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In the world of custom hardtail mountain bikes, there exist a few key factors that determine shredability. The most important, at least in my opinion, being the head tube angle. Next, is the rear chainstay length and both of which, affect wheelbase and thus how flickable the bike is. I knew I wanted Seth Rosko to build it…
Follow the key measurements, or increments with a solid build kit and you’ve got a hardtail that can behave like a trail bike, under the right rider of course…
Yikes! I didn’t expect to see this beauty when I was catching up on my Flickr browsing. Thomas at Horse Cycles just completed a run of production 29’r hardtails, complete with custom paint, done in house, right down to detailing the Rock Shox fork and ENVE stem. What do I think? Dirty thoughts… like a white horse fell into the mud dirty.
The price? $999 for a frame only, with a 3-4 week lead time. See more at Horse Cycles!
Japan’s Sim Works makes some of the raddest components out there and boy, do they know how to pick a great framebuilder to work with! Rick Hunter has been conspiring with the Japanese company and there are some really dialed products coming in the near future. For now, we have to make due with these great photos of Rick and his Wood Rat 27.5 hardtail.
Check out more at the Sim Works Flickr!
The history of Chumba is one with a somewhat rocky past but it appears the brand has finally hit smooth trails with its recent rebranding and relaunch. When a couple of guys from Austin, Texas took over, they had one thing on their minds: steel. That and making mountain bikes in Texas, designed to thrash our local trails and still perform in the mountains of Colorado.
Earlier this year, we looked at their 29+ Ursa model and yesterday, I met the Chumba team out at Pace Bend Park, a 45 minute drive from Austin, to shred their new made in Texas Stella 29’r hard tail.
Today, FYXO and I took the trip down to Geelong to visit Darren at Baum Cycles. After we toured the new Baum facilities, we ate some lunch at a local cafe and took to the You Yangs trail system.
The next few hours, I spent all my energy chasing after a neon streak in the bush. In fact, it became a point of fixation for me, as I struggled to keep up with the extremely fit rider pedaling this machine.
Ryan works at Baum and he rides a Baum. This bike is the fruit of his labor at Baum and it’s one of the company’s most famous rides. Or at least one of my favorite rides from the company.
SRAM XX1, ENVE, Chris King, you name it, it’s got it and then some. Like a bright chartreuse paint job with neon pink accents and a carbon Selle Italia saddle shell – leather saddle just get wrecked on a MTB anyway…
For me, the thing I brought away from this ride was seeing a Baum completely smash these trails. In an age where digital presentation is everything, I rarely see a Baum outside of the photo studio. It really brought the reason why Darren builds these machines to the forefront.
Baum makes MTBs fit for thrashing their local trails and that’s exactly what Ryan did. All afternoon… Stay tuned for more photos from my Shop Visit and MTB shred sess with Baum. For now, check out more photos of this rad bike!
During the Amgen Tour of California, I spent eight hours in Santa Barbara with Aaron Stinner. His framebuilding company, Stinner Frameworks has been on fire lately. From building the Mudfoot Elite cross bikes, to speaking at Mission Workshop and unveiling his newest model: the Fundero MTB.
Available in both 27.5 and 29’r these semi-custom frames are meant to take you to the trail and home again in (mostly) one piece, depending on how much you enjoy ripping. For this build, Aaron went with SRAM XO, Stan’s wheels, XT brakes and a White Brothers Loop 120mm fork but build kits are available in any group.
These frames are lightweight, come with a powdercoat, replaceable derailleur hanger and a tapered head tube. If you’re looking for a straight up, made in the USA shred sled, holler at Aaron!
After I shot photos of his workshop, I grabbed Aaron and his 29’r Fundero for a quick photoshoot at a trailhead down the block from his house… Next time, I need to actually shred this thing!
Moab was the spring product locale of choice for this year’s new product lineup across the MTB realm. Here’s Borealis‘ new Echo hardtail fat bike, using the new Rock Shox Bluto Fork.
Aaron from Six-Eleven brought some incredible builds with him this year to NAHBS. Some of which fall under his new in-house line of production tig welded frames. Since fillet-brazed and lugged frames often take a lot of time to produce, and cost more, he wanted to offer his friends, local racers and essentially, impatient people a quick and easy option.
Hometown Manufacturing is just that. A quick and easy alternative to lugged or fillet brazed frames. These bikes are all OX Platinum, no nonsense machines ready to be raced or just plain out thrashed.
Inspired by his old Stumpjumper from his youth, this hardtail 29’r is a throwback to steel MTBs of the late 80’s and early 90’s. It’s a straight forward 1-tack machine, complete with Yoke is Easy cranks, machined in the USA. Before Aaron takes it into the woods however, he’ll be tossing a Paul chain keeper on there… My favorite detail however is the hand-painted head tube and downtube logo, done by Richmond’s Sure Hand Signs.
See more in the Gallery!
Earlier last week, I showcased that red Cycles d’Autremont road bike and now, his 27.5 hardtail takes the stage. Much like the last bike, Hubert wanted to experiment with a simple, clean fillet-brazed frame.
Since it’s his own personal bike, he felt that it’d be the perfect platform to test out his geometry and construction. While he was in Arizona visiting family, he got to ride this thing on all his favorite trails. From what I gather, he’s pretty stoked on it.
After we shredded Pace Bend park while he was in town, I took some photos of this beaut on a crisp and clear Texas winter day. See more in the Gallery!
‘Round these parts, MTB season is upon us and I’m stoked to get out and race, which has me looking at all kinds of hardtails. First up is this Firefly. See more at the Firefly Flickr!
Photo by Eric Baumann
When I came across this bike on the Royal H Cycles Flickr, I found myself geeking out over it. This thing looks like a trail ripper! I love steel hardtails.
I’ve been riding the shit out of my MTBs lately and really trying to figure out what the best ride is for the Austin trails. Hardtails are where it’s at, unless you’ve got some severe terrain. Personally, I’d rip the shit out of this bike and all it’s doing is making me stoked on my new hardtail coming soon.
Firefly is killing it.
The thing that attracted me to Portland’s Breadwinner Cycles was the bonding of speed and shredability. When I think of Ira Ryan, I think precision road bikes and when I think of Tony Pereira, mountain bikes come to mind. Breadwinner is a little bit of both, with offerings from the touring-minded, to the race-faced and mountain-monsters. All in a tight, tig welded package.
The JB Racer is a classic XC machine, perfect for single, double track and trails. Let’s be honest here, most of you, unless you’re downhilling or hitting Whistler every weekend, could get away with a 100mm travel hard tail. The only problem is, if you save up enough loot to put down a $500 deposit on one of these $1800 frames, will you look as steezy as Tony?
Probably not. But at least the bike will look good!
See more information on the JB Racer at Breadwinner Cycles!
From a company whose name resonates in the NYC downhill and street scene comes a new bike model, suitable for the modern rider. If steel is real then Brooklyn Machine Works are as authentic as they come. BMW’s history lies heavily in tried and true mountain bikes, so it should be as no surprise that when Joe decided it was time to develop a few new models, one of the first on the agenda would be a 27″ or 650B.
This bike is literally 10 days fresh and it’s already been put through the works. Fresh off the mountain, I was able to not only photograph this beauty, but take it for a spin around the block. I’m a sworn 29’r rider, through and through but even I was impressed at the zippiness and tight, responsiveness of this Made in Brooklyn masterpiece.
Don’t let the mix of parts distract you, Joe wanted to ride it as soon as he could get it built up. With the tapered fork, even with the smaller diameter wheel size, the 650B comes in 9 ounces heavier than the 29’r. It’s still a prototype, so some specs are to be tweaked but I think it’s safe to say “so far so good”… Check out more in the Gallery.
I swung by Brooklyn Machine Works yesterday to see what Joe had been up to when he greeted me with two new BMW models: a 29’r and a 650B hardtail MTB. Both are made in the USA, right in Brooklyn, are helllllla affordable (under $800 for the frame) and are made from True Temper Supertherm. They’re within 9oz of each other’s weight, mostly because the 650B has a tapered head tube but they’re pretty light! Here’s a really simple photo of the ‘niner and I’ll be returning today to do a more in-depth story on the bike.
The first run sold out before anyone even knew about them (myself included) but I’ll definitely be picking one of these up when the next run is done!
Since Brian introduced me to Black Cat‘s work a few years ago, I’ve slowly fallen in love with Todd’s craftsmanship. In fact, this bike was my first introduction to the Black Cat moniker. As Brian puts it “I really love that bike” and it’s easy to see why.
Most mountain bikes, well, hardtails anyway, can be documented in ten photos. This one in particular would fall in that category, save for the amazing dropouts and stays. That and the paint job. I had the opportunity to rip through some of Santa Cruz’s trails with Brian last week and aside from one spill, this bike flowed amazingly well through the off-camber, technical descents as well as it scaled up some steep sections.
Even in the few minutes I spent rolling this bike around the block, looking for a photo location, I could see why Mr. Vernor loves it so much. See for yourself in the Gallery!
Kurt Refsnider reflects on a transformative bikepacking trip through the Alps, where he and Kait Boyle took advantage of the region’s abundant infrastructure, such as gondolas and mountain huts, to enhance the experience. By focusing on shorter hut-to-hut rides with lighter gear, tackling steep descents and high-elevation trails on full-sus bikes, they deepened their appreciation for the human-powered amenities that make this rugged region more accessible. If you’re curious about hutpacking, read on below!
The PBJ, or Performance Basket Jammer, has been a model in the Sklar Bikes lineup for some time now. But today, the San Francisco-based framebuilder and bike company announced a production run of these veritable “do it all” framesets ($1,399), so let’s take a more in-depth look…
