Dangerholm's Scale RC Super Gravel

Sweden, 2023. Gustav Gullholm aka. Dangerholm is a genius and a bike geek. An almost inexhaustible think tank with an unprecedented attention to detail. For his new project, he was again free of any specifications and just blows up the boundaries of the bike segments as we know them. This time he takes the new Scale RC, SCOTT's uncompromising race hardtail, and realizes his vision of a new Super Gravel bike.  

(Words by Dangerholm)

There’s this joke going around that some modern gravel bikes are becoming so capable that they’re starting to resemble 90s mountain bikes, and especially so if fitted with a flat bar. But would it really be such a bad thing?
Definitely not if you’re asking me, at least as long as we get to keep all the modern features and tech.

The Vision
If you’ve been riding and training cross-country for some years then you’ve also probably spent quite a lot of time riding gravel with your mountain bike, well before the rise of the modern drop bar gravel bike. And while there are some benefits to the latter, there are many good things to say about a gravel oriented mountain bike as well.
Perhaps most obvious is better comfort thanks to the bigger tires and better control when things start to get rough thanks to geometry and handlebar setup. Although there’s always the factor of personal preference of course.
But if you like me come from an off-road background you are very likely to feel right at home on a gravel specific mountain bike. And I’d argue that with the right tire choice, gearing and perhaps handlebar width - it wouldn’t be much slower than its drop bar counterparts.
We already have lightweight racing and training gravel bikes, artistic steel gravel bikes and adventure/bike packing gravel bikes - so why not proper flat bar mountain bike based gravel bikes as well. So when taking a SCOTT Scale RC and turning it into a gravel bike, what better name to use than SG as in Super Gravel?

The master and his creation - Gustav Gullholm aka. Dangerholm

The Build
For 2023 the SCOTT Scale frames saw a complete redesign, including both the aluminium models and their carbon counterparts. This bike is built around a Scale RC World Cup frame which sits in the middle, featuring the HMX carbon fiber quality.
Up front you’ll find the brand new SCOTT Scale Rigid fork, which integrates perfectly with the frame. It gives you the opportunity to either go in the gravel direction like I did here, or it can be the perfect fork if you want to turn your mountain bike hardtail into a bike packing machine.

This bike features some amazing titanium components, and two that are easy to miss from just a quick glance can be found on the frame set. The thru axles are machined in Italy by METI, and while they’re not lighter than the standard aluminium axles they more than make up for it with their beautiful titanium hue and of course by being extremely strong and stiff.
At the rear you’ll find a 3D printed titanium UDH derailleur hanger by Sturdy Cycles. It has a hollow construction and the machined spacer and threaded section perfectly matches the titanium axles.

Paint
Wanting to give the bike a classy yet sporty look I turned towards the British Racing Green color palette. From there it became heavily Porsche inspired, going with an actual Porsche color called Forest Green Metallic (or Tannengrün Metallic). A classic Porsche theme is to have gold accents, such as wheels and stripes. When going with a rather discreet color like a dark green, adding this really makes the whole thing pop. And while some might consider it going a bit too far, I decided to add a select few gold anodized components as well.

"While I love my drop-bar gravel bike, there's just something about a mountain bike based gravel build. It's super fun and inspires playful riding like popping wheelies, there's lots of comfort thanks to the big tire volume and thick foam grips and except for being slightly less aerodynamic it's essentially just as fast."

Gustav Gullholm
Dangerholm

SPECLIST

Frame: SCOTT Scale RC World Cup size Large
Derailleur hanger: Sturdy Cycles 3D printed titanium
Fork: SCOTT Scale Rigid
Thru axles: METI Titanium
Headset: Syncros with CeramicSpeed SLT bearings
Handlebar: Syncros Fraser iC SL 80mm -20degrees 720mm
Grips: Syncros Foam
Seat post: Schmolke Carbon TLO
Seat: Berk Composites
Crankset: Sturdy Cycles MTB 3D printed titanium
Chainring: Dward Design ”DangerDward” 42T
Bottombracket: CeramicSpeed
Pedals: Shimano XTR with METI Rapido titanium axles
Chain: SRAM RED
Cassette: e*thirteen Helix Race Gravel 9-45T
Rear derailleur: SRAM RED AXS XPLR with gold Carbon-Ti limit screws
Rear derailleur cage: CeramicSpeed OSPW 3D printed hollow titanium
Wheels: Syncros Silverton SL
Tires: Kenda Rush Pro TR 2.4”
Tubes: Revoloop Ultra MTB
Brakes: Trickstuff Piccola Carbon
Rotor: Trickstuff Dächle UL 160mm
Lock-rings: Sturdy Cycles 3D printed titanium
Bottle cages: Sturdy Cycles titanium
Front light: Moonlight Mountaingear Bright As Day 4000
 
Weight including pedals: 7,67kg