Dylan Dunkerton Bike Check
nsmb Team Bike
Words by Dylan Dunkerton. Photos by Dylan Dunkerton.
Date: 2009-02-10
Dylan Dunkerton - or Stubs as he's fondly known - is clearly a talented and stylish bike rider. His big debut was in Kranked 7 and last summer he managed a solid 10th place in the Châtel Mountain Style comp in France. On top of that Stubs is a first class filmer and editor who works with Bjørn Enga. You'll see his handiwork on both sides of the camera when Kranked 8 Revolve is released this summer. Here's what Stubs has to say about his exclusive Scott Slopestyle bike.
Cam McRae
I am pretty picky about my bikes. For me to feel good my bike needs to be spot on. 2008 was kind of tricky getting my bikes to feel the way I wanted, This year i rode a few frames with a few different suspension set-ups. It started with a Santa Cruz Blur 4x, with a 4” fork. That bike was pretty ideal for light trails and jumping, but it wasn’t quite there. I'm big dude and that bike was too small. The Giant Reign X is a 6.7” travel all mountain orientated frame which I thought would be a pretty well rounded bike for me. It was built up with a 5” fork to get the head angle a bit steeper and give the bike a more responsive feel. Turned out it was a bit much in the rear travel department for it to be ideal and there were a few other things that bothered me as well including chain growth and the way the suspension reacted in certain situations. The glove fit but it was a little loose.
This season when I was in France with Curtis and the Kyles, we all met Ben Walker of Scott bikes. I mentioned how much I liked the way the team slope style bike felt after trying Kyle Norbraten’s bike. Ben designed this frame, and let me tell you, this guy knows how to make a bike. We got to talking and I ended up flying home with a Scott frame stuffed into my luggage.
The Ride
Let me introduce you to the Scott team slopestyle frame. I know what you’re thinking, “that thing is sick, where can I get one?” That’s the thing, you can’t. This bike was produced for Scott team members only. Scott doesn’t produce this particular frame. As for Scott putting a new slopestyle frame into production, your guess is as good as mine.
This bike is labeled as a slope style frame, but I don’t like the term “slope style.” By no means is this bike just a jump/drop specific bike. Nor am I a slopestyle rider. I probably wouldn’t call it any thing else other than a perfect mountain bike. Primarily I ride trails, whether they are smooth and fast, rough, or technical. This bike performs under all of the above conditions, but being a slopestyle frame, it stands out when jumping. It reacts like a little 4x bike, but it has the stability of a mid travel, and at the same time it is incredibly light. All mountain, free ride, 4x, what ever I have thrown at it, it gobbles up and begs for more.
Build kit
Building this bike, I wanted to have an even suspension plat form. Being a 5” travel frame I wanted to match that with a 5” fork. Also I wanted something that would be matched for where I live and what I ride. Basically a light free ride build kit, with a few specific things here and there that suit my personal preferences.
The Cockpit
This is the zone that for me needs to be spot on at all times. Its easy to ride with a tweaked derailleur, or and dented rim, but if the cockpit is off it affects the whole control centre of the bike. Stability is essential when riding any sort of unpredictable terrain and that is why I like to ride a handle bar that is a little wider than average. This season I have seen a lot of dirt jumpers (you know the ones wearing their sisters' jeans) running bars almost too wide for them to hold on to. It seems that a lot of kids don’t understand that you should be riding an appropriate sized handle bar for your shoulder width and riding genre. On my Scott I run a 29” Syncros Bulk bar. It provides me with just the rite amount of stability without changing my stance on my bike, and I am still able to x up with no issues.
Something that I am very particular about and always have been is grip size. On my right hand im missing two-thirds of my pinky and ring finger, and about a third of my middle finger. If a grip's circumference is too large I have issues holding on to the bars or my hand begins to hurt from holding on too tight. I am only able to hold my grip with my thumb and middle finger, because my other two fingers are too small to reach around even the smallest grips. Whenever I get a new pair of grips, I like to take the belt sander to them, to make them as small as possible. You know a grip is at its prime rite when the plastic just begins to show through the rubber!
My Syncros 4 Bolt Locking grips after an appointment with the belt sander.
Another key factor in cockpit set up is handle bar height. Like most people I like my bars as low as possible, no spacers under the stem with a low rise bar. Also a stem that is as short and as low as possible, so that’s why I run a Syncros 50mm FR stem. I prefer around a 22.5 top tube with my seat just high enough to pinch. The Syncros FL saddle is sreally good because its light weight, simple and great for pinching if you need to take your hands off the bars.
Brakes
When it comes to brakes I like to keep it simple, I run Avid Juicy 5s with 6” rotors. They provide a plentiful amount of power and have no knobs to break off if you lose your bike on a trail. Plus the silver matches the bike! I like to run my levers about an inch and a half away from my grips so my index fingers are properly in line with the hook at the end of the lever blade. That way the lever blades can pull in further without hitting my other fingers. I am really stoked to be running Avid products, largely because of how easy it is to service the bakes. I can pump out a brake bleed in under 5 minutes, which makes it awesome if I forget to dial my bike in the night before a ride.
Suspension
Suspension is obviously a key element in bike set up. Fork and rear shock in my eyes are the most important set of components on any bike. That’s why I am so lucky to be riding Fox suspension.
If you want a light, super-stiff fork the choice should be obvious; Fox 36 hands down whether you want air or coil. I ride a Fox 36 Talas RC2. The Talas has 3 travel settings, 100mm, 130mm and 160mm. It’s an air fork (the Talas has optimized spring curves for each travel setting), which makes it easy to adjust your spring rate to the perfect setting. With rebound and high and low speed compression adjustments the 36 Talas can be set exactly how you like it. This fork is ideal for me because if I'm riding anything gnarly I can up the travel to 160mm, or if I need to ride some tight corners I can slam it down to 100mm without changing the stiffness of the fork, but for most conditions 130mm is perfect. I like my rebound set a little faster than average and as little sag as possible when I sit on my bike. I weigh in at 210 lbs so a stiff platform is very important.
Dylan's fork of choice is the Fox 36 Talas.
For rear suspension I run a Fox DHX 3 coil shock. Sweet and simple. I run a 650 lb spring which gives me a relatively plush platform for general riding. I like to adjust the boost chamber depending on the type of riding I'm doing; stiffer for jumping and softer for trails. Another personal preference for me is to hide the rebound knob, I like to keep it clean, so its tricky to set but once its set I can forget about it. My rear shock is set about a click slower than my fork to keep it from bucking the rear end in sticky situations. I like running a coil because I am able to get it stiffer than an air shock, and the weight difference between air and coil isn’t an issue for me.
But it’s a single pivot what’s so special about that?
I have ridden a few different linkage systems, VPP, Maestro, 4 bar, FSR etc. but I have trouble predicting what that suspension will do. My personal preference is a basic predictable suspension platform, and that is exactly what a single pivot provides for me.
The Drive
One thing that has always bothered me is a noisy bike. The last thing you want is for a bike to sound like it’s falling apart. That’s why chain guide, cassette and derailleur choice are essential for me. For 2008 I rode a full SRAM drive train. For the shifting department I ride a Sram XO derailleur, and an X9 shifter. For cassette I like to run a fairly small cluster. The way I look at it if the cassette is smaller, you can run a shorter chain, keep it a bit more tensioned and it will slap a lot less that way. I run a 36-tooth Truvativ ring up front, bolted onto a set of 165mm Truvativ holzfellers. Truvativ crank/bb combo is great because the set up is so easy, the bearings last for a long time, and they never seem to creak. For bash ring and chain guide I run a Syncros Chrome bash guard, and a Truvativ shift guide.
A SRAM drivetrain keeps Dylan's bike nice and quiet.
You may be wondering why I run a shift guide when theres no second ring. This is one of the drawbacks of the Scott frame. Not too many chain guides are compatible with it. This shift guide was sitting in my shop and it fit so its been on my bike since it was built up. Surprisingly I haven’t dropped the chain more than a handful of times over the 6 month period I have been riding it. All in all its not ideal but its simple and it works. Another thing I do to keep my bike quieter is to wrap my chain stay and seat stay where the chain will hit. Usually I use a standard chain wrap and wrap it in electrical tape to make it last a bit longer, and then you can always put your favourite stickers on it. When it comes to pedals I want my feet to be as solidly stuck to the pedals as possible. I run the Syncros Meat Hooks, and they hook to the soles of my shoes like no other. But watch your shins with these pedals, or they might get turned to hamburger.
Rubber
Fast rolling bikes are the best, and im not going to lie, I like sliding around on the trail, that’s why I run the tire combo I do. Up front is where I need the traction is a 2.35 Syncros FLT folding bead tire. The FLT is great; it has lots of small knobs that dig into all terrain. On the rear there is a 2.1 Syncros Point’n Chute. this tire is pretty basic, but it’s a wicked fast rolling tire, in dry conditions it is very grippy but it doesn’t like hooking up as much in the wet. I like to have a little less traction in the rear than the front. I prefer folding bead tires because they shave a lot of rotational weight off the bike, they are easy to get on and off the rim and wire bead tires are a overkill for this bike.
Wheels
This season I ran a set of Syncros DPS 32 Rims laced to a black Syncros FL rear hub. I prefer the FL rear hub over the FR because it lighter and louder than the FR. Up Front I run the Syncros FR hub in black. After a season of abuse all the bearings are smooth and the wheels are straight as an arrow.
Check out what Dylan can do with a little help from his sponsors. Photo ~ Dan Barham
I would like to that everyone who has helped me out in the 2008 season
Fox Racing Shox
Sram
Avid
Syncros
Dennys
Whistler Bike Park
Dakine
Adidas Eyewear
Toyota
Ben Walker @ Scott Bikes
And most of all the guys @ NSMB.com
Any questions of Dylan about his bike, his grip modifications or anything else? Send 'em this way...
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