gravel bike vs hardtail Dark Star

gravel bike vs hardtail Dark StarThe Dark Star is a premium steel hardtail built with a custom drawn BOSS tubeset and sliding dropouts. The sliding dropouts are useful for single speed adaptability as well as adjusting your wheelbase rear triangle length for your terrain and riding style. The geometry is fun, fast and playful. It is designed to be used with 120 or 130mm travel suspension fork or our own Future Proof rigid fork. Designer's Notes Modern jargon might call it a

The Dark Star is a premium steel hardtail built with a custom drawn BOSS tubeset and sliding dropouts. The sliding dropouts are useful for single speed adaptability as well as adjusting your wheelbase / rear triangle length for your terrain and riding style. 

The geometry is fun, fast and playful. It is designed to be used with 120 or 130mm travel suspension fork or our own Future Proof rigid fork. 

Designer's Notes
Modern jargon might call it a "downcountry" bike, but I call it the perfect all-around mtb for daily off-road riding. 

It bucks the current hardtail design trend of long wheel bases and super slack head tubes. These things make sense to me on my 150mm travel dual suspension bike, but on a 120-130mm travel hardtail I feel they miss the plot. I reach for my hardtail for typically two reasons, one it's the most fun on the tight techy singletrack (which we have a lot of around here) or two because I've got some pedaling to do and I want to do it fast and efficiently. Whether it's a big climb, riding to the trails, a local race, or simply a lot of ground to cover that day. 

Here then is what I want from my hardtail: I want it to feel fast as soon as I lay into the pedals, to be able to turn on a dime and be super flickable. And I want it to be fun and encourage me to hit all the little jumps and side hits that come my way. A mid-travel hardtail needs to be lively and handle correctly in all riding situations, not just when pointed downhill. 

The Dark Star has a 66.5 headtube angle which I feel strikes the perfect balance between descending confidence and slow speed maneuverability. It also has a tall-ish bottom bracket for tight techy rock sections and ease of bunny hopping. It's adjustable dropouts allow the rider to change the chainstay length from 425 - 440mm so it can be fine tuned to your terrain and riding style 

To me a short travel hardtail is all about immediate gratification, immediate fun from your house or the parking lot and all-terrain utility. It's sharp handling, but not too twitchy. You could race it if you wanted to, but you could also have a heck of a time blasting jumps or even do some bike packing.
- Jeff

The Darkstar is made by the fine folks at ORA in Taiwan. 

Why we recommend also purchasing a Future Proof rigid fork: 

If we had our way, every single person who buys the Dark Star frame (or any hardtail) would also buy a rigid fork to go with it. We hate the notion that MTB standards change so quickly that in five years your new MTB may be “obsolete.” This problem is easily solved though. 

Paired with a rigid fork, your MTB will forever be a useful tool as a transportation or bikepacking bike. Just look at all the 30 year old 26” wheeled hardtails that have been resurrected for daily driving duties the past few years. The Dark Star with the rigid fork is like that, but way more fun and playful as modern MTB geo and technology is a real marvel. 

Features

• BOSS Premium Steel Super Tubes
• Sliding Dropouts for adjusting wheelbase or single speed operation
• UDH Compatible
• 29x2.6” tire clearance
• Bottle Mounts: two in main triangle on Large and X-Large, one on Small and Medium
• Three Pack Mounts: Under downtube - all sizes
• Top Tube Feed Bag Mount
• Stealth Dropper Routing

GEOMETRY
Fast, aggressive, and playful trail geometry. Our ideal blend of fun to pedal and easy to rip. 

BOSS Super Tubes 
These are a Wilde exclusive, made just for us according to our precise needs and priorities. BOSS Super Tubes are air-hardened, custom-extruded, seamless steel tubing.  Super premium. We are no longer tied to the available off-the-shelf options, we can truly pursue the boundaries of strength and lightweight without the constraint of being limited by the available tubing. Whatever tube diameter, wall thickness, or butting profile we believe is best for an application, we can now just make it. 

We can also do outlandish and techy stuff. Like for instance you might notice that the Dark Star lacks a gusset on the downtube / headtube junction? The reason is that the steel downtube itself is asymmetrically butted at the headtube junction. That's right, it's way thicker at the bottom of the tube where it meets the headtube. This results in no need to weld in an additional gusset. Which means lighter overall weight and less heat affected zones. Neat, huh? 

Frame Specs

• Boost Spacing
• 73mm English BB Shell
• EC 34/44 Headset
• Max Chainring 40t
• 31.6 Seatpost
• 35.0 Seat Collar

COMPLETE BIKE BUILD SPEC

We are offering two stock build packages, Shimano Deore, and SRAM GX AXS. Of course we are always able to do custom builds, so just let us know if you want something else. 

SRAM GX T-Type AXS Specifications*

• Rock Shox Pike Select 130mm Travel
• SRAM GX AXS shifter
• SRAM GX AXS T-Type derailleur
• SRAM GX crankset 170mm
• SRAM GX cassette, 12 speed, 10-52
• SRAM Motive Bronze 4 piston brakes
• Wolf Tooth Performance headset
• Thomson X4 50mm stem
• Wolf Tooth Resolve 160mm dropper seatpost and ReMote Pro lever 
• Thomson Handlebar
• WTB Wavelength Grip 
• Boyd Bracken Wheelset
• WTB Peacekeeper 29 x 2.4 tires 
• WTB Volt saddle
• SRAM HS2 Rotors 180mm Front / 160mm Rear
• AXS Battery Charger
• Shipped Setup Tubeless 

Shimano Deore Specifications*

• Fox 34 SL Performance 120mm Travel
• Shimano Deore 6100 shifter
• Shimano Deore 6100 derailleur
• Shimano Deore 6100 crankset 170mm
• Shimano Deore 6100, 12 speed, 10-51
• Shimano Deore 6120 4 piston brakes
• Wolf Tooth Performance headset
• Pro Koryak 50mm stem
• Race Face Aeffect R 150mm dropper seatpost
• Pro Koryak handlebar
• WTB Bracken Grip
• Boyd Bracken Wheelset
• WTB Peacekeeper 29 x 2.4 tires 
• WTB Volt saddle
• Shimano RT64 Rotors 180mm Front / 160mm Rear
• Shipped Setup Tubeless 

*Subject to change without notice.

We can also build yours up any way you want, we'd love to create your dream machine according to your taste and budget. We work with all the major component suppliers, as well as with many small niche makers. Contact us to get started.

FINISH

• Phosphate dipped and E.D. Coated for corrosion resistance and durability. Wet paint finish. Color - Gold Metal Flake and Sparkle Black
  

DELIVERY

Some bike models are built up and ready to ship, while others are built to order.  Contact us if you have questions on delivery. We aim to ship your bike ASAP. 

SAFETY

Please read the bicycle owners manual before riding. This is important for safe operation of your new bike. 
Bicycle Owners Manual