SwiftCarbon D-vore

It climbed like a rat up a drain pipe, with no hint of wander from the front on even the steepest grades.

AMB Magazine 11.06.2014

SwiftCarbon D-vore

Three things we liked

  1. Fast handling, thanks to the low front-end
  2. Pedaling stiffness matched with a reasonably comfortable ride
  3. Very clean cable and hose routing for minimal snags

Three things we’d change

  1. I’d fit some wider carbon ’bars with more sweep
  2. Get the wheels set up tubeless
  3. Put a light carbon seatpost in to increase the ride comfort.

Tester Bio

Mike Blewitt

Riding Experience XC, Marathon and Adventure Riding at home and abroad

Generally rides Bianchi Methanol 29 SL and Methanol 29 FS

Height 180cm

Weight 72kg

Bike test track Lake Crackenback, Thredbo, East Jindabyne

SwiftCarbon are unlikely to be a brand that you are familiar with, but you dabble in a variety of other cycling pursuits, you may have seen the name under some very fast people in road and triathlon. Purely interested in high- performance bikes, SwiftCarbon is the concept of ex-professional cyclist Mark Blewett. By his own account he wasn’t an amazing professional cyclist, but he did learn what he did and didn’t like about bikes. Using his knowledge of industrial design, he set up SwiftCarbon in Asia, to utilise some of the best manufacturing processes.

The experience of finding the right people to design frames for road and triathlon lead to finding the right expertise for creating a performance 29er hardtail as well. All SwiftCarbon frames are designed in Holland and engineered in Germany. The way the company has been setup allows both of these steps to be remote from production, using finite element analysis to test new moulds before actually going into production. It is often said that one carbon hardtail is just like another – but there are plenty of reasons why that doesn’t apply to the SwiftCarbon D-vore.

Visually, the frame and bike looks fast. The matte black finish is set off with blue and white/ silver paint – although some of the logos are curious, such as “Dirt Eating Organism”. All up the paint is minimal, to save overall weight. The tapered headtube is remarkably short, just 91mm on the medium size that was tested. The head and seat angles are very traditional numbers – which is actually quite rare now. 71 degrees is quite sharp, and with a low headtube and significant bottom-bracket drop (65mm) the ‘Swifty’ really allows the rider to adopt a low and aggressive position for competitive cross-country and marathon racing.

The bulking downtube leads to a PressFit 30 bottom bracket, and even the massive shell required for that BB standard is dwarfed by the main tube of the frame. The chainstays are not as short as some on the market, and they are over built for pedalling efficiency, running to dropouts that are interchangeable for 135 QR or 142×12 rear ends. There is plenty of room for big tyres, with 75mm width between the chainstays – although the front derailleur ran pretty close to the 2.25-inch tyre in there! The brake mount is inside the rear triangle, which allows for very slender seat stays running to the top of the slightly curved seat tube. The seat tube is flatter near the BB, and has a gentle arc as it reaches the top, so the rear wheel to sit closer. The seatpost is 27.2mm, so when using a carbon post you should be able to get a more supple ride from the narrow diameter. Many companies are using this size for their carbon hardtails.

Cables are run internally through the top tube, entering the frame just behind the headtube. The rear brake line is attached under the downtube. All up it’s a very neat appearance. Although cable outer lengths weren’t optimal out of the box, you could set your own D-vore up to look very neat and svelt.

The D-vore comes in a Shimano XTR build, or a SRAM 2×10 XO build, like the one we tested. This 2014 model was so new, not even the importers had the chance to ride it before we did. The 24/38 cranks were a good choice for a bike aimed at racing – although this does depend on where you might race and ride, you may be better suited to a 1×11 set-up. XO offered no surprises, although there were a few things like a 180mm front rotor that wasn’t really required, and 580mm flat ’bars that seemed outdated. Small component changes like these are easy to make when buying a bike.

The Fox Float 32 CTD forks were 100mm travel, with the new Fox remote lockout. The smaller lever is easy to fit on either the right or left side, and can fit snugly against the other controls. This is a great improvement on the older lever. The ’bar-mounted lockout suits the attitude of the bike, fork mounted lockout levers are never far away on racey 29er hardtails, but taking your hands off the ’bars isn’t always timely – so a small and precise lever is perfect.

Easton’s EA70 wheels with Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.25” tyres got up to speed quickly and stayed straight for the entire test period. Getting a tubeless kit in there will boost the performance of the bike immediately. The ‘bars, stem and seatpost are all Ritchey WCS alloy parts. With a long stem, narrow ‘bars and an alloy post, none of these were ideal. The quality was great, but a slightly shorter stem, wider ‘bars (possibly carbon) and a carbon seatpost would match the rest of the build perfectly. The WCS lock on foam groups were fine – but again they are a very easy change before your bike hits the dirt, along with the Fizik Tundra saddle if they aren’t to your liking.

The D-vore really attracted me when looking at the specifications before it arrived. The frame geometry was close to my own 29er hardtail, but a little lower at the front, and not quite so steep. This bike can only be reviewed as a racebike, and although I didn’t put a number on the ‘bars I did spend some time riding trails with top XC and XCM racer Andy Blair. It climbed like a rat up a drain pipe, with no hint of wander from the front on even the steepest grades.

Technical singletrack wasn’t going to be bombed down at all-mountain speeds, but the significant BB drop kept it stable and it was easy to move it from one line to another. Gauging vertical compliance is never easy, but I didn’t feel beaten up riding the D-vore, even with an alloy post and higher pressures in the non-tubeless set-up wheels. The frame was stiff under power and predictable at speed, the huge down tube and board top tube tie the front and rear together well, along with the stiffness of the Fox forks. The BB height wasn’t too low, but the carbon cranks did get a little scratched in the rock gardens of the NSW Snowy Mountains. That’s mountainbiking, but some crank protectors would be a sound investment.

The bike came with two Swift branded lightweight carbon water bottle cages. That’s a nice touch, as is having a colour matched SRAM XO groupset. The whole bike is really nicely finished, befitting the SwiftCarbon brand. I really enjoyed the time I had on the D-vore. It was fast, comfortable, and had a parts kit that was pretty hard to fault. Although I didn’t have the opportunity to take it to a race, this bike would suit someone looking for a cross-country or marathon racebike that isn’t the sam e as everyone elses, and has great handling characteristics to go with it.

Bike Specs

BRAND SwiftCarbon
MODEL Detroitovore
RRP $6999
WEIGHT 10.3kg (as tested)
DISTRIBUTOR SwiftCarbon Australia
CONTACT http://www.swiftcarbon.com/
AVAILABLE SIZES S, M, L
FRAME MATERIAL Carbon Fibre
FORK Fox Floar 32, 29er, 100mm, tapered steerer, 15QR, CTD Remote
SHIFTERS SRAM XO 2 x10
FRONT DERAILLEUR SRAM XO
REAR DERAILLEUR SRAM XO 24/38
CRANK SRAM XO 24/38
BOTTOM BRACKET SRAM PF30
CHAIN SRAM PG1091
CASSETTE SRAM XG-1080, 10spd 11-36t
HUBS Easton EA70 XCT 29″
SPOKES Easton EA70 XCT 29″
RIMS Easton EA70 XCT 29″
TYRES Schwalbe Racing Ralph Performance, 29 x 2.25″
BRAKES SRAM XO
STEM Ritchey WCS 110mm
HANDLEBARS Ritchey WCS Flat, 580mm
SEATPOST Ritchey WCS, setback 27.2
SADDLE fizik Tunra 2 K:IUM