The Mission 3 sits at the top of Diamondback's "all-mountain" line-up, with six inches of rear travel and five and a half inches of front travel, thanks to Fox and RockShox. Starting off with the frame, we have butted aluminum tubes and a hydroformed top tube, all with an anodized finish and clean looking welds throughout. The head angle is 68° and the bottom bracket height is 13.5". A Fox Float RP23, locked in to Diamondback's torsionally stiff Knuckle Box rear suspension linkage, provides six inches of rear travel. To eliminate side-to-side flex, the frame has a one-piece chainstay yoke and a nice, big, sealed main pivot bearing. With the Float RP23, you get adjustable rebound and ProPedal adjustable damping, which allows you to choose from three different ProPedal settings (firm, medium, and light in terms of anti-pedal bob), or you can choose to turn the lever to "open" for maximum plushness.
Up front, RockShox's 140mm travel Pike 454 offers plenty of options and adjustability. You get simple rebound damping via a knob at the bottom of the right fork leg and you get to tune the positive and negative air pressures. In addition, the fork has a Floodgate option that acts like a lock-out, but has adjustable sensitivity, so in the event of an impact the fork will unlock. A 20mm quick release Maxle through-axle provides sure steering and control.
Up front, RockShox's 140mm travel Pike 454 offers plenty of options and adjustability. You get simple rebound damping via a knob at the bottom of the right fork leg and you get to tune the positive and negative air pressures. In addition, the fork has a Floodgate option that acts like a lock-out, but has adjustable sensitivity, so in the event of an impact the fork will unlock. A 20mm quick release Maxle through-axle provides sure steering and control.
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