The Radavist

Boulder, Colorado-based Matter Cycles knows a thing or two about dirt. The Boulder area is a veritable playground for riders looking to keep their bikes dusty. Collin Schaafsma has an extensive background shredding in the Colorado mountains, and if bikes work well there, chances are, they’ll excel just about anywhere, including Los Angeles.

Coincidentally, Collin’s web guru, Grant just relocated to LA and has been steady shredding this Wolfbeard all-road bike. With 43mm Bruce Gordon Rock N Roads, Shimano Ultegra and Reynolds wheels, Grant’s got a do-it-all bike, with plenty of reliability built right in. Right now, it’s set up as his daily dirt road bike, but with a few add-ons, it’ll transform into a touring rig.

I’ve ridden alongside this bike for weeks now, and have been meaning to take some environmental portraits, in the woods, but I’ve yet to have the chance to, so this perty blue wall will do for now…

While you’ll see a lot of custom mountain bikes at NAHBS, most of them will be hardtails or rigids. You very rarely see a full suspension steel beast like this in the aisles. After meeting Matter Cycles last year at NAHBS, I was looking forward to seeing what he’d bring this year and was not disappointed by this Two Stroke full sus. Just look at it! Made in Colorado and ready to rip. I almost felt bad taking it back to its stand. Its like seeing an animal caged at the zoo…

Long travel, hardtail 27.5 hardtails are by no means new to the world of mountain biking, or NAHBS for that matter. With brands like Chromag, Engin and Breadwinner swearing by this platform, it’s easy to see how their popularity is increasing.

Matter Cycles is a Colorado builder who makes tig welded bikes to get rad on. Collin builds bikes using mostly True Temper tubing, with a few bits of Columbus in the mix. The SlayRide is a 140mm to 150mm travel 27.5 hardtail with internal routing for a dropper, thru-axles and can be built for custom-sizing. I love the yoke, personally.

Head over to Matter Cycles to see their other offerings, if this bike is too rowdy for your taste…