It might be hard to imagine Danny Hart riding anything other than his triple clamp Myst downhill sled, but rest assured the Redcar Rocket can shred on an enduro bike too! We caught up with him at round five of the British National Enduro Series to check out his steed.
Where’s the triple clamp?
Fresh off the back of two World Cup Downhill podiums and nearly a full season of DH racing it must be quite a shock to the system to swap over and race a single crown bike. In order to keep the main contact points feeling familiar, Danny runs the same 760 mm bar width on both his downhill and enduro setups. He also ensures that his brake levers are set up at the same angle across all his bikes, and runs the same Crank Brothers Mallet DH pedals.
It’s probably a smaller frame than I could ride, just because I like to have it a bit more playful.
No mullet bike here
It’s no secret that mullet bikes are taking the DH World Cup by storm, and Danny himself had played around with mixed wheel sizes at the opening rounds of the season. However, his enduro bike runs a pure 27.5” setup. DT Swiss keep things rolling with their hard-hitting EX1501 enduro rims and 240 hubs. The Redcar Rocket runs MAXXIS Tires, opting for double Minion DHRII’s for the Scottish conditions here in the Tweed Valley. Danny can get away with running the lightweight EXO casing due to his relatively light bodyweight. He runs 23 psi in the front and 26 psi out back.
Pressures, pressures, pressures
The Ariel LT’s 165 mm of rear travel is taken care of by FOX and their FACTORY FLOAT X2 shock. The X2 gives Danny full control over high and low-speed rebound and compression and also has a two-position climb switch. The shock is set at 190 psi for Danny’s 70 kg bodyweight. We weren’t able to go into any detail on compression and rebound settings, but Danny told us that he is running settings recommended by FOX’s Jordi Cortes for the slippery race stages typical to the Tweed Valley. An orange FOX FACTORY 36 fork keeps everything under control up front with a massive 170 mm of travel and is set at 75 psi.
Shimano XTR
Danny’s Saracen Ariel LT is nearly fully decked out with the new SHIMANO XTR groupset, with the exception of the SLX cranks. The derailleur, cassette and shifter are all from the new 12-speed M9100 family, providing a 10-51t range that is big enough for even the steepest transitions. Stopping power and modulation come from SHIMANO’s M9120 XTR 4-piston brakes. Danny pairs these powerful stoppers with 180 mm ICE Tech rotors front and back.
Thanks for the chat Danny, and good luck for the rest of the season! We hope so see you up on the podium again soon!
To keep up to date with Danny as he competes around the globe you can check out his Instagram page.
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