The 29er market is hot at the moment and Swarf are right on the money with their 115mm-travel Contour. Don’t let the lack of rear bounce fool you – this bike is ready to take a beating!
The frame
Outstanding attention to detail gives the Contour the feel of a highly-polished product, making it easy to forget that our sample was just a prototype (Swarf hope to have the finished product ready by the new year). The mainframe and swingarm are lovingly crafted from various different types of steel tubing (see spec), and the frame has amazingly clean lines, with a built-in seat clamp and neat and well-thought-out external routing for the rear brake hose and gear cable. We particularly like the way the top tube and seatstays form a single straight line along the length of the bike.
Swarf have opted for a singlepivot suspension layout combined with a linkage-actuated shock. The swingarm has 6mm of vertical flex built in, which eliminates the need for a pivot above the dropouts. Ady, Swarf’s owner, says he spent a long time engineering the design so that it worked with the smallest amount of flex possible. He’s also configured the suspension to be exceptionally progressive.
The rocker link on our bike was machined from 6082-T6 aluminium, but production bikes will lose the seatstay brace to improve tyre clearance and use a carbon fibre link instead to maintain stiffness. A range of rear shocks will be available, including the Cane Creek DBair IL fitted here. The frame itself weighs a claimed 3.35kg (large size, without shock).
Vital statistics include 115mm of rear wheel travel, a 67-degree head angle and a steep 75.5-degree seat angle. Our large sample had a long 465mm reach and 1,210mm wheelbase, plus 445mm chainstays.
The kit
The Contour will only be available as a frame, but we can see a lot of buyers opting for a similar build to ours, which included a RockShox Pike RCT3 fork and Reverb post, and Shimano XT brakes and gearing. Light Bicycle carbon wheels with a 31.6mm internal width gave a nice wide tyre profile and felt neither especially twangy nor overly stiff.
The ride
Swing a leg over the Swarf and, even in the car park, you’d think it’s got more than 115mm of travel, thanks to the plush shock and impressively progressive rear end. On the trail, it’s a blast. The suspension fills you with confidence that it’ll handle anything you throw its way. Put rock gardens, roots and massive compressions in front of the Contour and it’ll chomp through them without making a fuss. As a bonus, it’s got great smallbump compliance too, because the progressiveness of the rear end means you can run lower shock pressures than normal.
Despite its smooth and plush feel, it’s no blancmange on the trail. The steel frame is forgiving and takes some of the harshness out of washboard ripples and trail chatter, but it still goes exactly where you point it. That bump-dulling ability doesn’t translate to twanginess either. It’s stiff, strong and supple. While the 67-degree head angle sounds steep compared to the latest 650b enduro bikes, it’s relatively slack for a short-travel 29er. Even when ragging down rough straights or steep sections, we didn’t feel like we were getting pitched forward or that the front was tucking under.
If you’re in the market for a handmade trail bike that punches well above its weight, the Swarf 29er’s special ride and well-thoughtout details mean that it needs to be on your radar.
HIGHS
- It’s surprising how far you can push this short-travel speed machine
- Feels like there’s a lot more travel than there actually is
- Great geometry means you can push your limits
LOWS
- It’s only a prototype at the moment (but Swarf say you should be able to order one by the new year)
Frame Steel (Reynolds 853 DZB top and down tubes, Reynolds 631 seat and head tubes, Dedacciai chainstays, 4130 seatstays), 115mm (4.5in) travel
Fork RockShox Pike RCT3, 130mm (5.1in) travel
Shock Cane Creek DBair IL
Drivetrain Shimano Deore XT with Race Face Next SL cranks (1x11)
Wheelset Light Bicycle 29C14 carbon rims on Hope Pro 4 hubs, Schwalbe Magic Mary 29x2.35in (f) and WTB Breakout 29x2.3in (r) tyres
Brakes Shimano Deore XT, 180mm rotors
Bar/stem Renthal Fatbar Lite Carbon 35, 760mm/Spank Spoon 2.0, 40mm
Seatpost/saddle RockShox Reverb Stealth 125mm dropper/Fabric Scoop
Weight 14.5kg (32lb), large size without pedals
Price $3000 (frame & shock)