PDC Racing Shows Prototype Ride

This year at the Vancouver Outdoor Adventure Show there was a distinct lack of bike manufacturers. There wasn’t much eye candy to drool over, but if you looked hard enough to where the bike zone bordered aqua-land, tucked away in a corner there was a tiny booth that contained a big project.

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Low production run, small company built bikes always spark interest, the creator’s heart, and soul and usually their pocketbook goes into their work. Perhaps it’s having the guts to come up with something new, in a sea of cost-considered, mass-produced big budget bike companies, which captures the hope and imagination of a prospective rider. You immediately wonder if an independent can do as well as the big boys.

PDC Racing out of Qualicum Beach on B.C.’s Vancouver Island is giving it their all to answer that question, and that day at B.C. Place their yet unnamed prototype steed captured the attention of bike enthusiasts who happened by.

Ian Lougheed, Kyle Kusznieryk and Jordan Macey put their heads, talent and ambition together to design a bike that is sure to be a contender in the expensive downhill bike market. Although they had to work together over the last three years to solve the complexities of producing a dual suspension frame that works, the current design took only a year to come from CAD screen to a show ready ride.

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The frame’s low slung front half (hard to really call it a triangle), raked steeply from the head tube down, gives the bike an angle that makes you think you’ll have to reach up for the ape hangers. It’s truly a different looking rig, though appearances are deceiving. The cockpit geometry actually feels very conventional for such an unconventional looking bike. The front end is very ready for the steeps and that low-slung hybrid bottom/top tube makes for gobs of stand over height combined with a low centre of gravity.

To look at the compact 6061 aluminium swing-arm it’s hard to image it has a full 9.5 inches of true progressive vertical travel, but it’s there in spades cushioned by an Avalanche DHS 3.0 race ready and virtually indestructible rear shock, valved to rider requirements by Avalanche’s Craig Seekins. Production bikes will see the reservoir safely mounted out of harm’s way on top of the frame.

Big burly travel is relatively easy to cough up in a comparably straight forward single pivot arm, but PDC has come up with a multi-link pivot design that essentially negates pedal input yet still reacts conventionally to rapid changes in terrain. The lower pivot/yoke assembly rotates away from above the bottom bracket, preventing the swing-arm from reacting to pedal input as though it were terrain induced. Although I only had a quick cruise of the bike on a very crowded (and very flat) B.C. Place show floor, the bike accelerated eagerly from a standstill that really makes PDC’s swing-arm show up less sophisticated types.

In order to prevent brake jack from limiting swing-arm travel, a floating rear disc brake system has been designed for the bike, and as with any input specific swing-arm set-up, this is a welcome addition in keeping the suspension free to work while the binders are on.

As is necessary when building a bike to withstand the abuse of the trail, attention is paid to detail. The swing-arm pivots are also designed by Avalanche Downhill Racing and feature rider greaseable needle bearings to handle the high radial loads imparted by big hits and drops.

Up front, the gusseted head tube is reamed from top to bottom to ensure that diametral size is accurate and consistent along the length of the bore, which makes sure that the frame can handle the stress of a triple-crown 8 inch travel fork.

To keep the wheels turning, a choice of MRP, Evil, or Blackspire, chain guides is provided and the top idler is secured with an over strength 8mm bolt. The bottom bracket shell is machined to take a 100mm set, and in the rear the replaceable derailleur hanger, is as Ian Lougheed describes it, a stout “full thickness”.

Master fabricator “Frank the Welder” is on board to custom shape the tube sets, drawing, annealing and heat treating to PDC specifications. So that the frame has maximum material strength, Pyrobike will handle the assembled frame heat treating and truing. PDC Racing will deliver the front “triangle” custom painted and clear-coated while the swing-arm, including the linkage, will be bead blasted and anodized.

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The frame complete with Avalanche DHS 3.0 rear shock, Hadley 15mm thru axle hub, and floating disc brake assembly tips the scales at a big bike reasonable 11.5 pounds.

There are tons of bike manuacturers out there, some with big budgets, some with small, that are trying to promote their frame designs with mixed results. PDC seems to have hit the mark right off the production line and should have little trouble with their well thought out, feature rich full on downhill rig. Eager eyes will be watching to see how they handle and hold up on the trail.

Purchase price for a finished frame equipped with rear hub, rear shock, and floating disc brake comes to $4199 CAD ($2699 USD) with a $1500 CAD deposit required to secure your rig. Get your order in soon, only 30 frames will be made available this summer and PDC Racing claims that they're going fast.

Contact PDC Racing at info@pdcracing.com and visit their site www.pdcracing.com .

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