Gustav Gulholm, aka Dangerholm, is back with yet another drool-worthy dream build, this time based on the Scott Ransom 930 aluminum frameset. While he is better known for his lightweight builds, most noteworthy being the Spark RC Hypersonic, Hyper Spark and “Mellow Yellow” Scott Scale, Gustav was willing to place less emphasis on weight for an enduro bike where outright performance tops the lost of priorities. Let’s take a closer look at Dangerholm’s Golden Night Ransom Enduro Bike.
Dangerholm’s Story on the Golden Night Ransom
In his own words
For many people who know my work, the Dangerholm name is synonymous to lightweight bikes. If not the very lightest out there, then at least very light. And while you definitely can combine performance and reliability with low weight, there is of course more to bikes than chasing grams.
So, when giving myself the task to build an enduro bike, I chose to give that theme a rest and simply go for high performance and function in general. Choosing both a frame and components that maybe aren’t the lightest out there, but has other qualities that will ensure to make riding both fast and fun.
This meant that there was a lot of focus on key elements such as suspension, brakes and wheels. In addition to the frame itself, these three areas are to me the most important when it comes to gravity riding. With that said, I didn’t skip the attention to detail when it came to the rest of the build either. From ceramic bearings to grips in my preferred diameter, nothing was left to chance.
No weak links, nothing that will hold you back. A confidence inspiring, fast and stable yet incredibly fun bike.
Scott Ransom 930 Frame
The bike is built on a Scott Ransom 930 frame, which is a popular choice in the Ransom range. It comes with the same race proven features as its carbon fiber siblings, but at a more affordable price. This means that you have a truly great all-rounder, a bike you can take to an enduro race as well as to a fun day at the bike park with your riding buddies.
The geometry is not extreme by today’s standards, but instead it offers a very well balanced ride. Most riders will quickly feel comfortable going fast on it, and it for sure is plenty of fun too. The riding characteristics also means that it will feel at home in many different types of terrain as well.
The 170mm frame was painted in a special effect chromacoat paint called ”Golden Night”, which shifts from a warm gold/bronze tone, almost brown even, to blue/purple. So, depending on the light and from which angle you view the bike, it never really looks the same. To add a bit of contrast I went with white logos, which pops nicely no matter how the base color shifts.
In order to fit the rear shock, which is slightly larger than most others, the frame was slightly modified to create a few more but necessary millimeters of clearance.
Intend Suspension
One of the first things you’ll notice on this bike is the very unique looking fork. It’s an Intend Blackline Ebonite Bandit, which features a one-and-half-crown system. And while it’s also available as a regular single crown fork, then without the Bandit name, this is not about looks or even added stiffness. It’s all about air spring performance.
The upper extension holds an additional positive air chamber. If you’re somewhat familiar with how most air spring forks function, you’ll know that there’s one positive and one negative air chamber. And in most cases these equalize and operate at the same pressure.
On the Ebonite Bandit it’s the same, but you also have the secondary positive air chamber which you inflate to twice the pressure. This means that in the beginning of the travel the fork operates at the lower air pressure, making it very supple and small bump sensitive. But going deeper into the travel, with bigger hits, the secondary air chamber comes into play and they now work as one single big air chamber but at a higher pressure. So the fork firms up, offering more support. The end result is a spring curve that is almost linear, much like a coil spring.
You can also separately adjust the final 20% of the travel with the Bandit add-on, which can help you avoid harsh bottom-outs. In addition to all this, the German fork offers a ton of other neat details such as being fully CNC machined from aluminium and super clean brake hose routing.
Intend also makes the rear shock, which is called Hover Gamechanger. It also has rather unique looks, with its big cylinders and the small diameter shaft compared to other air spring rear shocks. The latter is in order to minimize seal friction, one of many small steps taken to make this one of the most supple air shocks out there.
As expected it features rebound and compression adjustment, as well as a climb switch that completely locks the fork. You can also add tokens to adjust how it ramps up towards bottoming out. But the real magic once again happens in the air spring system, with for example a huge negative air chamber. All in all it makes for a truly ”coil-like” feel, as it’s so incredibly supple and plush.
Brakes
The brakes are the almost mythical Trickstuff Maxima. These German, CNC machined little engineering marvels of brakes are unfortunately not super easy to come by, but they are more than worth the wait.
The braking power is quite honestly incredible, and they’re also extremely consistent. During long and hard descents you don’t just want good braking power, but also reliable braking power. One thing that helps to achieve this is the rather over-sized design, allowing for heat expansion.
They offer great ergonomics and thanks to bearings and polished internals the lever feel is amazing. The steel woven brake hoses are another detail to notice. Not just for looks, but since they don’t flex as much as regular brake hoses under high pressure they give a slightly more distinct and responsive feel to the brakes.
They’re matched to 203mm Trickstuff Dächle UL brake discs, which are fastened with titanium bolts from r2-bike.
Wheels
At the center you’ll find Onyx Racing Products hubs, Classic rear and Helix front.
These are made in the USA, and being made to super good tolerances and spinning on hybrid ceramic bearings these sure are top quality. But what really sets them apart is their sprag clutch system being used instead of traditional pawls or ratchets to engage the rear hub. This makes them completely silent when coasting. No clicking and no buzzing, all you hear is the sound of your tires. And it’s really quite something, making the riding experience very different – in a good way.
The system also delivers as good as instant engagement, something that many riders find beneficial depending on bike and riding style.
And while the front hub isn’t fully as unique in function, it sure looks unique with its helix shaped cutaways. Onyx hubs are available in a ton of different colors, even monthly limited edition ones, but I went with white to match the logos on the frame and to brighten things up a bit.
The wheels have been built up by Radsporttechnik Müller, a well renowned German wheel specialist shop. They also have their own line of rims under the M Carbon name, and this bike is equipped with MFX Carbon enduro/downhill rims.
These rims are absolutely massive in both profile and wall thickness, coming in at around 600 grams each. When writing this I’ve had the chance to ride the bike quite a bit already, and the rims have survived some truly harsh impacts. Just shrugging these hits off they definitely seem to be bombproof, a high valued quality when it comes to an enduro bike.
The tires are Continental Kryptotal F+R in 2.4” width. Coming from the brand’s new updated tire lineup, they feature a super grippy compound and a very sturdy construction. While the latter shows well in the rather heavy 1300g+ weight, tires are one place not to skip on performance to save a few grams. I’m currently not running any inserts, and the tires have of course been set up tubeless using Syncros Eco Sealant.
Drivetrain
Continuing the durability and performance focused theme you’ll find an Intend Rocksteady Crankset up front. Living up to its name, it will take more than a simple rock strike to damage these. They’ve been matched with an Actofive Signature 32T chainring, which are machined in Germany and of highest quality. It definitely looks the part too. The pedals are Crankbrothers Mallet E.
The crankset is spinning on a CeramicSpeed bottom bracket, which is perhaps not very common to see on enduro bikes. But they do make a lot of sense, since it’s not all about marginal gains saving watts when pedaling. They’re actually very durable and also easy to service, so right at home on a bike like this.
A SRAM X01 chain leads us to the 10-50T Garbaruk cassette. These are machined in Poland, and while you can get them in various anodized colors I opted for timeless silver. To match the silver theme the rear derailleur has been equipped with custom polished CeramicSpeed pulley wheels. The SRAM GX AXS rear derailleur itself has seen a bit of work too, with a custom painted clutch cover and cage.
Cockpit and More
The Ransom frame keeps the original Syncros bottom headset, but the upper headset has been changed to an Intend Stiffmaster. While it doesn’t make a big difference when running the special fork which adds a bit of stiffness, the purpose of this headset is to add stiffness and it does so with a special construction featuring an over-sized bearing.
On top there’s the beautifully machined Intend Grace EN stem, with matching top cap. It’s paired to perhaps the only super light component on this bike – a Schmolke Carbon DH Lowriser handlebar. This is actually an old favorite of mine that I’ve been using on other bikes in the past, and I run it at 780mm width.
The relatively new Syncros AM Lock-On grips come in two different size diameters for you to choose from, depending on hand size and preference. I’m running the bigger size, since I find it to make my grip strength last longer.
The seat post is a RockShox Reverb AXS with 170mm drop, held in place by an Intend Corona seat post clamp. On top you’ll find a Syncros Tofino R 1.0 saddle. It comes with carbon rails, a comfortable MTB friendly shape and plastic edges for a bit of extra durability.
To top things off there’s a Syncros iS Cache bottle cage. This can be flipped depending on whether you prefer to grab your bottle with your left or right hand, and it comes with a clever little multitool including even a chain link holder and a chain breaker.
Summary
The very first Scott I ever bought was actually the very first Scott Ransom 30 back in 2006. And while I absolutely loved that bike, things sure have come a long way since.
Weighing in at around 15.9 kg my new Ransom isn’t super light as such, but it’s such a cool bike to ride. The latest Ransom platform is confidence-inspiring and the high performance components both help you go fast and also save you from time and time again when maybe going a little too fast.
This makes it such a fun bike to ride, and I can’t wait to spend some more time on it no matter if it’s enduro style riding or laps in the bike park!
