Da Bomb are back in the UK via Racecraft Bikes in Inverness and Pete has been slinging their long travel enduro piece around the Scottish Highlands.
Da Bomb have been around since 1998, based in Taiwan and has a history of making no-frills bike kit. Keen to shrug off any previous brand identity, they have released the Moab Super Enduro. An all-alloy, long travel, high pivot speed machine. Pete took it to the Highlands for a shakedown lap.
Photos by Pete Scullion.
Key features:
- 6061-T6 alloy frame
- 170mm rear wheel travel
- High pivot Horst Link w/ idler
- Fox Racing DHX Performance shock
- ZS44/ZS56 headset
- 170mm rear travel, intended for a 170-180mm Fork. 180mm Dual Crown Compatible.
- 205 X 65mm M8 (FW54*RW22), Trunnion-Type shock
- 31.6mm post
- 73mm BB w/ ISCG05 mount
- 148mm x 12mm rear axle
- SRAM and Shimano-specific idlers
- Rear Axle / Seat Clamp / UDH Hanger / HP1 High Pivot Chain Guide included
- 4100g (S) / 4200g (M) w/o shock
- 29” x 2.6” max tyre size
- Gloss Pearl White only
- S / M / L / (XL available on request)
- Frame only £1,500.00, from £1,850.00 RRP (w/ shock), complete builds from £3,500.00
- DaBombBikes.co.uk
So what is the Da Bomb Moab Super Enduro? Simply put, this is a full 6061-T6, high pivot Horst Link bike, offering up 170mm rear wheel travel. It’s designed around a 180mm fork, including dual crown 180mm forks. The bike runs on 29″ wheels only and there are no geometry or kinematic adjustments available via flip chips or similar. What you see is what you get.
Anti-squat figures are high (105%) at zero travel, around 95% at sag, dropping off to around 50% at bottom out. This aims to make the bike an efficient pedalling platform on the climbs, especially for a bike of this size. This shock also comes with a 2-position shock to firm things up. Leverage curve is fairly high and linear until mid-travel where it starts to ramp progressively, especially in the final 30mm of travel.
All this aims to give a planted, stable feeling on the descents whilst also providing serious climbing traction on the ups. We’re used to reading the marketing spiel by now, the proof is always in the pudding. Uniquely, the frame requires the buyer to specify whether they will run SRAM or Shimano drivetrains, as the idler system has a different spacing between the two systems. Not a massive hurdle, the bike shipping as standard with the SRAM version.
Frames start at £1,500.00 with the seat clamp, axle, chain guide and UDH hanger. Add a Fox DHX Performance coil shock for £1,850.00 like the bike seen here or add a Rockshox Vivid Coil Ultimate RC2T for £1,950. Arguably, the latter is the best frame option as the Vivid shock is a seriously impressive damper.
Word on the street is that complete builds are just around the corner. A Moab with the Fox DHX Performance shock, a Rockshox Zeb (Select or Select+ TBC), Shimano XT 12-speed drive and Da Bomb finishing kit should come in under £4,000.
Geometry
The Moab is available in S, M, L and XL (special order for XL).
Reach on the M is 463.5mm with a seat tube of 410mm. Head angle is 63.5 degrees with a seat tube angle of 77.8 degrees. Chainstays are 440mm across the sizes, with a wheelbase on the M of 1258mm.
While the focus on this test is the Moab frame, it’s worth briefly discussing the spec and how that affects the ride. I rode a size S, but could happily fit on a M too thanks to the suitably short seat tubes on both sizes. This bike came fitted with a Fox Podium fork and DHX Performance shock, SRAM Eagle 90 Mechanical Transmission, Da Bomb UFO 2.0 hubs on DT Swiss FR541 rims, Maxxis High Roller and Minion DHR tyres both in Double Down casing, finished off with Da Bomb’s own finishing kit. Brakes and cranks were both Lewis units.
Sag, damping and levers set, we were off to the trails at Aigas for a shakedown lap. I will caveat this review with the knowledge that owing to some pretty wild weather in the forecast, I had to forego some of the usual fine tuning of the dampers in order to get more time on the bike.
Lap one saw me slow the rebound down by four clicks on both High and Low Speed rebound on the fork as well the same on the shock (Low Speed only). This allowed the bike to better track the ground and the following few laps felt like I was really starting to ramp he speed up. The faster I went, the more composed the bike felt and as the sun dipped into the sea, I was keen to throw it down a mountain as was confident that is where this bike would shine.
Out to Wester Ross the following day, I would winch my way up one of the many old stalkers paths as far as my legs and the weather would allow. In the saddle, the traction on the climbs felt limitless, allowing me to spin this rather big bike up and over some serious chunder. Out of the saddle, the 2-position switch would be required to kill the pedal bob, but that’s not unique to this bike.
With excellent line of sight on the descent, and some serious chunder on offer, I could really let the bike run. Here, the bike made an awful lot of sense. Any reservations I had about the lack of setup time were thrown out the window as the Moab goaded me into ever more speed.
As a rider, I tend to understeer rather than oversteer, and the supportive mid-stroke on the Moab, much akin to the YT Capra, allowed me to load the rear into the turns and get the back wheel to step just enough to swing the bike around. The Lewis LH4 brakes were every bit the anchors required to rein the bike in when needed too.
With a little more time to fine tune the feel, the Moab would be a veritable rocketship. It was supremely fast on the open hill where it could be unleashed, although my hands did suffer towards the end of the run. A twangier handlebar and no volume spacers in the forks could have really sent the front wheel grip and suppleness through the roof. As it’s verging on downhill prowess that you can winch back to the top, I think the Vivid Coil option is a no-brainer too. Even with the upgraded shock, the Da Bomb Moab frame comes in at a price that is extremely competitive.
