At some point in the cold and wet Swedish autumn of 2016 Gustav Gullholm plan to buy one or two new cross-country bikes. But they were not to be standard models from the shop. No, he wanted to build the bikes himself and customise them to his liking. And as he had done this many times before, he needed a new challenge. They had to be light and purist. That was the vague plan. As the winters in Sweden are long, he had enough time to browse intensively for components, frames and add-on parts. A lot of time, in fact. After some initial research, he finally decided to aim for a hardtail weighing less than seven kilos and a fully weighing around eight kilos.
When Gullhom was able to talk up and down the weights of carbon frames and MTB components, he was hooked. The fun screwdriver project turned into a serious challenge. He suddenly no longer wanted to build just any light bike, but the lightest one possible. Not so that it could decorate the fireplace in a funky wall mount, but so that the bike would be fully functional and rideable. In order not to add too many grams to the frame, he began to remove the paint from the carbon frames - a Scott Scale and a Scott Spark. From this point on, there was no turning back.
Gustav Gullholm alias "Dangerholm" in a BIKE interview
"The Scale is worth around 14,000 euros, the Spark 13,000"
BIKE: Why did you decide in favour of two Scott bikes?
Gustav Gullholm: I had already driven the old Scale before. When the new one was presented last year, I liked it straight away. So it wasn't a difficult decision for me. And when the new Spark looked so outstanding, it was clear that I would also build myself a new fully. But of course I specifically looked at the frame weights. The Scott frames are both super light.
Nevertheless, you were not satisfied with the standard frame.
No, first the paint had to come off. With small parts such as the derailleur hanger from Hopp Carbon I have reduced the frame weight to 767 grams for the Scale. My Spark frame weighs 1641 grams including the shock. Simply crazy! Especially when the bikes are approved for a rider weight of up to 125 kilos.
How long did it take until the bikes were ready?
I've been working on it for over a year. I started in September 2016 and actually wanted to finish in April, just in time for the start of the bike season. But then there were delays and other problems during assembly. But somehow I managed to make sure that one of the bikes was always ready to ride. At the end of October, I finally had all the parts together to finish both bikes.
How long did you spend in the workshop?
Oh God. I haven't even counted the hours I've spent screwing. But I think I spent about 100 hours on the scale. Just how long I spent grinding and tuning. For example, I sanded and polished Sapim CX Super spokes, which are unfortunately only available in black, by hand. All just to get the silver look. Polishing the fork also took me at least as much time.
How often and how much do you ride the bikes?
I've already ridden around 2000 kilometres on both, in different setups. The only parts I haven't ridden extensively are the seatpost and the cockpit. Don't get me wrong: I use the bikes as everyday bikes, I train on them. They only stay in the garage in winter. I've also ridden the lightweight bikes in marathons.
So you're not one of those lightweight fanatics who only tune for the photo on the scales?
No, no. I rode downhill for twelve years before that, and only then did I start doing cross-country and marathons. That's why I don't shy away from technical trails on my bikes. I fitted a vario support and flat pedals to the Spark for a visit to the bike park, and that worked. My goal from the start was to build super-light, but also 100 per cent rideable bikes. Of course I fitted the Furious Fred tyres to reduce the weight. But I do that to show what is possible. I think that the weight of the bikes is still outstanding, even with the "right" tyres.
How did you search for the lightest components and how do you know that there are no more lighter ones?
Most of it can be found in magazine articles or simply by surfing through online shops and MTB forums. But not everything. I have tuned some standard parts myself or built custom solutions. A year ago, for example, there was no direct mount for tune cranks. But other tuning guys like Garbaruk had already realised this and helped me. Another special solution is the cockpit. The Schmolke handlebars and MCFK stem are firmly glued together to save weight. I also managed to tease out a few grams with the good old Dremel. It's the details that are decisive in reducing the weight so much.
Could it be any easier?
Yes, I think so. I think I could save another 200 grams or so on the Scale. Since I started building the bikes, there have been lighter parts on the market. Lighter rims, for example. Another option would be manual labour. Or I could buy a carbon version of the Hopp Carbon Acros A-GE hydraulic gearstick I could have one made that would weigh around 200 grams. In the end, however, the bikes have to remain rideable for me. A seatpost-saddle combo from Berk Composites would certainly be lighter. But I don't want to do without the flex of a conventional saddle frame. The Piccola brake from Trickstuff could also be lighter with carbon brake levers, but I wanted to keep the silver ones. They simply look perfect on my Scale.
What do you think is possible?
A hardtail weighing around six kilograms and a race fully weighing around seven kilograms would be possible.
How much are the two lightweight 29ers worth?
The Scale is somewhere around 14000 euros and the Spark at 13000 euros. But that's the pure material value. That's not including all the hours in the workshop. Exorbitantly expensive, of course. But not so bad for such unique bikes when you consider that some top models of production bikes nowadays also cost 10,000 euros.
