Fade SLX Ltd Edition

A limited edition Fade built around the Marzocchi Bomber DJ fork (in red) with Shimano SLX drivetrain & brake and Burgtec finishing kit.

Rewind to Spring 2020 and the opportunity came up to get hold of the new Marzocchi Bomber DJ forks out of the very first batch in the UK. At that point we didn't have a plan but we pulled the trigger anyway, knowing they would be both incredible to ride and as rare as unicorn poo. Little did we know that there would be a global pandemic and that the bike industry would be blown to bits, meaning it would take until now to release them on a bike. Still, we think it'll be worth the wait.

With the forks dialled in we knew the rest of the build had to be up to par so we went straight to Hope for the Fortus 30W 26" wheels and Burgtec for the finishing kit; there's a nice British-brand thread running through the bike with Gusset providing the grips, chain and sprocket. 

Add all that to a Shimano SLX crank, BB and SLX hydraulic disc brake and you've got a light, fast and seriously dialled DJ or pumptrack bike. Shame we can only build five of them!

This bike will be released at 9am on Thursday 29th July.

£1999

The red Marzocchi Bomber DJ forks were the jumping-off point for this build. They're so rare right now we've been sitting on them for months while we pulled everything else together. It's been very difficult not to fit them on my own bike :-)

Burgtec Mk3 Enduro stem and Josh Bryceland signature 'RideHigh' 38mm bars. The grips are Gusset Sleeper Flanged push-ons. Note that all Fades are built with 4x 5mm headset spacers and uncut bars to make sure riders can tune their position perfectly.

Burgtec The Cloud Boost saddle ties in with the bar-stem combo. We specced the white & yellow embroidered logo to tie in with the bar graphics and pick out the yellow of the Bomber DJ top-cap. Small details matter.

The Shimano SLX 170mm crank is paired up with a 30t chainring (30-13 ratio) and looks trick when paired up with the Gusset Slink 1/2 link chain in black.

Detail of the singlespeed setup, dropouts and brake We spec a Hope Pro 4 SS hub (yes, it's a loud, positive click) in black with Hope spacers and Gusset 13t sprocket. The chainline is perfectly straight. The rear brake is a Shimano SLX hydraulic 2-pot caliper and SLX M7100 lever. Its set up on a Shimano IS20 spacer with an SLX 160mm rotor.

Closeup of the Hope Pro 4 front hub sitting in the Marzocchi Bomber DJ fork. Note the 20mm bolt-through axle setup. Both the hub and fork carry tabs for a disc brake if you want to add one later (the bike comes with a rear brake only).

The rims are Hope Fortus 30w 26". It's a rim offering DH strength and stiffness but without a significant weight penalty; the entire Fade SLX build comes in at 10.7kg (that's 23lb).

The Halo H-Block tanwall is a wire-bead tyre with a tried & tested tread pattern. We spec the tanwall version as a subtle nod to the bike's old-school heritage (remember the original Bomber DJ?).

This bike will be released at 9am on Thursday 29th July.

£1999