Dangerholm - the much-loved Swedish bike tuner - recently retreated to his workshop with a knife and a piece of wood, perhaps prompting speculation that he had a new hobby. Instead, in collaboration with the Scott and Syncros teams, a wooden prototype was transformed into a 3D-printed masterpiece of a handlebar. And to top it all off, we have a new tuning bike from Dangerholm.
According to the tuner, the latest Scott Spark RC à la Dangerholm is intended to show how the developments of recent years in bicycle design can be refined: Integration, technical assistants and manufacturing processes. However, the focus is on a bike that is fast and fun on the trails.
Inspired by Italian sports cars, the new Scott Spark RC bears the nickname "Visione" and is painted in "Rosso Corsa" - the classic red racing livery of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati & Co. According to Dangerholm, the Italian name "Visione" and the paintwork are intended as a small homage to the concept cars, motorsport classics and designs from Italy. An idea that Gustav Gullholm a.k.a. Dangerholm already pursued in 2020 - apparently with different goals:
Handlebar-stem unit made from 3D-printed aluminium
The centrepiece of the new tuning bike from Dangerholm is a futuristic, 3D-printed concept handlebar. The handlebar-stem unit is based on Dangerholm's carved wooden prototype, refined by the R&D team at Syncros and finally manufactured by Trumpf - an expert in additive manufacturing from Ditzingen near Stuttgart.
While 3D metal printing is usually associated with titanium, the handlebars of the Scott Spark RC Visione are made from a new high-strength 6061 aluminium alloy. According to Dangerholm, Trumpf is currently the only manufacturer in Europe with experience in printing this material.
At this point, you will find external content that complements the article. You can display and hide it with a click.
Integration, but friendly, simple & ingenious
The aim was to realise a more user-friendly integration of the cables. Instead of routing the brake lines through the handlebars, the Swedish tuner Dangerholm opted for a semi-internal design with open cable ducts on the underside of the handlebars. This should make maintenance work quick and easy.
According to Dangerholm, Maxime Lallemand (Syncros component engineer) and Quentin Beauregard (Scott MTB chief designer) rejected the original idea of plastic covers for the brake line ducts on the underside and came up with the ingenious solution of simply leaving the ducts open and the brake lines simply clicked into place. This means that although the brake lines are tidy, they can be pulled out quickly if necessary and clicked back in just as easily.
Instead of the standard Sram AXS pods, Dangerholm likes to use the minimalist controllers from the Swiss company Zirbel. These are normally connected to the Sram AXS BlipBox. However, the box is a little too big to simply hide it in the handlebars. So the Syncros/Scott team developed a design that resembles a SIM card holder in a smartphone. The circuit board of a BlipBox sits on a customised holder and is pushed directly into the front of the handlebar after connecting the electronic cables from the Zirbel controllers.
Chassis
The three top models of the Scott Spark RC come as standard with the Flight Attendant System from Rockshox; based on the SID fork and damper. The system not only recognises bumps, jumps and the angle of inclination and adjusts the chassis accordingly. Thanks to the connection with a power meter, it also takes pedalling and power into account.
The Rockshox Flight Attendant Assistant can also adjust the shock and fork separately. This means, for example, that the shock can be locked out and the fork can be operated in "pedal" mode without having to press on the components or a remote. However, the SID fork is of course not entirely original. Dangerholm has specially adapted it for the internal brake line.
Drive & brakes
Dangerholm's Scott Spark Visione is equipped with a Sram XX SL Eagle Transmission drivetrain. It is tuned with a CeramicSpeed X OSPW cage with smooth-running rollers and bottom bracket. The elegant 5DEV XC titanium crankset comes from California and is combined with an installed Sram XX SL power meter.
According to the Swede, the crank arms are manufactured by milling the two halves from titanium, then welding them together and milling them again. This results in a hollow, lightweight and virtually indestructible construction that also looks clean and minimalist. CeramicSpeed bottom brackets are designed to maximise drivetrain efficiency and durability.
Incidentally, a hollow crank made of titanium has already existed before. Like the company 5DEV, the German brand Falkenjagd also has roots in the aerospace industry. Together with Tune, Falkenjagd built what is probably the most expensive crank in the world years ago.
Trickstuff with Trump
Dangerholm installs - one might almost say "as always" - Trickstuff Piccola carbon brakes with Dächle UL discs. This time he is tuning the standard brake levers and replacing them with prototypes made of 3D-printed titanium, which were also manufactured by Trumpf. Dangerholm says: "The numerous tiny hexagonal holes really do offer the best grip and ergonomics I've ever experienced."
Even if the current Komfort-Spark has to be as heavy as necessary, it should still be as light as possible. As the icing on the cake, Dangerholm therefore uses titanium brake calliper bolts to save the last few grams. These are manufactured by Meti in Italy and can be tightened with either an Allen key or a socket spanner.
The complete equipment of the Dangerholm Scott Spark RC Visione
- Frame: Scott Spark RC size L
- Thru axles: METI Titanium
- Damper: Rockshox SID Flight Attendant
- Fork: Rockshox SID Ultimate Flight Attendant
- Tax rate: Syncros with CeramicSpeed SLT bearings
- Handlebars: Syncros x Trumpf x Dangerholm 3D printed prototype
- Handles: Syncros foam grips
- Garmin mount: Syncros iC Front Computer Mount
- Seat post: Rockshox Reverb AXS; 100 mm
- Saddle: Bike Ahead Composites Hyper Saddle
- Controller: Zirbel Twister WE01 connected with customised Sram AXS BlipBox
- Brakes: Trickstuff Piccola with 3D-printed titanium levers from Trumpf
- Brake calliper bolt: METI Titanium
- Brake discs: Trickstuff Dächle UL 160mm+180mm
- Rear derailleur: Sram XX SL Eagle Transmission
- Switchgear cage: CeramicSpeed X OSPW for transmission
- Crank arms: 5Dev XC Titanium
- Power meter: Sram XX SL 38T
- Pedals: Xpedo M-Force 8 Ti
- Bottom bracket: CeramicSpeed DUB
- Chain: Sram XX SL Eagle Transmission
- Cassette: Sram XX SL Eagle Transmission
- Impellers: Zipp 1ZERO HiTop SW
- Tyres: Vittoria Mezcal and Peyote XC Race 2.4"
- Sealant: Syncros Eco Sealant
- Bottle holder: Geek Components 3D-printed titanium, Syncros Tailor Cage 1.0 alternative
- Bike computer: Hammerhead Karoo
- Weight: 11.02 kg (including pedals)
Marc Strucken
Editor
