Tested: Tomac Supermatic 120

A Simple Matter of Proper Execution

Even if I were mad about golf, I’d never buy a stuffy Buick just because Tiger Woods drives one. If NASCAR was my compulsion, the vision of Danica Patrick climbing from the window of a 750 horsepower muscle car, persuasive as it may be, would not snare my devotion to Go Daddy. Characteristically, the marketer’s shameless selling of a legendary name does not easily influence me.

But the Tomac namesake on this bicycle brand is not comparable to a marketing sellout. In fact, when it comes to his bike brand, the multi-time, multi-discipline mountain bike champion keeps as low a profile as he did during his racing career. And being an owner of the brand as well as a marketing instrument and intricate part of the R&D team, Tomac’s name bestows integrity beyond reproach.

Tomac’s skill, knowledge and experience in product R&D dates back to the late ’80s and can be credited to some of the best innovations in mountain biking, from clipless pedals to suspension forks. And the fact that Tomac’s input—derived from long, gritty, hard-earned hours in the saddle as well as a natural ability (laced into his DNA) to bestow magic into two-wheeled motion—helped to shape the Supermatic certainly gives it credibility.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I tried my best to evaluate the Supermatic with a completely open mind. The outcome may have been the same either way. 

The carbon fiber Supermatic is unmistakably the product of careful design, well thought-out geometry, and a deep understanding of what makes a bike handle well. With 120 mm of travel built into a rigid, 5-pound frame, it’s got all the making of a perfect all-around, trail-ripping, marathon-racer or universal alpine trail bike. It’s light enough to slog up multiple hourlong climbs and has a balanced laid-back geometry (68.7 degree head angle and 73 degree seat angle), a comfortable, stretched-out cockpit with a 24-inch effective top tube (size L) and enough travel to safely shred big descents at high speeds.

My first realization about the Supermatic was that it negotiated switchbacks—up or down—with uncanny agility. It quickly became my favorite bike to grab throughout a long summer of riding in Crested Butte, Colo. On trails like Strand Hill, 401, Deer Creek and Doctor Park—all relatively smooth singletrack with occasional rooty, rocky sections, natural obstacles, long climbs and extended descents—the Supermatic was a natural performer.

Much of its agility can be attributed to a simple, tried-and-true single pivot design. Single pivot designs have been around for quite some time. The location of the main pivot is crucial to its success, and Tomac has managed, as much as possible, to find a sweet spot for the pivot on the Supermatic.

Single pivot designs admittedly rely on a platform shock to reduce pedal-induced feedback or bob when powering up a climb or big ringing across the flats, and the Tomac—with its custom-tuned Fox RP23 with ProPedal—is no exception.

With the shock in ProPedal mode, the Supermatic pedals shockingly well under load, with no perceptible bob. With the ProPedal off and the shock fully open, the suspension is fully active and eats up rough trail like a ravenous pachyderm loose in a field of alfalfa. The bike rocks. I can only imagine it will perform even better with the 2012 Fox RP23 with the new Adaptive Logic Boost Valve, which offers a new three-position compression adjustment. Shock technology continues to improve, with custom tuning and refined adjustment features, and make existing suspension designs like this single pivot Supermatic work even better.

In our modern world of complex, multi-link, migrating-pivot-point suspension designs, which aim to eliminate brake jack and pedal feedback, Tomac’s relatively simple light-weight, single pivot design holds up to any comparable scrutiny. It simply offers a fantastic riding experience in a trouble-free, easy-to-tune and low-maintenance package.

Tomac uses custom over-sized aluminum shafts through the main pivot and rocker link, keeping the pivot points stiff and eliminating side-loading of the bearings that can occur with flex. This inherent stiffness in the design makes the bike’s handling predictable but also allows the suspension to function smoothly without undue stress on the pivot bearing and shock linkage. In five months of hard riding, I never needed to service the pivot bearing, and the frame never made a single creaking sound.

The finer details of the carbon fiber frame are also a factor in the superb handling: Tomac utilizes all of the best carbon technologies in the Supermatic with a custom layup for each frame size, including additional layers of carbon on the bottom of the down tube and top tube, stiffening layers on the sides of the tubes, and stout joints on the seat tube and chainstays. Laterally, the frame is super stiff and the suspension is allowed to function freely, even when you’re punching it through a tight turn.

The physical appearance of the frame is pleasing. The matte black finish is cool, it has nicely shaped tubes, and I like the subtle graphics of the Tomac logo. Appropriately, considering the intended use, the frame has two water bottle mounts. The top mount barely allows enough room for a small water bottle, which wedges in against the shock’s ProPedal adjustment lever in a frustrating way that makes it tricky to replace the bottle while riding (but it will never bounce out).

Tomac didn’t miss a trick on the frame from the tapered head tube and internal headset, to the ample tire clearance (up to 2.35-inch tires). It’s designed to ride with a 120- to 130-mm fork. I chose the latter, and it was perfect.

The Supermatic is a great example of a simple suspension design executed so well that it outperforms other more complex bikes. Take the Tomac namesake for whatever it means to you; regardless of your susceptibility to the marketing powers of a brand name, the Supermatic is an awesome bike born from the mind’s eye of the most skilled all-around mountain bikers the sport has seen. –B. Riepe