Nordest Cycles are a small brand based out of the Canary Islands, where you can ride all year long, and produce hardtails for almost all eventualities from gravel and bike-packing to enduro racing. The latter being proven in such enduro series as the Finnish Hardtail Enduro Cup, where it was the champion, with a rider on it of course.
They make their frames out of either titanium or chromoly steel and a few of their frames even include gearboxes. Experienced frame builder, Pedro Jerónimo, is one of the guys at the helm and his latest model is the Bardino 2 that builds on their original Bardino hardtail introduced 2 years ago. This was their best-selling frame, and has aggressive trail riding and enduro racing at its steel heart.
If Nordest's numbers are correct, then you should never be too far from one of their Bardino hardtails. With 600 sold to 46 different countries in 2 years it shows the popularity in the frame. Not big numbers in comparison to your more corporate brands, but mightily impressive given the size of Nordest.
Frame Details Made from 4130 chromoly steel and using double-butted tubes, the Bardino 2 is designed around a 160mm fork, but allows anything from 140mm up to 170mm. There's space in the frame for up to 29 x 2.8" or 27.5 x 3" tyres depending on your preference.
There are neat replaceable thru axle dropouts (12 x 148mm spacing) and they've worked on a new CNC chain stay yoke as an improvement on the previous frame. The headtube is made for a TR44 headset, allowing tapered forks to be used in the straight 44mm tube.
Cable routing is all external aside from the dropper post which enters the frame via a small port at the bottom of the seat tube. Seat post diameter is 31.6mm. The frame includes 3 bottle cage mounts, 2 inside the mainframe and one on the underside of the down tube. So you'll be sorted for hydration or even spares with a bolt on strap. ISCG tabs are on there too. It's a sleek looking frame with the top tube and seat stay generating a single line from head tube to drop out which gives good standover.
If the standard colour isn't your pick then there's a custom paint option available for an upcharge but if you can't find a colour that you like in the suggested RAL colour chart then there might be no pleasing you.
GeometryThere's no hiding from bad geometry with a hardtail. But one notable point is that in comparison to a full suspension bike, the geometry will move in the opposite direction when going through the travel. Head and seat angles will steepen and reach will increase. Also important is that the Bardino's geometry is stated for when the bike is sagged (20% on a 160mm fork), this is much more useful than the static geometry as the changes on a hardtail when a rider hops on can be fairly significant.
Frames come in M, ML and L sizes with reach numbers ranging from 444mm to 485mm. Nordest offer a sizing guide ranging from 168cm to 193cm (5'6" to 6'4"). Head angle is generously slack at 64.5˚ and there's a 75˚ seat angle too.
425mm chain stays are, well, 425mm. You can make your own call on if that's on trend or not. But it should give relative ease in pulling some wild manoeuvres in the woods or manualing through puddles. Do they get puddles in the Canary Islands? BB drop is a plentyful 55mm and should result in around a 309mm BB height with 27.5 x 2.8" tyres and a 322mm BB height with 29 x 2.5" tyres.
Frame Kits & Price The Bardino 2 is available as just the frame, including the seat post clamp and rear axle, or as a frame kit, including Cane Creek 40 headset and a choice of Fox 36 Factory or Marzocchi Z1 Bomber.
If you're in the EU then the prices include shipping. Custom painting is €150 extra.
• Frame Only – €599 (≈$664)
• Frame Kit with Fox 36 Factory – €1,578 (≈$1,749)
• Frame Kit with Marzocchi Z1 Bomber – €1,279 (≈$1,417)
More information at
Nordest Cycles
www.pinkbike.com/photo/18072894
Anyone out there with this combo that can give us their experiences?
(Personally, a Ti hardtail with Pinion gearbox and Motion fork would light the forums and comments up! LOL)
Obviously doesn't mean that a hardtail wouldn't benefit from one of those linkage forks. They might. My feeling (not experience) tells me it might feel odd having the front wheel move away from the bike centerline instead of towards it as the fork compresses with the wheel turned in one direction. For instance when riding steep switchback descends. Not sure whether it would be noticeable but it feels as if it would be counterintuitive. Still well worth a test.
@mmoon It was a case of touching down on the wrong side of a landing.
When 3 years ago i passed from my Transtion TransAm 29er with a 68° HA to the 64,5° of my Stanton, that was weird, really weird, but once quickly adapted it`s such a great progress.... if you load more your fork :-)
I suspect a lot of long travel hardtail owners do the same. For example "check out" the awesome "Czeck Style Hardtail" video posted to Pinkbike a couple of days ago. He takes massive hits, and it looks like he isn't using anymore than 2/3 of his travel.
Exactly; I have three of the damned things and still lust for more!!
I ride a 160mm Suntour Auron RC2 on that Switchback... a good affordable and easily customable fork.
Initially I used it with 140mm travel, no token, and a firm set up. It was Ok but the nose dove too much in the steep, even with good HC/LC set ups. I added 1 then 2 tokens; was better but not optimum in the steep.
I changed to 150mm, with 2 tokens, and a smoother set up: it was better but I wanted something radical...
... so I finally went back to the 160mm initial travel, still 2 tokens, and a smooth-but-not-too-much set up, and I like it like that. I must have something like 25-28% sag, it works well negatively also because I changed the negative coil for a smoother - thank u Suntour ;-) and I use all my travel, minus the last centimeter.
The point is: I prefer to use more travel BUT with a subtle progressivity than using less travel and compensing the negative sagging effects with stiffer set ups. BUT!: it really depends on each rider`s style and terrain!!! Obviously: I ride a lot nose heavy, especially in the semi flat, and when I ride in the mountains, this set up gives so much confidence when attacking the steep
This seems like an ideal candidate for a "I have a bike's worth of spare parts already" build.
But the 1 bike I had and have ZERO desire to sell is a 2016 Kona Honzo Steel. 140mm fork, XT throughout and Flows. It's not worth much, nor does it get ridden nearly as much as my other bikes, but I can tell you this: when I ride it, even if it's just through town to run to the store, it feels like a big kids BMX bike. No other bike I ride makes me feel like I'm 15 again. It absolutely puts a smile on my face every time, even if those times are infrequent. It's the 1 bike I'll never sell.
However I have now owned 2 of the current generation Nukeproof Scout Alum hardtails which I love. I am a firm believer it is the longer 440 ish stays that make the Nukeproof Scout stable, smooth and so good. 425-430 are too short for an "enduro" hardtail. It makes them harsh in rough conditions and twitchy and less stable at high speed. It is a trend that I hope ends soon.
Yes its harder and yes it beats you up more over the miles but it climbs better (not amazingly) and....I dont know what it is exactly, its just great.
My partner and I here at the powder coating shop just had a chuckle over that line. That might have been true in the 80s but these days most customers don't choose an RAL. RAL powders are all full gloss and solid tone. People want different gloss levels, metallics, texture, other colors, etc and most suppliers offer a wide range of powders outside of the RAL.
My TransAm which shares some design elements with this frame is Tractor Green for example, not an RAL unfortunately because its a nice green!
Did I do it right?
nordestcycles.com/en/product/lacrau-ti-frame
unfortunately (or luckily) I currently have no need/room/excuse for another bike
So for reach (G), the vertical line would get shorter, and the horizontal line would get longer to keep the right angle between the BB and headset connected (since it can't rotate).
Basically imagine a line going directly up from the bottom bracket and directly horizontal from the center of the headtube. As a fork compresses, the reach increases because frame pivots from the rear axel and brings those points into a more horizontal relationship with one another.
Think of a clock. The bottom bracket is the center point. At 5 past the hour, our "reach" is the distance between a line up to 12 o'clock and the top of the minute hand. At 10 past, that distance is much greater. It's basically the same with a bike as the fork compresses (though it's not pivoting on the BB.
Being chromoly, it should be a-ok but you never know! If I'm ordering something with $200 shipping, I'd like to know I'm covered for manufacturers defects for at least a year.