Tech

Bike Check: The Bikes of Pure Darkness 3

· By BikeHubCoreAdmin · 2 comments

You have seen Pure Darkness 3. Now check out the machines Matt MacDuff, Sam Reynolds, Andreu Lacondeguy, and Danny Pace used to launch themselves off the massive Garden Route Trail Park jumps.

Photos by Eric Palmer.

In the previous Pure Darkness videos, the riders used hardtail dirt jump bikes. They could have continued with these bikes but that would mean wasting a lot of energy fighting the bikes coming off the roll in tower at speed and using their bodies to absorb much of the force on landing. It was agreed that slopestyle bikes would be far more suited to the task at hand.

Matt Macduff’s Altruiste

Matt Macduff’s bike is a unique beauty. The design was dreamed up by Gabriel Lang of Altruiste Bikes. Altruiste Bikes traditionally build steel road and track bikes but Gabriel has a rich history in designing street, dirt and slopestyle bikes.

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Matt’s bike was designed specifically for Pure Darkness 3 and his big loop attempt. The bike has around 80 mm of rear travel with the the rear triangle, including seat tube, pivoting around the bottom bracket while the top tube length varies depending on the rear movement.

Riding with rear suspension was a big first for Matt but so was fitting brakes. Renowned for riding brakeless, Matt felt that the challenges of the Pure Darkness 3 jumps were too great to continue riding without stoppers. He sought out a Shimano Deore brake at the local bike shop in Knysna. Wise!

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Matt gave the bike a fresh lick of paint just before filming. Black is apparently more to his taste.

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Andreu Lacondeguy’s YT Industries Play

Andreu Lacondeguy selected his YT Industries Play for this Garden Route adventure. The carbon bike is currently for team riders only but Andreu mentioned that YT Industries may be releasing a limited production run shortly.

Andreu entrusts RockShox with his suspension, fitting a 110mm Pike and Monarch RT3 shock. The SRAM theme continues with an Avid XO brake and SRAM XO carbon cranks. A full Hope wheelset keeps the bike rolling while Andreu’s signature DMR Vault pedals keep him in contact with the bike.

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Sam Reynolds’ Polygon Trid SS

Sam Reynolds usually reaches for his hardtail in competition but he knows when it is best to jump on his big rig and slopestlye bike. Pure Darkness 3 being such an occasion.

Being a Polygon UR team rider, Sam’s Trid SS is kitted out with BOS suspension, e*thirteen drive components and wheels, and a Spank cockpit.

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Sam was the only Pure Darkness 3 rider with gears. He uses a Box Components shifter on the downtube which allows Sam to quickly shift down by pushing the lever into the shifter, while pulling the lever to the right shifts up. The Box shifter operates a Shimano Saint derailleur across a 10-speed (by my quick count) cassette.

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With gears, Sam can’t simply run a tight chain tension to prevent the pedals from spinning in the air like the single speeders, instead he has placed rubber inserts around the bottom bracket to slow the cranks.

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Danny Pace’s Specialized P.Slope

Danny Pace is the working class hero of the group. The Welshman is a former sponsored dirt jumper but now makes a living outside of mountain biking. Danny rode this trusty Specialized P.Slope.

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Comments

RiverInTheRoad

Jun 8, 2016, 12:52 PM

Shimano Deore FTW

DoubleJ

Jun 9, 2016, 10:39 AM

Jy moet definitief nie lei aan "hang bal" as jy daai eerste bike wil ry nie.

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