Reportage

The 2019 Chris King Open House: Mercredi, Mosaic, Northern, Pursuit, Sage, Sklar, Speedvagen, Stinner, Sycip, Victoire

This year’s Chris King Open House chose 18 builders from all over the world to display their new colors for 2020: Bourbon and Violet. Thanks to ENVE, Santa Cruz Reserve, SRAM, Brooks, and Spurcycle. these bikes were built out appropriately for such a showcase. Below is a gallery of half the bunch, in alphabetical order for your enjoyment, with each builder’s description of the bikes. Make sure you comment on your favorite because there is some gold in these galleries!

Mercredi Bikes: XC 29er

This XC 29er was made for CX racer Jon Dennis, who does most of his training on a loaded cargo bike delivering goods around the city. With a serious XC racing geometry, the bike is also proofed and routed for long remote bikepacking journeys. The frame is made with Columbus 29er and Zona, fillet brazed (left un-filed as with all Mercredi bikes) with TIG-welded dropouts. The build kit brings together the best of Enve, SRAM and RockShox and is sure to see Jon fly between the tape. Together with all this super-modern componentry, the finish is a Mercredi take on the early 90s ATBs. The base color is powder-coated for durability with a hand-painted playful and irreverent finish, all brought together by the Violet Chris King components.

Mosaic Cycles: RS-1

The Mosaic RS-1 is a performance bred piece of equipment that knows no limits, it is the pinnacle of what Mosaic has to offer in a steel bike. A particular blend of oversized butted tubes creates responsive handling without losing the quality ride steel frames are known for. As our flagship steel road model, the RS-1 is available in a variety of configurations of road components and spec: caliper, disc, eTap, Di2 and more. Complemented by full custom geometry and paint by Spectrum Paint & Powderworks, each bike will truly be as unique as the rider.

Northern Frameworks: Ti Road Bike

Road bikes are back! There’s been a strong industry push to bigger tires, multiple wheel sizes, wide, off-road, all-road, but going fast is still fun. A sleek minimalist design will always be classic and it’s important to remember where we came from; who doesn’t long after the days of stuffing bananas and water bottles in rear jersey pockets and going out for a day in the country.

Pursuit Cycles: LeadOut

At Pursuit Cycles, we make one bike, a road bike. As a small company, it’s our goal to make the best road bike that money can buy. And to that effort go all our resources. The LeadOut was designed to be ridden far, fast and often. It combines a clean, timeless aesthetic with cutting-edge technology in carbon fiber manufacturing. The result is a true race-machine that’s built to last.

Sage Titanium Bicycles: Storm King

The Storm King was designed to redefine gravel racing and riding. As courses continue to evolve and challenges are presented, a bike capable of handling this diverse terrain is needed. Straddling the line between a Cross Country MTB and an All-Round Gravel bike, this new breed of bike is known as Monster Gravel. Utilizing feedback from our sponsored athletes who tackled some of the most demanding gravel events in the USA, such as Dirty Kanza, Skull 120, and the Enve GRODEO, it was time to push our designs to the edge of what is possible. The Storm King feature clearance for 700x50mm tires, internally routed dropper post lines, bento food box mounts, 4 bottle cage mounts, and fender mounts.

Sklar Bikes: Ti Basket Bike

The touring bike, the basket bike, the commuter bike, the hop-on-and-get-going bike. These are the rides that we often spend the majority of our pedaling time on, but can easily be forgotten when shiny race bikes and a plethora of wheel size, drivetrain, and geometry options are in the room. This bike, the PBJ, the “Performance Basket Jammer” was built to be the end-all bicycle for your favorite kind of riding. The geometry is comfortable for all-day pedaling or running to the grocery store. Throw on some 2.4s for a week-long gravel tour, swap out the rigid steel fork for 100mm of suspension for that big singletrack bike packing trip, or even a fun classic MTB. Just like the sammy, the PBJ will always be there for you. This bike was ceramic coated by Black Magic Paint.

Speedvagen: Ti GTFO

By now it should be clear we are fans of flat bar bikes (both single speed and geared). This is us pushing that as far as we can with parts and materials. Great handling, all of the gearing, up for anything.

Stinner Frameworks: Refugio

Before smooth asphalt roads swept up and between mountains, there were quiet gravel paths. The Refugio is made to handle all roads–paved, unpaved, and everything in between–from the gravel road of the Carrizo Plain to the double track of the Sierra Nevada. Choose your paths with confidence, let your frameset inspire your direction.

Sycip Designs: Unleaded MTB

I wanted to build a new mountain bike for myself. I wanted to try a new wheel size, a 29er. I have never owned a 29er before and wanted to build a lightweight fast cross country bike. That’s all.

Victoire Cycles: Made to Measure

This frame was made for one of my best friends since we only do custom, made to measures bicycles. This bike shows our knowledge of brazing. Made with stainless steel tubing on the needed areas, it can be ridden with big 650B+ tires for gravel roads, or skinnier, faster 700C wheels for road trips. The frame, fork, and stem are fully painted in house, using our new paint booth. The painting consists of a triple fade of metallic blue and shows some of the fillet brazing under a shiny clear coat. Parts mostly come from SRAM, allowing a really versatile build for all roads around the world.