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Nordest Bardino, a new steel Enduro hardtail trail bike

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For a while the bike designer behind the titanium bikes of Jerónimo Cycles in the Canary Islands has been teasing a new, affordable steel mountain bike project they’ve been developing. The details are in and it turns out that they’ve spun off a separate bike brand that will focus on producing performance steel bikes – Nordest Cycles. A more complete bike line-up is planned for introduction at the end of the summer, but for now they are introducing the first bike that will go through a crowdfunding campaign starting in a about a week to get it out to riders faster. The Nordest Bardino is a 4130 steel 27.5+/29er hardtail designed in Tenerife for enduro riding, built around a 160mm fork, and available in reasonably priced frame, frameset, and complete bike options to hit a trail near you…

After several months of testing the final prototypes over the winter in Spain & Portugal the new Bardino is ready to head into production.

 

The double butted 4130 chromoly frame gets the most recent crop of contemporary trail bike tech and features. That means low, long & slack geometry optimized for short 40mm stems, plus the ability to run true plus-sized 27.5+ tires or wide 29er trail tires. That amounts to clearance up to 27.5×3″ or 29×2.5″ thanks to a plate style driveside chainstay yoke design.

With a 65° head angle and built for 160mm 27.5″ forks, the bikes get a 44mm gusseted headtube for tapered steerers.

The bottom bracket sticks with 73mm threaded, and gets ISCG05 tabs for whatever type of trouble you want to get into.

Out back a replaceable set of dropouts provide Boost 148 spacing, but also potential flexibility in the future for other builds (singlespeed maybe?) Routing is all external for easy setup, but does get a port in the seattube for stealth dropper routing.

Unlike their sister company’s made-in-Europe ti bikes, these all come out of a factory in Taiwan. And with that comes affordability. The Bardino is available as a frame-only for just 550€, including shipping through the EU.

All the frames then make their way to Spain where they get built up for each rider. So throw in a bit more scratch and from 1540€ you can get a frame kit with a Fox trail fork and a Cane Creek headset. Frame kit customization will even let you piece together a dropper seatpost, a complete Thomson cockpit kit, or a Chris King headset as your budget allows.

Complete bikes will be available in two builds: the 2500€ Bardino M2 with a Fox 36 Performance fork, an SLX 1×11 group, and Thomson covert dropper; or the 3300€ Bardino M1 with an XT build upgraded to a Fox 36 Factory FIT4 fork.

The Bardino is available in three stock sizes – M, M/L & L – with the middle one claiming a frame weight of 2650g. All of the new Nordest frames will come with a 5 year warranty, and we should expect to see more bikes available as Nordest fills out the line sometime this September.

NordestCycles.com

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17 Comments
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Colin M
7 years ago

Really handsome bike. 65-degree HTA and 160mm fork? Probably can go real fast on it but damn it will beat the snot out of your body. Ouch.

Seth
Seth
7 years ago

That looks sweet. Reminds me of my Canfield N9. The frame just needs an ss option.

Paleo Velo
7 years ago

The front end writes checks that the back can’t cash. Fun looking bike.

Stefan
Stefan
7 years ago

Incredible how different the Kashima coating is between Fork and Seatpost.
Nice bike anyway.

sloth
sloth
7 years ago
Reply to  Stefan

Fork is Fox, seatpost is a Thomson Covert, so no Kash on it.

JNH
JNH
7 years ago
Reply to  Stefan

That is a Thomson dropper in the publicity shots.

Craig
Craig
7 years ago

Really nice design

ELEVEN_g
7 years ago

Super nice. If I was not old and feeble, and my lower back would not complain, I’d be riding that!

Veganpotter
Veganpotter
7 years ago

That’s one of the least shreddy promo videos I’ve ever seen!!!

White Mike
White Mike
7 years ago
Reply to  Veganpotter

No doubt! They didn’t even hit the stairs! Lol. Plus the Enya soundtrack.

Tim
Tim
7 years ago

Kind of similar to the Brooklyn Machine Works Park Bike of some years back, but with a longer rear end.

Eric in the 505
Eric in the 505
7 years ago

Agree w/ @Seth: make SS version and I’ll buy it right now. Please?!?
Beautiful, beautiful!

Marin
Marin
7 years ago

That frame weighs as much as some full suspension ones with a shock.
Also what’s the point on such an aggressive front end without rear suspension?

I’d get light and nimble HT with 120-140mm travel that you could use for everything, but appeal of this monstrosity eludes me.

graham Spence
7 years ago

Hey guys. You may want to ride a bike like this before criticising too much. A good steel hardtail with a good front fork is an awesome fun trail weapon. I reckon this bike looks awesome, and I bet she rides the same

Colin M
7 years ago
Reply to  graham Spence

Nobody criticized it “too much”. They criticized just enough.

BTW I ride a hardtail with dropper and big fork

I didn’t love the Breadwinner bike similar to this one either. The front end says go faster but the rear end holds you back on techy gnar.

Aaron
Aaron
7 years ago

Please guys, stop putting 160mm forks on hardtails. Anything longer than about 140mm means your head angle goes through the roof at full compression. Sketch. I have 130mm on my 29er hardtail and it is perfect.

Carl
Carl
7 years ago

What Aaron said! Head angle steepens excessively during big compressions

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