The bike was spotted by a local rider and then shared with the Instagram page, the European Bike Project. The only other frame brand located in the area are Bold however we can’t see them deviating from their concealed shock design, which leads us to speculate that the bike belongs to BMC.
If it is a bike from BMC then it’s a clear departure from their current designs. Previous BMC bikes including the Fourstroke and Trailfox Amp used a system called APS (Advanced Pivot System), a short link system with the shock oriented vertically. This prototype bike still looks like it uses a short link design, however now the shock is mounted horizontally and low slung. It’s tough to tell details such as wheel size or travel from these photos but we have noticed that the longest travel, non-electric bike the brand currently sells is 120mm (Fourstroke LT and Speedfox), which leaves plenty of room for something with a burlier attitude in its range.
Further details are thin on the ground at the moment but we’ve reached out to BMC for more information and will update this post if we hear anything.