Now it's official: the new Spark RC Hypersonic. After Dangerholm presented a good portion of rock'n'roll and heavy duty with the Lemmy Tribute, the Hypersonic picks up on all the current trends on the market and clearly focuses on lightweight construction: Lightweight construction. In recent years, there have been many technical developments that have shifted the application and limit ranges of cross country bikes. 1x drives, dropper seatposts, 29" wheels and wide tyres as well as more suspension travel. All this makes the bikes more powerful and faster. However, these innovations also inevitably lead to a corresponding increase in weight.
 
This is where it gets exciting: of course weight plays a big role for Dangerholm, but the bike's performance must not suffer as a result. For the Hypersonic, the challenge was no less than to combine the best of yesterday and today: low weight and a wide range of use, i.e. responsive and nimble on the climbs and fun and safe on the descents.

Bike Build

At the heart of the build is the current Spark RC frame. While the last generation Spark was already an incredible bike, the current Spark definitely reaches "the next level". Both visually and technically, Scott takes it up a notch: on the uphill it climbs just as well as the old Spark, on the downhills it feels like a mini Genius.

The new Intend Samurai XC suspension fork is used and supplements the 120mm at the rear with 120mm at the front. The Samurai weighs 1435g. If that's still too heavy for you, the CC version is available with a carbon steerer tube. Inside the Samurai, a RockShox Charger RaceDay cartridge does its job and is compatible with the 3 Pos Twinloc lever from Scott.

The cockpit with the Syncros Fraser iC SL delivers a striking look, excellent stiffness and harmonises perfectly with the frame. Dangerholm saves weight with the UltraStar 4 Expander from Extralite (4.5g). The Syncros headset received a corresponding tuning with the UltraBottom 51-52 bottom bracket from Extralite and a bearing ring. The Extalite HyperGrips MDS round off the cockpit tuning with their 18.8g (incl. plugs). For the brakes, Dangerholm leaves nothing to be desired: Trickstuff Piccola Carbon paired with Trickstuff Dächle UL discs. Kogel titanium bolts provide the appropriate hold on the frame, fork and hubs.

The crank is another highlight of this bike. This is a prototype from Garbaruk. At only 384g (crank arms and axle), it is about 20g heavier than an XX1 DUB crank made of carbon. The design of the crank is simply beautiful, especially in raw - a matching chainring from Garbaruk is used.

A Kogel bottom bracket is used to reduce friction in the drive. This uses road seals, which increases the maintenance effort but improves the smooth running. The rear derailleur uses the Kolossus from Kogel. Here there is an innovation with the Cerakote rollers: these have a ceramic coating that ensures high durability and is an exciting alternative to traditional anodising. The rest of the XX1 rear derailleur was also designed with weight in mind - it was tuned with parts from Hopp Carbon. Rotor's 12-speed cassette is used in the 11-46 version and ensures pleasant gear changes with its narrow gradation. With the 11-speed sprocket as the smallest sprocket, the chain friction is reduced in this gear compared to the usual 10-speed sprockets.

Extralites HyperBoost 3 hubs are used on the wheels. These weigh 224g (depending on the freewheel body) as a pair(!) and provide a sensational 1039g weight for the wheelset - with traditional steel spokes and 30mm wide rims. Every single Sapim CX Super spoke was hand-ground and polished by Dangerholm. Pirelli rounds off the whole package with its XC RC lite 2.4" tyres, offering a good all-rounder for hardpack and generally fast terrain.

Finally, there are really lightweight dropper posts on the market. YEP provides a good example of this with the Podio post. It weighs 345g and can be shortened depending on the insertion depth. Dangerholm didn't miss out on this and optimised it to 328g. The Speedneedle saddle is a classic that doesn't need to hide from the competition in terms of weight and comfort. All in all, Dangerholm's Hypersonic weighs 9.19 kg (incl. pedals). An excellent weight for such a versatile bike!

Bike Presentation

Spark RC Hypersonic 2022