4 Bike Checks from DarkFest 2020
Words and Photos: Samantha Saskia Dugon
It takes some pretty special riders to hit the huge jumps at Darkfest but it takes some pretty special bikes too. Here are four of our favourites from some Fest first timers to one of the founders of the whole series.
Are there any other words to describe Nico Vink other than 'all-round mountain biking legend'? Well, we had a chat with the legend himself at Darkfest and, despite already being over here for a month building the course with Sam Reynolds and Clemens Kaudela, he's still hyped to be here and hitting the jumps all day, every day.
One of the interesting things we came across on Vink's bike was his speedometer, usually a piece of kit that you'd see mounted on a road bike, yet here was one mounted on a bike belonging to one of freerides biggest riders, check out why below.
We're all so used to seeing Vink on a Gambler but he's signed with Bellingham-based Transition for the foreseeable future. He's already looking right at home with his Ohlins equipped TR11
Transition TR11 Details
Frame: Transition TR11, Medium
Shock: Ohlins
Fork: Ohlins
Wheels: Hope Pro 4, chrome with Hope Fortress 30mm rims, matte grey decals
Tires: Schwalbe Magic Mary, approximately 36psi
Drivetrain: SB1 Singlespeed kit, Hope Evo Cranks with 36t narrow wide chainring
Brakes: Hope V4, 203mm rotors front and rear, chrome
Cockpit: Hope Direct Mount stem, Signature Vink bars with 48mm high rise and 9 degree back sweep fitted with signature Reverse Vink grips.
Pedals: Hope F20
Saddle Reverse components saddle and seatpost
Frame: Transition TR11, Medium
Shock: Ohlins
Fork: Ohlins
Wheels: Hope Pro 4, chrome with Hope Fortress 30mm rims, matte grey decals
Tires: Schwalbe Magic Mary, approximately 36psi
Drivetrain: SB1 Singlespeed kit, Hope Evo Cranks with 36t narrow wide chainring
Brakes: Hope V4, 203mm rotors front and rear, chrome
Cockpit: Hope Direct Mount stem, Signature Vink bars with 48mm high rise and 9 degree back sweep fitted with signature Reverse Vink grips.
Pedals: Hope F20
Saddle Reverse components saddle and seatpost
 | For Darkfest I’m running Ohlins suspension front and rear. Ohlins gives me specific tunes, just a lot firmer and slower rebound, just to be able to deal with the big impacts on the big jumps. Slow rebound to not get bucked in the takeoffs or when I case a jump and get bucked. I've got an SB1 singlespeed kit on for Darkfest, I don’t always run that, for example when I ride bike park I usually just run the Hope cassette with a SRAM 7-speed derailleur. |
Hope's F20 Pedals
Hope V4 brakes to cope with the super-high speeds at the Darkfest course.
| For years we’ve been just kind of guessing speeds, angles and everything and now we're just starting to measure more, to have more knowledge and a reference to go to when we're building more stuff in the future to have the exact speeds and angles and height. I just do a couple of runs with the speedo just to see how fast we're going on what jumps, it's a great way to gauge what we need to do for new builds in the future. |
Ohlins set up Vink's suspension for him with a custom tune so he's actually not 100% sure of his pressures or spring weight. What he does know is that it works perfectly fine on Darkfest's huge hits.
Cockpit complete with a Jordie Lunn sticker
Forever - Jordie Lunn
After his first taste of the Fest Series events last year at Loosefest, Kaos Seagrave is back for more, but this time in sunny South Africa for Darkfest 2020. His first event since the FMD's move from Transition to Canyon frames and he's started off with a bang with a fluro pink custom frame. This is a standard Sender, not the prototype we've seen teased around the internet, but there are still plenty of cool details to check out here.
Kaos in full-flamingo mode.
South African dust is till on the chainring from the morning's sends.
| I love the new bike, it's got a rad pink paintjob, what more could I want? |
Canyon Sender Details
Frame: Canyon Sender
Shock: Fox Float X2, max volume spacers, 300psi
Fork: Fox 40, max volume spacers, 80psi
Wheels: DT Swiss: 240 hub and 511 rim, 27.5" front and rear, Peatys valves
Tires: Schwalbe Magic Mary custom G-Up tires
Drivetrain: Shimano Saint
Brakes: Shimano Saint
Cockpit: Renthal 45mm stem and Renthal Fatbar cut to 760mm, 31.8mm clamp, Ergon GD1 grips
Pedals: Crankbrothers Stamp large
Saddle Ergon SMD2
Mudguard MarshGuard
Frame: Canyon Sender
Shock: Fox Float X2, max volume spacers, 300psi
Fork: Fox 40, max volume spacers, 80psi
Wheels: DT Swiss: 240 hub and 511 rim, 27.5" front and rear, Peatys valves
Tires: Schwalbe Magic Mary custom G-Up tires
Drivetrain: Shimano Saint
Brakes: Shimano Saint
Cockpit: Renthal 45mm stem and Renthal Fatbar cut to 760mm, 31.8mm clamp, Ergon GD1 grips
Pedals: Crankbrothers Stamp large
Saddle Ergon SMD2
Mudguard MarshGuard
| It's so sick to be here and ride with the Fest boys, it's a big hype watching everyone sending it! |
Schwalbe Magic Mary G-Up with pink Peaty's valves. Kaos normally runs about 26psi in his tires.
The chainstay is slammed into the short setting with 27.5" wheels front and rear for Darkfest.
DT Swiss 240 hub
The G-Up Crew decals are custom for Kaos
You couldn't miss this bike from any angle
It's even complete with matching MarshGuard mudguard
As Spanish rider Bienvenido Aguado makes his debut appearance at a fest series event, we got the low down on his YT Tues CF Pro and what his experience of Darkfest has been so far.
YT Tues Details
Frame: YT Tues CF Pro Race, Small
Shock: Fox Float X2, either 3 or 4 tokens with 260 psi
Fork: Fox Factory 40, 6 tokens with 85psi
Wheels: Spank Vibracore 350
Tires: MSC Hotseat 2.40, 36psi
Drivetrain: SB1 Singlespeed kit with 13t sprocket
Brakes: Front: Sram Code SC, Rear: Magura HC3
Cockpit: Spank M4 Stem, Spank Vibrocore Spike 800mm, 15mm rise, Sensus Grips
Pedals: Spank Oozy
Mudguard All Mountain Style mudguard with Happy Riding collab design
Frame: YT Tues CF Pro Race, Small
Shock: Fox Float X2, either 3 or 4 tokens with 260 psi
Fork: Fox Factory 40, 6 tokens with 85psi
Wheels: Spank Vibracore 350
Tires: MSC Hotseat 2.40, 36psi
Drivetrain: SB1 Singlespeed kit with 13t sprocket
Brakes: Front: Sram Code SC, Rear: Magura HC3
Cockpit: Spank M4 Stem, Spank Vibrocore Spike 800mm, 15mm rise, Sensus Grips
Pedals: Spank Oozy
Mudguard All Mountain Style mudguard with Happy Riding collab design
| It's such a dream to be here! I've been dreaming about this for like 3 years, I just told Sam (Reynolds) that one day I want to be there and it looks like he was pretty stoked to have me here for this year's Darkfest. I'm enjoying every second and trying to be smart and not hurt myself so I can ride all day. |
Bienve has custom top tube graphics on his Tues
Spank Vibrocore 350 Wheels
All Mountain Style, Happy Ridings Mudguard
Bienve's frame may not have survived Ramage but his custom link did and made it onto his latest build.
MSC Hotseat Tires
New bike and first Darkfest, it’s a big year for Norwegian downhiller Brage Vestavik. Back aboard a GT Fury for 2020, we caught up with him in Stellenbosch to check out his new rig and see how he’s getting on with the course.
How was it arriving in Stellenbosch for the first time?
| Just being in South Africa is pretty cool! It’s a pretty mad place, I didn’t think I’d be able to come here so I’m thrilled to be here. It took 28 hours and 3 planes, but worth it for sure! We then had the first session straight off the plane and straight into it that was pretty crazy! |
Brage and his fresh GT Fury only 3 rides old
Fox 40s maxed out on the front with a Burgtec cockpit coupled with a Shimano Saint drivetrain
Do you have any goals for this year's course?
| I would say my main goal is to just get through the course, I will be pretty stoked just to do some riding with these boys and flow through the jumps. |
SDG Patriot Sensus I-Beam saddle with SDG Alloy I-Beam Seatpost
Crankbrothers Stamp 7 pedals
Is there anything on the track that you find particularly intimidating?
| The last two jumps are pretty scary, the Rocket Launchers. I’ve been thinking a lot about them, seeing videos of them being built and I was pretty stoked to have gotten through them, I think it’s the biggest hit I’ve ever done. You're going so fast into it and the lip is so steep, it feels like you’re going up off of a wall, but yeah, it’s probably the sickest feeling I’ve ever had on a bike. |
Back on Burgtec with the Burgtec Bartender Pro Grips
What did it feel like when you got the invite to come?
| I was pretty nervous, to be honest! I’ve been thinking about it a lot when trying to sleep, I was just so hyped. It’s so cool to be riding with all the big legends too, to be riding with the ones I was looking up to and watching videos of when I was really small is insane. |
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Must Read This Week
1: Is Nico on 27.5/650B now?
2: Does it even matter if it doesn't have a pink paintjob?
Yeeewwwwww!
www.instagram.com/p/B3-PDk8IRHk
did you tried to shoot their customerservice a message?
Is this the coolest bike check article ever? I'm thinking so.
If the trails or whatever are smooth enough to maintain speed with single speed, how 'un'smooth are they to justify a huge shock set up.
I get the 'drop' from being high in the air, but seems like cutting landing with some transitional shape would cure a lot of the hype with the bikes, plus adding to speed factor (see, PA Trails, push...
Granted nose diving hasn't quite been 'learnt' by present day pros.