THE CLAYMORE
The Claymore was a medieval Scottish two-handed great sword. Extremely long - typically the blade was over 140cm in length - the Claymore was more than merely a sword: it was a symbol of strength and martial prowess, and an unmistakable link to the rugged Scottish Highlands for whoever bore it.
Deviate’s Claymore is the same, born in the rocks and roots of the Scottish Highlands, and the weapon of choice for the most brutal terrain anywhere in the world. Whether you get your kicks from plummeting down the nastiest, root strewn drops, or hurtling between the tapes so fast things get blurry around the edges, the Claymore is the bike for you.
Speed without sacrifice
We wanted the Claymore to be the best handling, long-travel enduro bike out there - and we think we’ve succeeded. It’s the perfect combination of blindingly fast on the straights, slot-car accurate in the corners and capable of mixing it up with trail bikes on the ups.
The design brief was to create an enduro bike capable of winning on the toughest of enduro stages, with pedal performance to match a trail bike and an element of playfulness for those days when you’re not between the tape.
High Pivot Point
To achieve this seemingly impossible brief, we once again turned to a high pivot point suspension system. The key feature of a high pivot suspension system, is its unique ability - thanks to the rearward axle path - to smooth out the nastiest of trails, and to stabilise the bike when it’s deep in the suspension stroke. Couple this with a precisely placed chain idler to minimise suspension-induced kickback and control anti-squat (aka pedal induced bob), and you have a pretty magical suspension system.
Deviate has been designing high pivot point bikes since 2016 - flying the flag of what back then was a niche trend in suspension design. Forward to 2022 and it flatters us to see so many high pivot bikes achieving success at the highest level. Our extensive experience designing nothing but high pivots means we can confidently claim that our system is the most robust and well engineered out there.
Geometry
We designed the Claymore to be confidence inspiring no matter what the terrain.
The unique kinematics of a high pivot point design maintains chassis stability and geometry under heavy braking. This allows our designers to achieve stability and straight line speed while maintaining sensible geometry.
Of course, the head-angle is slack, the reach is long and we’ve also made the Claymore’s seat tube steep, to help with climbing. But it’s not too steep; not too slack; not too long. Not every enduro track or secret trail is the same, so we’ve designed the Claymore to hit the sweet spot where flat-out stability and snake-like agility meet.
If you like to make the world a blur between the tapes on a flat out alpine enduro track, or if the steepest, gnarliest tightest terrain is more your thing, this is the bike for you.
Component Standards
