Mountain Bike Action Magazine has called the Haro Sonix featuring patented Virtual Link Suspension the "one bike". Mountain Bike Magazine said it "goes down as smoothly as your favorite beer". And if that wasn't enough, Mountain Biking Magazine liked the bike so much, they voted it their 2006 Cross-Country Bike of the Year. Pretty bold statements from folks who make a living testing all the latest and greatest bikes.

What makes this bike good enough to win praise from some of the harshest critics? That's simple; it's all about the ride. Whether you choose a 120mm-travel Sonix or a 160mm-travel Xeon, each bike delivers confidence-inspiring performance without compromises. There are a lot of different full-suspension bike choices on the market, each one full of its own hype about the way the bike performs. The difference between us and them is the Virtual Link hype is real. Once you ride one, you'll see that the Sonix and Xeon will devour whatever your local trails choose to dish out.

At first glimpse, the Virtual Link design may seem complex and difficult to comprehend how it works. Mountain Bike Action's Richard Cunningham provided an excellent description in their June 2006 issue:

"Haro's Virtual Link is a new-school suspension design. The linkage utilizes acceleration at the rear tire's contact patch to counter downward thrusts at the crankset to prevent suspension bob. The aluminum chassis looks conventional in profile, but this is an illusion. The bottom bracket is fixed to the swingarm, which eliminates chain tension from the suspension equation. The lower link actually pivots around the bottom bracket shell, and the upper link is housed inside a tunnel in the frame where the shock passes through the seat tube. The novel suspension design is engineered to allow the suspension to operate freely in the second half of its travel while providing a firm pedaling platform in the initial stage of compression."

In a nutshell, chain growth causes suspension bob. Since there isn't a pivot between the bottom bracket and the rear axle, the Virtual Link's chain doesn't grow. With chain growth being physically impossible, the Virtual Link accelerates and climbs similar to a hardtail in the first half of its travel. The Virtual Link design is the elusive solution to pedal kickback that everyone has been looking for. On descents and hard hits, the force applied to the rear wheel will kick the platform into the second half of travel, allowing the Virtual Link's rear suspension to become fully active and suck up the bumps.

All of this techno mumbo-jumbo results in a bike that will help you climb stronger, descend faster, and clean sections of trail you once thought were impossible. There's no learning curve with this bike; it's easy to ride and as comfortable as your favorite pair of blue jeans. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a seasoned dirt veteran, when you feel more confident on your bike, you'll have more fun on the trail. It's all about the ride.



1. They are incredibly efficient climbers. Why? There is no pivot between the bottom bracket and rear axle; they are in the same structure. With the design of the Virtual Link, we can design a system where there is no pedal feedback or pedal bob, no chain stretch issues associated an axle path that effectively lengthens or decreases the length of the chainstay as the suspension moves through its stroke. The rear swingarm is the same structure you would find on a hardtail – with the exception of being attached to the main frame with a set of links that provide 120mm or 160mm of travel, depending on the model. So, as you climb, your effort is going into getting you up the hill instead of over an obstacle. The bike gets over the obstacle for you without robbing you of the power you so dearly need.

2. They are incredible descenders. Why? Again, because of the same reasons why they climb so well, Virtual Link bikes descend equally well. The suspension is totally active over bumps while you can apply the brakes and turn the cranks over to keep up your speed. As you descend and flow through rocks, brake bumps, stutter bumps, potholes (someone might want to ride on the road to get to the trail), the bike's suspension is working to isolate the rider from the bumps. And because the chainstay length (hence, the chain) never gets longer or shorter, applying the brakes will only slow the bike down. Braking does not cause the rear of the bike to jack up. You can apply power to the pedals, brake and motor through the rough stuff like you can't on any other suspension design.

3. They are incredibly well balanced. Why? The Virtual Link frames were designed to be nimble trail bikes. By having a fairly aggressive head angle combined with 100mm and 140mm travel forks and short chainstays, Virtual Link bikes will carve single track like a slot car. To achieve this feeling, we designed the Virtual Link frames with the overall goal of balanced suspension. Because the rider's weight is more biased to the rear of the bike, it makes sense to design a frame with more travel in the rear of the bike than in the front. This gives the rider a much more balanced suspension feel. A quick ride on any of the Virtual Link bikes at one of our demo locations will confirm this balanced suspension concept.

4. They are light. At about 28 lbs for a Sonix VL120 and 32 lbs for a Xeon VL160 (give or take; weights will vary by size and model), you won't find a better performance to weight ratio.

5. They are darn fun to ride. Because you don't have to think about how you want to finesse your bike through a particular section, you can focus more on having fun riding.