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  • Duster as “hardcore hardtail”
  • rjj
    Free Member

    I remember back when Dirt did their hardtail feature that the Charge Duster was not fetured whereas the Soul, Inbred and others were. My question is can the Duster be run/used in a similar way to the Inbred/Soul ie thrased and chcucked around the woods for a couple of hours and built up in the same way or is it more a full XC bike?

    Anybody got any experiences/pics to share?

    Thanks,
    Richard.

    brant
    Free Member

    The Duster was featured.

    mboy
    Free Member

    Duster’s Geometry is a little more classic XC than either the Soul or the Inbred (well a 456 at least) I think, certainly even 100mm forks look tall on it, 80mm would probably be safer for decent handling.

    Build and tubing wise though, looks up to some abuse at least. Looks sturdy enough. I liked the look of them, except for me I’m firmly in the “5 inch at least” fork travel category I’m afraid!

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    rjj
    Free Member

    I thought it was the Blender that was featured.

    Vortexracing
    Full Member

    just looked at the mag and it’s the blender that is featured.

    Bloke who owns Charge says duster for XC and blender for bombing!

    whatever that is

    MrNutt
    Free Member

    a “hardcore hardtail” what would that be then?

    billyboulders
    Free Member

    a “hardcore hardtail” what would that be then?

    456 IMO

    Reckon a duster would do though (if I could afford one)

    househusband
    Free Member

    I liked the look of them, except for me I’m firmly in the “5 inch at least” fork travel category I’m afraid!

    I asked Charge bikes if the Duster was okay with 5″ forks, and this is the answer I got from Jim @ Charge Bikes – January 2008:

    You can run up to a 125mm fork without a problem. The throat gusset gives it the extra strength to enable it however it is designed around a 100mm fork and that’s the length which the frame handles at its best. Running your pikes at 120mm would be absoloutly fine and certainly wouldn’t hurt when the trail points down the hill.

    clwydrider
    Free Member

    Run my Duster with 110mm Ronins, great down hill but wouldn’t want any longer on steep technical climbs as the front end gets a bit light. Everything else seems heavy duty enough for what you are talking about. Took it to Snowdon and came down the Llanberis path and kept up with my mates on FS bikes no problem.

    mboy
    Free Member

    You can run up to a 125mm fork without a problem. The throat gusset gives it the extra strength to enable it however it is designed around a 100mm fork and that’s the length which the frame handles at its best. Running your pikes at 120mm would be absoloutly fine and certainly wouldn’t hurt when the trail points down the hill.

    Fair enough!

    Just they look/seem/feel a bit slack, even with a 100mm fork on, for my tastes. Something that the Cotic Soul, the 456 and my Genesis Altitude are not!

    hotcharge
    Free Member

    I have a charge duster, using it for XC stuff and done quantocks and peak district fine. I run Revelations and seems fine. Pics of bikes can be found on the Charge bikes website, heres mine, now running Formula The One Brakes.
    http://chargebikes.typepad.com/photos/your_bikes/img_1258-1.html

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