Throwback Thursday: 13 Mountain Bikes That Used Two Rear Shocks

Pinkbike recently published a "Throwback Thursday" feature, highlighting 13 mountain bike designs that incorporated dual rear shock absorbers. The article, a retrospective on a niche design trend, showcased various manufacturers and their attempts at achieving enhanced suspension performance through this unconventional configuration, primarily from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

This piece matters as it revisits a period of intense experimentation in mountain bike suspension design, predating the widespread adoption of refined single-shock, linkage-driven systems. These dual-shock concepts, often complex and heavy, represent a fascinating evolutionary dead-end, illustrating the industry's relentless pursuit of greater travel and control before modern damping and kinematic principles became fully understood and optimized. It underscores the iterative nature of engineering progress in the sport.

Ultimately, Pinkbike's nostalgic look reminds us that not every innovation is a step forward, but every experiment contributes to the eventual refinement of what works. Sometimes, two shocks are simply one too many.