Those familiar with the Australian taxation system will know all about PAYG. But you probably haven’t heard of the far less taxing PYGA!
Pyga are a South African brand, and at the helm is none other than Patrick Morewood, the founder of Morewood Bikes. While Pat and the brand that bears his name have parted ways, he’s put his considerable engineering talent (and knowledge as an elite level DH racer) into an all-new brand.
As you’d expect with a racer designing the bike (and if you know anything about Morewood’s heritage), the Pyga range is about function, not form. That’s not to say these aren’t good looking bikes, but there’s a real purposefulness about them – the dual suspension frames have full alloy construction, sensible cable routing, no window dressing. Given that some of the Flow team started riding Morewood bikes back in 2004, it’s fair to say we’ve got a soft spot for Patrick Morewood’s handiwork.
But while Morewood bikes were always built around a basic single pivot suspension system, the Pyga range uses a ‘floating shock’ style linkage, which has commonalities with the Trek Full Floater system or the BH bikes we’ve been riding lately. This system offers a lot of control over the shock rate, as well as reducing stresses on the mainframe. It all looks robust, especially the pivot nearest the brake mount, which uses double row bearings to add stiffness to this critical area which cops a lot of force under braking.
The same suspension configuration is found across the whole Pyga range which features the most logical naming system in the mountain bike world. The range consists of the OneTen29 (110mm travel, 29er), the OneTwenty650 and this bike, the OneForty650. $2 if you guess how much travel it has and what size wheels it uses.
Geometry is built around running a slightly longer travel fork (150-160mm), to provide the exact kind of numbers we like to see on this style of bike – 67-degree head angle, 600mm top tube (medium frame) and 430mm chain stays. Our test bike is the importer’s personal ride, so the spec is a mixed bag, but given the Pygas are only available as a frame only in Oz, we’re not going to worry about the parts too much. Safe to say, it’s built up just as we’d want it.
There’ll be a full review coming soon. In the meantime, have a read of a review we did recently of one of Patrick Morewood’s other creations, designed initially when he was still involved at Morewood bikes.