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SOC15: Durango Bike Co. deals two wheel sizes w/ new Blackjack full suspension mountain bike

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Durango Blackjack full suspension mountain bike can handle 29er or 275-plus wheels

Durango Bike Company has an extra card up it’s sleeve with the new Blackjack 29er full suspension trail bike. The ace in the hole? It’s also 27.5+ compatible, with tire clearance to spare in either setup despite class-leading chainstay lengths.

Builder Jeff Estes started out with AMP research, then worked at Dagger bikes where they hand built their front triangles and used AMP rear ends. Now, he hand builds all the bikes in Durango, Colorado, and they machine anything that’s not a round tube in house, too. The main parts of the frame are Alcoa 6061 tubing that’s heat treated after welding so it’s hardened to T6, which they say is the ultimate hardness you’d want for something like a bike. After that, all the post production machining and finishing is done.

And those are just the material details…

Durango Blackjack full suspension mountain bike can handle 29er or 275-plus wheels

The bike is built around the new Boost 148 rear axle standard, which let them spread the frame open to run insanely short 16.7″ chainstays. The bike at the top of the post is set up as a 27.5+ ride, the one immediately above is with 29er wheels.

Durango Blackjack full suspension mountain bike can handle 29er or 275-plus wheels

The suspension is a modified Horst Link using pivot locations that create a little more sag and, they say,  increases rear end stiffness compared to others.

Durango-Blackjack-29er-275-plus-full-suspension-mountain-bike-02

No pivots mounted to top or seat tubes, keeping those tubes light and the center of gravity low.

Durango Blackjack full suspension mountain bike can handle 29er or 275-plus wheels

Head angle is 67.5° with a 130mm fork. Rear end has 125mm of travel.

Durango Blackjack full suspension mountain bike can handle 29er or 275-plus wheels

A port on the bottom of the seat tube allows for stealth dropper post routing.

Durango Blackjack full suspension mountain bike can handle 29er or 275-plus wheels

Pic on the left shows clearance with a Vee Tire Co. 27.5+ tire, and the right shows a Maxxis High Roller II 29er tire.

Durango-machined-pivot-linkage-axles-for-mountain-bike-02

They make their own axles for Boost (right) because there’s not much of anything actually available now, and because they’re good at machining frame parts.

Durango-Pucker-hardtail-trail-mountain-bike-01

Been in business 4 years, started with the Pucker titanium trail hardtail (top left) made from U.S. tubing that’s custom drawn for them. That makes it a very expensive frame at $3,295.

Durango-Moonshine-full-suspension-mountain-bike-01

The Moonshine is their enduro with 160mm travel front and rear. Large with dropper post supposedly comes in under 28lbs.

DurangoBikeCompany.com

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preston
preston
8 years ago

No front derailleur mount= no sale

(unless something is there but I can’t see it)

CXisFun
CXisFun
8 years ago

“with tire clearance to spare in either setup despite class chainstay lengths.”

Huh? What’s a “class chainstay length”?

duder
duder
8 years ago

I’ve demoed the Moonshine, and it’s a pretty damn nice bike.

@preston, perhaps it can take a standard clamp front d, but if not I guess that’s the price you pay for super-short chainstays. Personally, I’ve converted both my trail and XC bike to X01, and won’t be going back.

BC
BC
8 years ago

Ordered mine yesterday!

Can’t wait. Great to work with on spec to get exactly what I was wanting.

AdventuresAnonymous
AdventuresAnonymous
8 years ago

Erm, unless Estes suddenly became an actual framebuilder overnight, all those frames are actually built by someone in Arizona. And judging from all of the welds I’ve seen in the real world, they should be on the lookout for a new production facility.

I really dislike it when media outlets just repeat what they’ve been told by a business without any vetting of the information. It’s pretty easy to tell stories and get away with it when those stories are just self-perpetuating.

BC
BC
8 years ago
zach
zach
8 years ago

What size trax fattie is that though? Lots of bikes will fit the 2.8 size. A 3.25 on a wide rim is another story.

Cheese
Cheese
8 years ago

You may technically be right, AA, but they’re apparently doing a lot of frame buildery stuff in Durango.

JE: Durango Bike Company does all the designing, mitering and fixturing in Durango, the frames are then transported to Phoenix (physically the closest heat treater) where they are welded by Aerospace certified welders and then immediately transported to the one of the oldest and most established heat treaters west of the Mississippi. Once heat treat is complete we transport back to Durango for post machining, reaming, frame assembly, complete component build, test and distribution.

Tim
Tim
8 years ago

See- Boost is good for something: it can give you short chainstays with a big wheel and 5″ of rear travel. Hopefully we’ll see more bikes like this. Wonder whether there will be a carbon version…

CornerCanyonRider
CornerCanyonRider
8 years ago

@CXisFun I think Tyler means that the bike still has a chainstay length similair to other bikes in its class (or category).

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