Darkside, '08 Issue

[Mickey]

This is my personal Spooky Darkside. I re-designed the darksides to be a fast, stable, mindless XC weapon. The added stability actually makes it just as good, if not better in the tech woods as well, longer travel calls for new geometry. It's built mostly of Easton Elite, with some custom formed stays, this round was tacked and welded by Chris Herting at 3D racing in Durango, CO

http://www.spookybikes.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/done-darkside-023.jpg


http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r277/SuspectDevice413/donedarkside020.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r277/SuspectDevice413/donedarkside014.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r277/SuspectDevice413/donedarkside013.jpg

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r277/SuspectDevice413/donedarkside012.jpg

17.75 pounds as is (on our shipping scale here at the facotry). I still need to shorten the cables, cut the seatppost, install my carbon Ti Aliante instead of this OE takeoff and install the Phil Ti BB and 160/140mm Stans's rotors and my ZTR race wheelset. I figure that will get it down to 17# even, and still be fully raceable for a season. Frame weight is 3.2 pounds at the moment. For the next run we have revised dropouts, and a more extensively machined head tube and BB shell to get the weight right around 3#'s even in my "large" size.

The frame clears a 68x107 BB with a 32 middle ring, and some how also miraculously fits up to a 29x2.0" tire. I designed it around 26" wheels for extreme climbing courses, 650b's for average courses and the ability to run lightweight CX wheels and tires for short tracks, etc. So far I only have the small wheels built, but I have Rims here in the shop from both Stan's and Edge for 650b and 700c applications....
I think I am going to build one here in western Mass designed around the 410mm 48mm offset Trigon carbon rigid fork and 29x2.0's as my baloon tire bomber.



So glad the snow is melting so I can go thrash this thing!

[Hand/of/Midas]

wait....so this can run 26, 650, and 29 wheels and have good geo's the whole time? thats crazy.
so is the BB really high with 29 or really low with 26?
the first 3 things i though were, are those drops stiff enough without extra bracing,that raw alum looks sweet, back end looks really long(with the 26).
and are the geo's setup with the same fork in all 3 wheel sizes?

[Mickey]

wait....so this can run 26, 650, and 29 wheels and have good geo's the whole time? thats crazy.
so is the BB really high with 29 or really low with 26?
the first 3 things i though were, are those drops stiff enough without extra bracing,that raw alum looks sweet, back end looks really long(with the 26).
and are the geo's setup with the same fork in all 3 wheel sizes?

The bike is actually designed around the NEW SID at 475mm and 38mm offset (100mm). The BB is 12" for a 26"x2.0 with the intended fork length. This SID i have on there is 45mm shorter than the intended fork, and with some King Baseplate jiggling I have what is a very low, but not that steep bike until I have my new Sid (72/74 right now) it yields a really darn low BB height though, like 11.25"

The stays are 17" on the large and 16.875" on the Medium, which is a conscious decision, as I find that a slacker seat angle+longer stays yields better out of the saddle climbing. It's one thing I noticed in the 2 or three years I wasn't riding my old Darkside. The Fats and IF's I was riding ripped out of the saddle. Same thing with the lower BB. Just moving the riders center of mass around for traction...
The 650b or small 29er/ large 'cross wheels (like 1.7's or smaller) wheels are intended to be used with one of the new 29er rebas which have 46mm of offset, lowered to 70mm of travel for the same axle-crown as the 100 mm SID. They will only marginally raise the BB, and I actually intend to run the most of the time with a really darn light rigid fork that is shorter instead.... Bracing? Like for the Disc? Not needed with that dropout design. Or do you mean chainstay bridge? Also not needed with the oval stays I have. I did not want to make an ultra-stiff bike. A bike with more lateral give in the rear end feel better, corners better and generally rides better.

Now to build some more wheels and go shred...

[bdee]

Hey Mickey, why must you tempt me so?? :D Nice looking ride!

[RepublicanSS]

hardtails are the coolest looking bikes. great bike by the way.

[north20]

hardtails are the coolest looking bikes. great bike by the way.


Yeah, I'd agree with that any day of the week.

I'm really enjoying my new fs bike -- and will enjoy it even more on the longer, nastier high mountain stuff in this area in a few months. But the thing can't hold a candle to my decade old steel hardtail in the beauty department.

[Cogratchet]

Badass bike :eek: