, in an effort to ensure a consistent ride experience across all sizes, we employ a scaled rear-center measurement for each individual frame size.