Video: Oszkar Nagy Goes Big in 'Open Pit'
A year-long video project, after months spent building and filming in an active open-pit mine in Hungary with Oszkar Nagy, is finally here for your entertainment.
 | It all started when a friend of mine, Milán Kolozsváry, was looking at this dolomite mine in the Pilis area three years ago from Google Earth. We visited it in the spring of 2019, and then we didn't go back for two years, I just had it in my head. I came down one of the more isolated walls there in April last year, you can see it at the beginning of my Shimano "Make Your Mark" video from earlier this year. We were there three or four times, filmed a few times, and that was it. Six months later, I suggested to Red Bull that there was this location, and showed them photos of it and Google Earth images. They were cooperative to get on with it and contact the people responsible. Fortunately, they were completely open, with the technical director of the mine, László Karafa, who is also a fan of extreme sports and mountain biking. |
| "When Oszkar and I started touring the mine, I had an idea of what he might want. I showed him 20-meter walls that he could ride his bike down, and then in his own modest way he said that this wall was good, but it was very small, and he would prefer to go down the 60-meter wall. That's where I started to understand what he really wanted." |
Early site scooping
From early March to the end of August the crew made the spots rideable and shot all the moves.
Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, as Oszkar said:
"Shooting started at the end of April, it was quick and successful, everything came together really well, the new tricks I was most worried about were not really any issue, and everything went well. At the end of the day, we wanted to shoot just some B-roll stuff, but I fell and got injured, so we had to pause the project for around 6 weeks. Missing the rest of the prime spring conditions to film in just before the summer hit, made the project twice as long as it was originally planned."
They were able to resume work in early July.
"It was already summer, the original plan was to finish the entire project by now. Conditions changed drastically, we could only film if we were out at 5.30 in the morning, and the biggest wall got very eroded, so it was filled with two hundred and fifty tonnes of dolomite limestone and dust to be rideable. I was originally going to do a backflip barspin into the enormous wall, a relatively difficult trick on these bikes, but then one morning I got the feeling that I could probably do something harder on this setup. I did a flip whip, and somehow it worked perfectly. For me, it became the gnarliest part of the video, you really can't make a mistake there, otherwise, I don't even want to think about what happens in that place, at that speed, if something goes wrong."
Flipwhip into the huge pit
"I was wondering: what if the ender trick in the video could be applied to something even rougher, something no one has possibly ever done with an FR bike this big? So I decided that I want to try a backflip double tailwhip on the trick jump. We went back to the mine to record this unusual maneuver, but I crashed a lot because my crank spun a lot due to the lack of crank-stopper rubber. The next day I put on the missing part and managed to pull off the trick for the second go. It was the last day of shooting, so we finished at the end of August."
Worth to note, that there was a 360 suicide-no-hand triple barspin in the video as well, which could be very possibly a world's first on a bike this big.
Flip double whip on a trail bike
The video was shot by the Loam cinema squad, with Viktor Csaszar, and Bence Szabo in the main roles, but with countless helping hands along the way.
Photos by Balazs Palfi.
Details on Oszkar's Scott Ransom:
The actual setup for the dolomite wall with a rougher tire setup
Frame: Scott Contessa Ransom 910 Size M (chip in the high position)
Fork: Fox Float 38 Factory 170mm (custom tuned, rake 37mm)
Shock: Fox Float X2 (custom tuned)
Headset: Works Components ZS56-EC44 +1 degree steeper
BB: Shimano Deore XT press-fit
Crank: Shimano SLX 170mm (32t chainring)
Chain: Shimano SLX 11-speed
Cassette: Shimano SLX 11-36T
Derailleur: Shimano SLX 11-speed
Wheelset: Industry Nine EN305 27,5”
Tires: Schwalbe Magic Mary 2.8 Addix Soft 27.5 (F) & Dirty Dan 2,35 Addix SuperSoft 27.5 (R) (both with Schwalbe tubes SV21A extra light)
Brakes: Shimano Deore XT
Discs: Shimano Deore XT 203 mm
Pedals: Chromag Contact
Saddle: Chromag Overture
Seatpost clamp: Chromag NQR
Seatpost: Chromag Dolomite
Stem: Chromag BZA 35
Bar: Chromag BZA 35mm rise, 770mm width
Grips: Chromag Wax
Details on Oszkar's Scott Gambler:
Frame: Scott Gambler 910 Size M (chip in the high position)
Fork: Marzocchi Bomber 58 (custom tuned)
Shock: Fox Float X2 (custom tuned)
Headset: Syncros ZS56-ZS56 + 2 degree steeper
BB: Shimano Saint press-fit
Chain: Shimano Saint 10-speed
Cassette: Shimano Saint 11-34T
Derailleur: Shimano Saint 10-speed
Wheelset: Industry Nine Grade 300 27,5”
Tires: Schwalbe Magic Mary 2.6 Addix Soft 27.5 (F) & Nobby Nic 2,4 Addix SpeedGrip 27.5 (R) (both with Schwalbe tubes SV21A extra light)
Brakes: Shimano Saint
Discs: Shimano Deore XT 203 mm
Pedals: Chromag Scarab
Saddle: Chromag Overture
Seatpost clamp: Chromag NQR
Seatpost: Chromag Dolomite
Stem: Syncros 50mm length
Bar: Chromag Cutlass 35mm rise, 780mm width
Grips: Chromag Wax
The video was made possible by Red Bull Hungary and Saint Gobain Hungary
Supporters: Chromag, i9, Leatt, Paul Lange Hungary, Scott Bikes, Etnies, Store13, Red Bull Hungary, Pinetime, Herczegshox
Links: Oszkar Nagy | LoamCinema
Author Info:
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I love freeriding pits and quarries.
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