Last weekend saw the first iteration of Red Bull Hardline Australia, with riders meeting in Maydena Bike Park, Tasmania, for one of the gnarliest downhill races on the calendar.
This year was the first time the event had taken place away from its home country of Wales, where Dan Atherton set it up in 2014.
Hardline attracts talent from the worldwide freeride and downhill community but, unlike other races, the event is invitation-only, with select riders battling it out for the prestigious win.
In a continuation of firsts, we saw Gracey Hemstreet become the first woman to finish a Hardline course, and the first person to win the category since its inception.
She posted a time of 3 minutes, 56 seconds, ahead of Scottish shredder Louise Ferguson.
The men’s category was taken by Ronan Dunne, who pipped three-time Hardline champ Bernard Kerr by 1.876 seconds after a masterclass run.
Thanks to its unique nature, Hardline usually produces some interesting setups as riders balance downhill technical ability with impact-absorbing suspension setups to tackle the enormous drops, jumps and compressions.
Here are seven of the bikes that caught our eye, with both winning bikes detailed and analysed.
Ronan Dunne’s Mondraker Summum Carbon
Of all the fast bikes at Hardline Australia, this one was the fastest: the race-winning bike of Ronan Dunne.
The Irish rider capitalised on the momentum from his World Cup downhill podium at Snowshoe last year.
Dunne has had a change of sponsor and bike since then though, moving from the Nukeproof Dissent of last season to the Mondraker Summum he rode at Hardline.
The bike features a carbon frame, just like the Summum you can buy in your local bike shop.
Not so standard is the idler wheel, which takes pride of place above the chainring, presumably changing the anti-squat characteristics of Mondraker’s Zero Suspension system.
It looks to be sporting a custom paintjob too, perhaps thanks to Mondraker’s in-house custom paint shop.
Dunne is running a mullet setup with a pair of Maxxis Minion DHR2 tyres in the DH casing. The rear is wrapped over an e*thirteen DH rear wheel, but the front tyre is mounted to an unstickered rim on the front.
A Shimano Saint drivetrain provides the power and Saint brakes are there to slow the Mondraker down.
The bike features copious amounts of sound deadening, with what looks like an STFU bike chain guide to stop the chain from flapping about behind the chainring.
Dunne runs Fox suspension front and rear, with what looks to be a Fox 40 fork up front and a coil-sprung Fox DHX2 shock on the rear.
George Brannigan’s NS Fuzz prototype
Third-placed George Brannigan was running his prototype NS Fuzz, which was custom-painted for the 2023 World Championships at Fort William in Scotland.
The prototype runs a very interesting-looking six-bar linkage, which appears similar in operation to the current Commencal Supreme DH V5.
Brannigan runs the bike with a mullet setup, with carbon e*thirteen wheels wrapped in a Kenda Hellkat tyre up front and a Kenda Pinner on the rear.
He is said to be running 24psi in the front tyre and 26psi in the rear, favouring maximum traction over high-speed stability.
Braking is handled by German brand Trickstuff’s Maxima brakes, matched with 220mm disc rotors front and rear.
Connecting Branningan’s cranks to his chainring is an Ochain spider. This clever piece of kit provides a buffer of up to 12 degrees of elastomer-sprung float between the rider's feet and the chain, reducing pedal kickback and theoretically making the suspension smoother.
Gracey Hemstreet’s Norco downhill prototype
Gracey Hemstreet had a custom paintjob on her Norco downhill bike, taken care of by spray-gun wizards Fresh Paints of Whistler.
The prototype bike uses an oversized idler pulley, which is said to maximise pedalling efficiency alongside CNC-relieved seatstays that supposedly add extra stiffness to the rear of the bike.
Hemstreet’s bike features TRP brakes with four-piston calipers and large rotors, while the bars, seat and seatpost look to be from Deity Components.
Her Norco DH prototype runs a mullet setup, with wheels from Crankbrothers sitting in the dropouts.
Maxxis tyres wrap the wheels, with a 29er Assegai 3C tyre up front and a 27.5in Minion DHR II on the rear.
What looks like a TRP Evo 7 derailleur provides shifting and Hemstreet uses Crankbrothers pedals.
Grip tape is stuck on part of the crank arms to keep Hemstreet’s feet attached to the bike if things get sketchy.
However, under closer inspection, the cranks appear to be more similar to some SRAM carbon cranks than the TRP cranks pictured on the bike earlier last week.
The bike looks to be using Fox suspension front and rear, with a 40 fork up front and a coil-sprung DHX2 shock on the rear.
However, interestingly, it looks as if Hemstreet used a Sprindex coil spring for Hardline, instead of a Fox spring.
Sprindex claims its springs are wound progressively to help resist bottom-out.
A spring-rate adjuster spacer from Sprindex also appears to have been used, with text on the spring reading 440, which is likely to be the poundage of the spring as it’s set up on Hemstreet’s bike
Sam Blenkinsop’s Zerode G3
Zerode is famous for its high-pivot gearbox bikes, so it’s great to see them return to World Cup-level racing this year with some of the most innovative bikes out there.
The new Zerode G3, ridden to an eighth-place finish at Hardline by Blenkinsop, typifies this out-of-the-box thinking.
Not only does it feature a high-pivot suspension design and a Pinion gearbox, but it also sports a Gates Carbon belt drive, which must make it one of the quietest bikes on the circuit.
Blenkinsop was using SR Suntour suspension to tame the Hardline course, with a custom-tuned RUX fork containing 88psi and five volume spacers up front, and a coil shock with a 500lb spring on the rear, with all dials set fully open.
The bike was running a mullet-wheel setup, with DT Swiss wheels clad in a Maxxis Assegai 29in front tyre and a Minion DHR II 27.5 on the rear.
Blenkinsop uses a 790mm-wide Deity Blacklabel bar, held in place by a Deity stem.
Johny Salido’s Transition TR11
Juan Diego 'Johny' Salido is the first Mexican to qualify for Red Bull Rampage, with his bike featuring a special jet-fighter inspired paintjob by Tony Baumann from Washington.
His bike uses Shimano Saint for the gears and has some nice touches to prevent the chain rattling, such as a rubber chain guide from STFU Bike.
Salido’s bike is suspended by a Marzocchi Bomber 58 fork up front and a Bomber air shock at the rear.
Interestingly, like fellow freestyle fanatic Thomas Genon, Salido’s bike appears to use Shimano XTR trail brakes rather than Saint ones.
The bike gets Michelin DH22 tyres to find grip in the Antipodean dust, wrapped around Industry Nine’s Grade 310 wheels with carbon rims.
