MTB Cut was on hand for the building of Lewis Buchanan's brand new Nukeproof Scalp DH bike. We've got an Interview, video and pictures for you, so that you have all the details on the new bikes and the new team.
Running a successful World Cup downhill race team is not an easy task, but when we heard for the first time that the world's number one team in 2010 (Chain Reaction Cycles) would be parting company with leading US brand, Intense Cycles and running a brand new frame under the relatively new Nukeproof brand; we couldn't help asking ourselves why the change? We spoke to chief bike designer Brant Richards, team manager and World Cup veteran Nigel Page and long serving team mechanic and suspension expert Dave Garland to find out more about the challenges and expectations of the coming year for the team onboard the new Scalp DH bike. Read on to find out more about the new Nukeproof Scalp and why team CRC are excited about this season's challenges...Team Mechanic Dave Garland takes you through the process of building Lewis Buchanan's race bike
Dave Garland: Chief Mechanic for CRC/Nukeproof Dave has been spannering on the World Cup circuit for years now and is one of the most respected around. He also runs suspension company Stendec and uses his vast suspension knowledge to help riders on the team.
What are the specs of the team bike and components for this season? The 2011 Nukeproof Scalp team bike consists of a balance of parts that we believe to be the best spec'd bike since the team was formed in 2008. For 2011 we are running:
Marzocchi 888 RC3 EVO Ti
Cane Creek Double Barrel shock
Nukeproof Ti spring
Nukeproof bars, seat, seatpost, headset, pedals, grips, seat clamp, direct mount stem.
Mavic wheels
Formula Brakes
Schwalbe tyres
e-thirteen chain device and cranks
Shimano Saint shifter and mech
Shimano XTR chain, 11/23 9 speed cassette
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| Team CRC mechanic Dave Garland overlooking his kingdom |
37.4 lbs full bike, this alters slightly depending on setup for different conditions!
Is there anything special/different about the team frames compared to the production models (Geometry etc?) No, we have always made a conscious decision on this, what we run as ''team'', anyone can go and buy, I don't see the point in having team specials, it's important that the public can access the same stuff as our team, any updates we see as useful down the line will be offered to the end user when ready.
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| The production Nukeproof frame is exactly to the spec the CRC team will ride in 2011 |
Marzocchi and Cane Creek, both of these units are at the forefront in suspension technology. This is our second season with the 888 RC3 EVO Ti and it always feels smooth and very easy for the rider to adjust, we can make internal adjustments to shift the range of control needed by each individual team rider. It is also very stiff which gives the rider precise steering under any load force. With the Cane Creek, it's the 5th year that I've been working on the Double Barrel, it's simply the most advanced shock on the planet with a range of adjustments that allow you to tune out any unwanted frequencies. The way it manages bump force is so efficient that you can give the rider the exact setting they are looking for. It's true that this shock takes a little getting used to as it works like no other, mainly there is very little pressure build up through its stroke. Also, making a static adjustment to compression or rebound and feeling that in the pit is not always possible, you have to test that adjustment on the track to evaluate it fully. It's the process you have to adopt with the DB, but the end result is well worth the effort.
What strengths will the Nukeproof design and setup bring to World Cup races compared to previous years?We've put a lot of work into this project and just like any other season you always try to improve on the last. The difference in 2011 is that the Nukeproof Scalp is our baby and we've had the opportunity to look at everything in minute detail. We've made changes that will vastly improve the teams competitive edge and everyone involved in the Nukeproof project has had a positive impact. Nothing has been left with a question mark and that's difficult to say about previous seasons.
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| Dave Garland Building the new bike |
We've been testing since late September and there has been many changes to the Scalp, mostly small changes, but important ones all the same. The great thing is from the first ever test I did with Matti and Matt, although there were changes to be made we could see that there was the potential for the Scalp to be a ''World Cup'' standard winning bike. We left that test in San Romolo with a clear picture on how to achieve this. As far as any potential further development goes, that will come from our first WC season on the Scalp. But right now, it's ready to race and that's all that's on my mind, it's my job to help the guys get the best out of it.
How much do the setups of the bike's vary between team riders (preferences/style of riding etc)? I think when you have some riders on flat pedals and others clipped in, you see a big difference between their weight distribution. Flat pedal riders always have their weight towards the back of the bike so you have to set the suspension accordingly. Either you go for a slightly heavier sprung setup or increased compression at the rear, but always balancing the forces with tyre pressure and wheel tension. Too firm or too much compression means increased chance of a flat! We're lucky with the DB, it doesn't spike anywhere in its stroke. Making sure that the fork is softer and feels more nervous and able to stay active when cornering fast (especially flat turns as the rider hangs off the back of the bike). Tyre pressures can also be very different between front and rear, sometimes 10psi depending on the surface! Clipped in means your weight distribution is more central so a more balanced feel between front and rear is what you're looking for. Sometimes the front end in cornering is much more heavily loaded, so for instance Matt and Matti will run a firmer setup to accommodate. Tyre pressures are also much closer together compared to flat pedal riders, more like 2-3psi between front and rear. These two differences in style are the easiest to explain.
Do you change setup of team bikes between events and to suit specific courses? If so, what do you adjust? Yes definitely, there are many things you change between race tracks; how steep they are, how much pedalling there is, what tyre pressures, or whether it's wet or dry. Downhill bikes are so advanced now, choosing the correct setup is crucial if you want a good result.
You have many years of experience working on suspension at Stendec, are your opinions on setup ever distinctly different from what a team rider asks for and if yes, how do you compromise on how to setup the suspension? I think the the most important thing is to listen to your rider and understand what they are looking for in setup and translate the information they give you into an adjustment. I always tell the rider what the adjustment will do in terms of the physics, but you must never tell your rider how to ride, it's not your place! You are only as good as the information given to you. If you have a good relationship with your rider, you are always on the same page. I do have a lot of DH experience it's true, but I am also lucky to have worked with some of the best riders on the planet. Everything I have learned has come from racing, and you never stop learning in downhill. Suspension is one part of the picture, and it has to be right, but there is so much more to consider when looking for a perfect setup.
In your opinion, what sets the Nukeproof frame apart from other DH frames available? The guys behind the Nukeproof project are interested in getting it right. They are not afraid to listen to the opinions and ideas of other members within the group. This is why I'm confident that the frame is ready for competition. If it wasn't ready then we wouldn't be using it! Many other manufactures have good ideas and designs, but there always seems to be something that lets them down, we've seen it time and time again, but we haven't allowed that to happen with the Scalp.
Brant Richards: Designer at Nukeproof Brant is chief designer of the Nukeproof brand, he's worked in the UK bike industry for years; beginning at MBUK, then later behind the brand On-One and now the main man behind Nukeproof and also Ragley bikes.
How did the general idea for the Nukeproof design come about? It came after we made a first Nukeproof all-mountain suspension proto - a simple single pivot bike that we made for Michael (Cowan) from Nukeproof to ride the Megavalanche on in 2009. It was after his race that we started talking about making a proper DH bike. We had a kind of open-ended schedule for it, which is good and bad. We've had a lot of support in terms of "don't release it until it's right", but the move to Nukeproof for the CRC team has given us some pretty solid deadlines to hit! We pulled a group of us together to crunch through it - I've got more background in steel singlespeed bikes than DH racers, so alongside me was Nigel Page, Dave Garland, Dale McMullin, Michael Cowan, Ian McIntyre, Adrian Ward and a shadowy figure known only as Mr f*cker, who lives in Taiwan.
Brant talking through the Nukeproof Scalp at Eurobike 2010, filmed + Edited by the Pinkbike Crew
Have you been working on an idea for a Nukeproof DH bike for a while or did it only come about in 2010? We started ideas in August 2009, with our first sample landing in early February 2010. We've only been through two iterations of actual suspension design, and the first was discounted really quickly. I showed the rest of the design team the first draft of the current bike at Eurobike in 2009, though we had a kind of scaffolding main frame drawn in at that point. We pushed on a bit further and started looking at tubing options, before going for the first sample.
How many prototypes have there been before settling on a production version? We've had four main frame design revisions. Three rear triangle designs. Four linkage designs. Three dogbone designs. Inspite of that, it's remained pretty constant. Those are kind of smallish changes in some ways, but big in others. Take the rear triangle - the production bike has a 10mm narrower rear triangle at the front, just to increase heel clearance. We have a web brace between the rear stays, but no cross brace between the seat stays as we had at one point. We've removed lots of material from the dropouts, optimized the machining inside the swingarm to maximize stiffness there.
The front triangle has had tubing revisions - mostly aesthetic it has to be said - and a head tube revision to maximize wrap-around.
The linkage has changed to fit the narrower rear triangle, to have a straighter pull on the dog bones, and lately a flatter rate curve to give a less progressive rate change for more consistent damping. That's one thing that came quite late in the day, but our linkage design meant it was easy to bolt in a revised linkage and dogbone unit to change the progression rate.
Can you explain the testing process for the prototypes? How were they tested and how is this feedback delivered and interpreted by you? We started out with ride testing, to get that all dialed. Discussing things like top tube lengths. Trying to work out "what is a medium?" We had geometry pretty much settled early, and now Cane Creek's Angleset makes that a lot easier than it used to be! It's been quite interesting moving from making bikes for us, and then trying to work out how that fits as a production model in terms of sizing.
Then more recently we've been doing lots of really very horrible machine testing. Really awful to watch a frame, a really nice sample prototype frame, being buggered to pieces by a machine. Take it through all the EN tests that it has to pass, then turning up all the settings on the testing machine and seeing what happens. That's testing for impact strength, fatigue strength of the main triangle and also pedalling stresses and things like that, that can crack main pivots both under pedalling and sideways landings. We're really happy with the strength of the frame now. We've seen tests, we've seen our competitors results. We know we're right up there and it's great, especially as we have designed it from the ground up.
What suspension characteristics have been designed into the bike (rate, pivot placement, etc)? Rate change has been a funny one, and the cause of quite a lot of, well, heated discussion. But we're all fine on it now as we can tune things and get it at a place that everyone is happy with. To start with, we had bikes in our mind that we liked, and liked less, and we sort of mixed things up and split the differences and got a rate change profile, and rate change rate that we were happy with. Once we got that, linkage modifications let us flatten or steepen that to get the travel and rate change we wanted. Certainly one thing we wanted was control of rate-of-rate change... the way that the progression alters throughout the stroke. And we've got that.
Pivot placement was optimized around sag heights and typical chainring sizes to get a bike that pedals well, balanced under load, under braking. With most of our testers coming off dual link designs, we imagined braking reaction might crop up, but there have only actually ever been positive issues under braking. Brake jack hasn't gone away completely, but the contemporary pivot locations have certainly eliminated a lot of the problems that used to happen.
Why use a single pivot configuration as opposed to other designs? We wanted a simple system, bullet proof, big bearings, solid axle. Dual link bikes can spread the loads over more pivots, and support the triangle in a different way, but if you can do it with a single pivot, why not? The axle path differences are tiny, the instant center migration isn't significant a lot of the time. There are many different configurations of single pivot and many different dual link bikes, and there are good and bad versions of both.
What were your goals in designing this frame, and what do you feel are the benefits over other frames available on the market? Race bike was definitely written on the bit of paper. I don't think we've veered away from that too much, though we've probably not gone as light as we could have if we were just making a pure race bike, because we actually want the bike to last if you buy it. The team are on completely box stock bikes, the same as anyone can buy, with the exception of the blue anodized finish. But no special parts, or thinner tubing, or anything for them. It's all the same as you guys can buy.
Can you explain the adjustable geometry that doesn't affect the suspension rate? How did you accomplish this and what are the benefits to a rider?The dog bone links can be changed to adjust the ride height of the bike. I guess, if you're being super anal, it does change rate curve a tiny amount, but it's very small percentage, not noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Couple that with an Angleset, and you're rocking for quite a large geometry change. I didn't want to build in adjustability into the bike, in terms of having 2 position things, or adjustable widgets. I wanted it all bolted down and solid, with a parts change to make alterations. Just to keep weight and trouble down off the bike. It's not something you're going to want to set up on a run by run basis. We can lift the BB half an inch or so if you want that sort of set up - then the forks can be kicked out by the Angleset, or steepened up.
What are your expectations and concerns for the bike in 2011? Is unleashing the first Nukeproof DH frame straight into a major World Cup team a challenge? You've got to make the leap at some point, and even if we had a full season under people, there's NOTHING like the loads that WC racers put on bikes in race situations. They have pushed hard in practice, but we know we're going to get a thorough working out this season. All our testing is pointing towards a good outcome though.
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| Lewis Buchanan on board the Nukeproof Scalp at the Innerliethen Winter Series (Photo courtesy of Keith Valentine/Phunkt Photography) |
I really hope they come back and say they want a more progressive bike! Then we can go back to my linkage rate change design! Ha ha. Joking aside though - yes - we constantly work with them on evolving the design - Matti especially has an incredible ability to notice changes and give feedback on designs. All the guys contribute, and we listen to them all, from the World Cup guys to the lads on the Nukeproof Junior team.
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| Team Chain Reaction were 1st overall team in the UCI World Cup in 2010 |
Nigel Page: Team Manager or Chain Reaction/Nukeproof World Cup Team Pagey is an ex-world cup racer who many will recognize from the old Sprung and Earthed films. He's now putting all his experience into running the CRC/Nukeproof team.
It's a bit of a new look Chain Reaction team for 2011, new faces and bikes, has this meant it's been a busy winter for the team manager? Yeah there has been a lot going on this winter to get the team ready. I get a lot of help from all the guys at CRC and Nukeproof so that makes life easier. But lots of emails, phone and Skype calls with everyone involved. There is a lot to do from signing new riders, organizing and ordering new team kit, new vans this year, the awning, testing the new bikes and then getting them here on time, sorting out the team sponsors for everything, ordering the parts, booking accommodation, flights, food...! There's a lot to do..... but it's all worth it when we hit the first race looking pimp!
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| Team Manager Nige Page was a great World Cup rider and understands the demands of racing |
With all the team's contracts finishing at the end of 2010 it was time for a change. We had 3 great years as a team riding Intense bikes and last year winning the UCI no.1 team title was great for CRC and Intense. I have been involved with Intense since 1999 and became good friends with Jeff Steber and his family. Jeff makes fantastic bikes and I have really loved being part of Intense for the last 12 years, but the the opportunity came up to use Nukeproof bikes through Hotlines. This would mean we could develop a new bike brand with the team and make bikes from scratch exactly how we wanted them. So the decision was made and here we are now with great bikes ready to go. It's been a bit stressful for everyone at times, but it's amazing that the guys at Nukeproof have got us the bikes ready to go and race in early February.
How involved have you been in the development of the frame? Pretty involved from the start really in a lot of stages. From when me and Michael Cowan first talked about the Nukeproof brand making a DH frame. I then got talking to Brant Richards from the start about what we would want from a DH bike, I did a lot of the geometry of the Scalp and what kind of suspension and ride characteristics we wanted, then picking the first tubing for the prototype frame with Brant. After Brant and the engineers got the first prototype made, I took that out for a ride and I was amazed how good the first prototype was. Michael Cowan actually won a race on that first prototype frame. The size and geometry of the bike came out spot on and made it so easy to ride, meaning I felt good on it straight away! From then the prototype frame was revised, smoothed over, made to look more like a production frame and then the prototype 2 frames were ordered. Once we got those we went off to Italy for a week's testing with the team riders and mechanics to find out what they thought of them. A few tweaks were made from the findings from the team riders and Dave Garland's suspension expertise and the frame was cleaned up a bit more ready for production.
There's been a few changes in the line up for the Chain Reaction team this year, who is on the team and why did you choose these riders? Yes there has been a big change around for this new season. We decided to keep on 2 riders from the team and the only fair way to do this was to go off last year's results and so as it happened Matti Lehikoinen and Matt Simmonds were the most consistent, they are also really hard working and focused riders. We also decided to pick up 2 new UK riders (one junior) that would make traveling, testing and video logistics easier than having riders from far away countries. I was really impressed with Joe Smith and Lewis Buchanan last season and they had both shown interest in wanting to ride for the team. So I spoke to them at the end of last season and the deals where done. I'm really pleased with the team we have for this new season. Matt, Joe and Lewis are all riders I would want on the team even if they where not from the UK. It just works out great that they are. Then Matti is a great Euro dude, we love him and his weird Euroness! Ha!
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| Matti Lehikoinen returns to the team to ride a Nukeproof in 2011 |
Well I don't really know to be honest, because some of the guys have raced the world cup longer than I ever did. But I think it helps with me just being into racing and have been a racer myself. So I understand what makes things easier for the riders and understand what they are going through being racers. I don't pass on a lot of advice on to them as they all know what they are doing and have good programs with their training. When I am up on the side of the track in practice I can let them know what lines are looking faster, but they all really work that out for themselves. Just trying to keep everyone happy and relaxed is the best thing I can do and try to help them believe in their own abilities.
With the exception of Matti, the riders on the team are fairly young and on their way up the World Cup ladder. The likes of Lewis (still in Junior) and Joe really only started gaining some World Cup results last year. Is it a deliberate choice to try and nurture young talent? Well a little bit I guess, but it wasn't just deliberate to pick young talent. It just turned out that both Joe and Lewis are young, but have already shown to me they have the speed and talent to be right at the top level of our sport. Being young guys, they are also really keen and focused to race, train and be part of a team like ours that can hopefully give them everything they need to achieve their potential as racers. We did want a junior rider for this season and it will be great to try and help Lewis meet his goals in his final junior year. Hopefully being young, these guys have a long future in racing and if they like being part of our team hopefully we can work together for many years.
Thanks to Dave, Brant and Nigel for taking time to answer our questions -
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www.facebook.com/TeamChainReactionCycles For more information on Nukeproof check out -
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