If you associated Forme with more affordable hardtails rather than enduro race-ready rigs, you'd be forgiven, but the brand looks set to change that, showing a rather interesting looking prototype full-suspension bike at our recent Bike Live demo at Cannock.

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The bike will get 170mm of travel at either end, with an aluminium frame and 650b wheels. It's going to be called Black Rocks after the bit of Derbyshire that Forme uses to test this and other bikes.

It uses a four-bar Horst link style suspension system to deliver the rear wheel bounce, with some rather neat design touches that keep the pivot points hidden to prevent dirt ingress and also just look neat.

While this prototype has a coil shock, the bike is designed to be run with that or an air unit, with the basic curve being progressive enough to work well with both, though Forme is in the process of tweaking everything still.

In terms of geometry, nothing is set as yet, but a size large frame is going to have around a 465mm reach, which compares well with most modern enduro bikes at this travel. There's also going to be plenty of standover height - 450mm for the large - which should make sizing up easy if that's what you like. The bike rolls on 650b wheels but there's plenty of clearance for fat 2.6" tyres and mud, though not full Plus items.

While no set price or spec has been set, Forme is gunning for a SRAM Eagle and Lyrik equipped bike at around the £2,800 mark, with the possibility of cheaper or more expensive models as well. Forme is also working on a shorter travel 29er version too.

Either way, it looks like a rather interesting new entry into the mid-budget enduro bike world and we'll update this piece when we have more details. In the meantime, check out the current Forme range below.

• formebikes.co.uk

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