Review: Polygon Collosus T8 trail bike
The Polygon Collosus T8 is a trail bike with 140mm of travel and 27.5″ wheels.
The Lowdown: Polygon Collosus T8
Polygon is not a household name in the U.S. when it comes to bike brands, but they are working hard to change that. Perhaps most noted is Polygon’s United Ride (UR) Team featuring such stars as Mick Hannah, Tracey Hannah, Andrew Neethling, Fabien Cousinie, EWS regular Jamie Nicholl, slopestyle rider Sam Reynolds and recently added freerider Kurt Sorge.
Polygon’s United Ride (UR) Team featuring such stars as Mick Hannah, Tracey Hannah, Andrew Neethling, Fabien Cousinie, EWS regular Jamie Nicholl and more.
Polygon is an Indonesian brand that does much of their own manufacturing, assembly and distribution and builds many different types of bikes besides mountain bikes. Overseas their bikes have been available for many years. You can add Polygon to the ever growing list of bike brands that are selling their bikes direct to the consumer via their website. Their US website currently features four full suspension mountain bikes, a hardtail and a cyclocross bike but they will be expanding their offerings to include mtb models as well as carbon road bikes. By concentrating on high-end bikes first, they are relying on the shopper to have a bit of knowledge about what kind of bike they are looking for. Bikes are delivered direct to the buyer’s door step and are about 90% assembled for the most part. Many questions about the buying process can be answered in the FAQ section of Polygon’s website. To help ease the online buyer’s mind, Polygon gives the buyer a 30 day “Ride & Decide” money back guarantee.
We have been long-term testing the Polygon Collosus T8, an all-mountain trail oriented bike that features a full carbon monocoque mainframe and triangulated rear with enduro-oriented geometry. The bike rolls on 27.5″ wheels and the FS3 (floating suspension) design delivers 140mm of travel in the rear. This bike is equipped with Shimano XT 2×10 drivetrain, Fox suspension front and rear, Spank wheels and cockpit parts and sells for $4,499.
| Intended Use: all mountain trail | Wheel Size: 27.5-inches |
| Travel: 140mm front and rear | Wheelset: Spank Oozy Evo |
| Weight: 29.60 pounds (size MD, no pedals) | Frame Material: ACX Advance carbon |
| Drivetrain: Shimano XT 2×10 | MSRP: $4,499 |
| Suspension: Fox 32 Talas CTD remote Factory fork, FOX Float Factory rear shock |
Rating:  3.5 Chilis-out-of-5 |
In the same league: Ghost Riot 7 LC, Giant Trance Advanced, Fezzari Timp Peak, Santa Cruz Bronson C, YT Industries Capra
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Full Review: Polygon Collosus T8
The first thing we notice about the Polygon Collosus T8 is the nice black carbon finish of the bike. The frame also features slick internal cable routing which adds to the bikes clean lines. The FS3 “floating pivot” design looks complex and the rear shock is actuated from both ends (thus the “floating”). The FS3 is designed to deliver 140mm of all mountain trail travel while separating suspension action from chain and brake forces to maintain traction and control over any terrain.
The internal cable routing is sleek and works well – no binding.
We also noticed that the chainstay looks super long due to the way the stays come together well ahead of the axle, thus creating an elongated look. However, when we pulled out the tape measure, the stays measured in at the claimed 431mm (16.9″). Not short, but not abnormally long either. One thing that we didn’t like about the frame was the lack of any water bottle mounts whatsoever. For our short (1.5 hours or less) rides, we prefer to slap on a bottle and leave the pack in the truck when possible.
The rear of the bike is very unique in that the seat tube is asymmetric from the point where the front derailleur mounts down to the bottom of the lower linkage. As viewed from the rear, the two lower linkages themselves are offset from center to be able to fit in with the chainrings in front. It would be interesting to see if Polygon moves to 1x drivetrains only in the future to avoid having to work the linkage in this offset manner.
Nice carbon work and graphic touches give the Collosus a bit of style.
The geometry is typical of this category of bike with a 67.3 degree head angle and a 72 degree seat angle. The size medium we rode has an effective top tube length of 23.2 inches and the seat tube length is 16 inches. The bottom bracket height is a measured 12.9″ inches and even when run with plenty of sag, pedal strikes were not an issue on our fairly smooth Norcal trails. The rear has plenty of tire clearance although we did not deviate from the stock 2.25″ Hans Dampfs (2.35″ in the front).
How did it handle on the trail? We rode the Collosus T8 on a variety of trails from buffed out singletrack to rocky and slick sandstone and even the occasional sweet jumps and drops. Like you would expect from its gravity oriented heritage, the T8 favors the downhills. The FS3 suspension wasn’t quite as plush as we would have expected, which isn’t to say it was harsh. When pushed hard, the suspension works well, but the small bump compliance wasn’t as sensitive as other designs we’ve ridden. The fact that the shock is pushed from both end is undiscernible to the rider. If you are a rider more on the enduro side of all mountain, perhaps the T8’s bigger brother, the Polygon N8 (with 160mm of travel, a Fox 34 fork and slacker geometry) would be a better choice.
On short, technical climbs the T8 rode well and soaks up the hits when the rider is standing up and hammering. However, on any extended climbing sections there was just no hiding the bikes 29.6 lb weight. For these long climbs, we were sure to lockout the rear shock and shorten the fork’s TALAS travel. Weight is a function of price, though, so some choice upgrades could help in this department.
Continue to page 2 for more on the Polygon Collosus T8 and full photo gallery »
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