Wheel Size: 29’’
Travel: 120 mm rear / 150 mm front
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, M/L, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 64°
- Seat tube angle: 78°
- Reach: 490 mm (size M/L)
- Chainstay length: 435 mm
Frame material: Steel and titanium front triangle options; aluminum chainstays / steel seatstays
Price:
- Darco Ti Frame: $5,700 CAD ($4,181 USD at time of writing)
- Darco: $6,850 CAD ($5,026 USD at time of writing)
- Darco Ti: $9,900 CAD ($7,262 USD at time of writing)
Wheel Size: 29’’
Travel: 158 mm rear / 170 mm front
Geometry highlights:
- Sizes offered: S, M, M/L, L, XL
- Headtube angle: 63.5°
- Seat tube angle: 79°
- Reach: 490 mm (size M/L)
- Chainstay length: 440 mm
Frame material: Steel front triangle; aluminum rear triangle
Price:
- Frame: TBD
- Complete: $7,950 CAD ($5,834 US at time of writing)
Intro
Chromag has been making hardtails for nearly 20 years — and have become synonymous with aggressive ones — but aside from their Minor Threat kids bike, they haven’t made a production full suspension bike. Until today, that is. And in fact, Chromag now has two full-suspension adult bikes in their lineup, with the 120mm-travel Darco (available now) and the 158mm-travel Lowdown (coming Spring 2023).
Chromag’s history with full-suspension bikes goes back a lot farther, though. They built their first prototype all the way back in 2012, and while that bike held up to years of testing, the exercise taught Chromag that they needed more resources to be able to build a production full-suspension bike the way they wanted to — with as many parts made in-house as possible, and the kind of fit-and-finish that they felt was up to their standards — so they bided their time, built up their team, and re-started development in 2018.
It wasn’t Chromag’s intention to release the Minor Threat ahead of the Darco and Lowdown. Things just worked out that way. When they began designing the bikes in 2018, they figured they’d be in production in a year or two. As is the way with these things, it took longer than planned; apparently, some global events shook up the bike industry just a little bit between now and then and those probably didn’t help, either. But Chromag was a lot more interested in doing things right than doing them quickly, and now the Darco and Lowdown are here.
Flash Review
Blister Members can read our Flash Review of the Darco for our initial on-trail impressions. Become a Blister Member now to check out this and all of our Flash Reviews, plus get exclusive deals and discounts on gear, and personalized gear recommendations from us.
The Frames
Well, the Darco is here now, anyway; the Lowdown is coming in spring 2023. But they’ve both broken cover today, and while they share a lot in common, there are some interesting areas in which they diverge, too.
Let’s start with the similarities: they’re both Horst-link 29ers with an aluminum rear triangle, and a front end made of something that’s not aluminum; the Lowdown comes with a steel front end, and the Darco has options for steel and titanium front triangles. The two bikes share a nearly identical silhouette, with a vertically-oriented rear shock and overall similar lines. That leaves room for a water bottle inside the front triangle across the size range, plus an accessory mount underneath the top tube. The details are no-nonsense, with stuff like a threaded bottom bracket shell and a SRAM UDH derailleur hanger keeping things simple. The cables are routed externally along the top of the downtube to keep routing simple and rattling to a minimum, though they do dip internally through the chainstays. And modern niceties such as a molded rubber chainstay guard are included as well. The only notable omission is chainguide tabs — Chromag says that they prioritized a wider chainstay yoke and bearing spacing for durability, and the ISCG tabs had to go to make room.
Chromag has long been a fan of steel and titanium for their hardtails and wanted to keep those materials around in their full-suspension models for continuity of ride quality and aesthetics, but also acknowledges that aluminum makes a lot of things easier for the rear triangle when it comes to stiffness, weight (especially in the larger machined parts), and some less-obvious finer points, such as bearing fitment. And so the Darco and Lowdown get mixed-material frames, with aluminum rear triangles on both and steel used for the front half, with the option for a titanium front triangle on the Darco thrown in for good measure. And intriguingly, Chromag mentions that they’re likely to be using more aluminum in their product lineup going forward, so we’ll just have to wait and see what they have in store.
Chromag says that their philosophy when it comes to suspension design was focused around consistency and predictability, with leverage curves that deliver ample progressivity in a nice, straight line and moderate (and consistent) anti-rise to keep the braking behavior predictable. The Darco also has about 110% anti-squat around sag for a nice balance of pedaling efficiency and traction; Chromag hasn’t yet published numbers for the Lowdown, but they should be similar.
Despite all that progressivity, Chromag says that the Darco doesn’t have clearance for most coil shocks and that its leverage curve was designed for air ones. Given the limited rear travel of the Darco that does make some sense, and the Lowdown is coil-compatible if you’re so inclined.
The main area where the two bikes differ is in suspension travel, with the Darco getting 120 mm in back, and the Lowdown bumping that up to 158 mm. Their forks don’t differ as wildly, though, with the Darco being designed around a 150mm-travel option, and the Lowdown kicking things up to 170mm (and Chromag says that +/- 10 mm is fair game on both). Chromag describes the Darco as “a hardtailers full suspension bike,” with just enough rear suspension to take the edge off on what otherwise looks more like a long-travel Trail bike in terms of geometry and design; the Lowdown looks like a somewhat more conventional Enduro bike, with more closely matched front and rear suspension travel and the geometry to go with it. So on that note:
Fit & Geometry
Both bikes are offered in five sizes, labeled Small through XL, with an M/L size snuck in the middle. And despite their differences in rear wheel travel, the geometry of the two bikes doesn’t differ wildly. The Lowdown’s headtube is just 0.5° slacker (63.5°, vs. 64° on the Darco), its seat tube is a degree steeper (at a very-steep 79°, compared to a still-steep 78° on the Darco), and both have reach numbers within a millimeter of each other across the size range (starting at 450 mm on the Small, and growing to 530 mm on the XL, with the M/L coming in at a decidedly-long 490 mm).
The Builds
Chromag offers a single build on each of the frame versions, with the Darco Ti also available as a frame-only, for $4,700 CAD with a RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate rear shock. All the builds feature quality parts without going overboard on full-bling top-dollar stuff, and the steel builds, in particular, are impressively good value for money.
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX AXS
- Brakes: SRAM G2 RSC w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Select+
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Air
- Wheels: Chromag Phase30 with R4 hubs
- Dropper Post: RockShox Reverb
- Drivetrain: SRAM GX AXS
- Brakes: SRAM Code RSC w/ 200 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox ZEB Select+
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Air
- Wheels: Chromag BA30 with R4 hubs
- Dropper Post: RockShox Reverb
- Drivetrain: SRAM X01
- Brakes: SRAM G2 RSC w/ 180 mm rotors
- Fork: RockShox Lyrik Select+
- Shock: RockShox Super Deluxe Ultimate Air
- Wheels: Chromag Phase30 with R4 hubs
- Dropper Post: RockShox Reverb
Some Questions / Things We’re Curious About
(1) With especially aggressive geometry for a 120mm-travel bike and a bit of extra fork travel, will the Darco feel like it really competes with a lot of the other bikes on the market with similar rear travel numbers, or is it going to feel more like an especially-lively mid-travel Trail bike? (We’re betting on the latter.)
(2) How much of a family resemblance will there be on-trail between the Darco and the Lowdown, given their similar design and geometry, but substantially different suspension travel?
(3) And how is the Lowdown going to stack up against the crowded field of ~160mm-travel Enduro bikes on the market?
Bottom Line (For Now)
Chromag has taken a big leap by entering the adult full-suspension market, and the two bikes they’ve launched look very interesting on paper, and appear to walk the tightrope of adhering to Chromag’s brand identity while adding rear suspension to the equation impressively seamlessly. We’re hoping to throw a leg over one or both soon, so stay tuned for more to come.
Flash Review
Blister Members can read our Flash Review of the Darco for our initial on-trail impressions. Become a Blister Member now to check out this and all of our Flash Reviews, plus get exclusive deals and discounts on gear, and personalized gear recommendations from us.