Ellsworth pt. 2

Truth - The Truth is Ellsworth's XC style bike. This one has a lot of nice stuff on it; Race Face seatpost, Next cranks, and I like the flat black finish on that WB fork.


Truth - This Truth is built for racing. A SID, Avid Arch Supremes, and flat bars with bar ends.


Absolute Truth - This was a special version of the Truth - hence the name. It looks like a pretty kick-ass XC bike - good fork, good cranks, and a cool color. Still those awful graphics though...


Id - This is the new trail/freeride bike for Ellsworth. Long travel, but light weight. This one has cool parts on it, looks like a winner.

Ellsworth

Tony Ellsworth's bikes are revered in the hardcore community. And I mean hardcore in the sense of spending $3300 for just a frame. Now they might not look like much in these pictures, but I can tell you that up close, these are very impressive bikes. [edit] There's a saying that goes; light, strong, cheap; pick two. Ellsworth only picked one - and it wasn't strong. I'm not saying their bikes are made from golf clubs, but they're not Banshees...


Dare - The highly regarded Ellsworth Dare. This one built up with a Hanebrink Z-6 and Hope DH discs. This frame probably works really well, but it's ugly. The rear section on this bike just looks goofy, and those graphics - seriously - are Ellsworth's corporate headquarters in East L.A.?


Dare - I like the theme here - black. And the skull is a nice touch. Those DHers are such a happy bunch. Seriously though, doesn't that Manitou look cool?


Dare - Well, I guess people buy the Boxxer because it's light. Which doesn't make all that much sense in the downhill world given how heavy everything else is. And why does that shock have that long extension on it? More importantly, why does this Dare have a Truth rear end on it? Maybe it's an older model...


Specialist - You are so not cool nowadays if you don't have a freeride/dirt jumping/'hucking' bike in your lineup. Something with a beefy frame, Marzocchi fork, and a general BMX look.

Ellison

Ellison was one of those little guys from 1993. Or maybe sooner. Out of Texas I believe.


FS - So-called 'new' designs like the Sugar/Fuel/Adept get a lot of hype, but like most things bicycle, it's already been done. This Ellison dates back to the early 90's. It looks a lot like the latest crop of XC-style full suspension bikes.


HT - [edit] This image was in the Ellison folder but I never wrote a description for it. It looks like it has a bent seatpost? Anyway, elevated chainstays seemed cool to me, but it's a dead idea nowadays.

Dirt Works

Dirt Works makes some pretty decent looking FS bikes. I think they started out with just DH bikes, but now they have something to cover everybody's needs. Which is good.


Termite - Is that a 24" wheel on the back? The angle is a little odd, it almost looks like a 24 on the front too. Looks really weird...

Devinci

Devinci is out of Quebec and makes some pretty weird looking bikes. Color-wise that is. Or they did, I think things have improved lately.


Contact - This is a well-appointed bike, but it's still a URT. Now are URT's really that bad - or is just the stigma of Trek attached to them? And the fact that most of your Canadian Tire suspension bikes are URTs too. It's hard to break away from that.


Guzzler - This freerider looks an awful lot like the old Giant DH frame. But it's well set up and is probably fun as hell.

DeKerf

Chris DeKerf at one time welded frames for Rocky Mountain. If you ever see an old Altitude, you can see very similar construction techniques to the current DeKerf frames. And he seems to be pretty successful because now he's branched out to make an aluminum frame and an FS frame. [edit] after a long absence sending all his frames off to Europe and doing wet-booth work for Rocky, DeKerf is back! rejoice and revel in hand-built canadian awesomeness!

Team SL- This bike would confuse the heck out of a mountain bike magazine editor. "A long travel fork? It must be a freeride hardtail... But where's the riser bar? It can't be a race bike with that fork on it..." Luckily, we can ride anything we want and ignore the classifications some people seem to need to use.

Is it just me, or does that color say "standard Army issue mountainbike?"

Generation - How do you get yourself a handbuilt DeKerf, and still be able to afford to eat something other than Ramen noodles? You get the Generation, more or less the same frame, but cheaper components.


Team ST - This is the Team ST with Ti chainstays. It's really too bad that Dekerf seems to favour Rock Shox, because this bike with a Marzocchi would rule.


Team ST - Well I'm really sorry to say this, because I'm sure you spent a lot on that custom flame job, but I don't think I've ever seen a good flame job on a bike. But maybe it's that butt-ugly Shimano crankset and weak Rock Shox fork.

Dean pt. 2

Scout - This pic is here for one reason; that Halson PDS fork. You don't see many of those around. For those that don't know, it was an inverted fork that you could mount cantilevers on. It had windows in the upper legs that the brake bosses stuck through. Pretty simple really, although the advent of disc brakes made it irrelevant - not that the elastomer springs in it helped all that much.


Scout - I like the looks of those White Brothers forks. Not sure if they work that well, I hear they require a lot of maintenence to run smoothly, but they sure look good. I'd like to know what possesed this rider to get yellow RaceFace cranks though.

Dean

Dean started out making very nice titanium frames and eventually branched out into aluminum, steel, and carbon fiber. They're still going strong and making some very nice frames.


Aluminum - I don't know the name of Dean's aluminum hardtail, and I don't think they make it anymore, so if anyone out there knows, let us know. Anyway, I just think those Spin wheels are goofy, reason enough to post this pic.


Colonel - Sometimes, when I see a bike as nice as this, and I know it only weighs 22 pounds, I wish I was a skinny, 160 pound XC rider. I bet they go really fast.

Not that there's anything wrong with being 200+ pounds and riding 4" travel all-round bikes - right?


Jester - Dean finally changed their graphics in 2000, and they look really good now.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the softtail thing. The bike that Moots made originally, with just an inch of travel, made sense. But putting an adjustable SID or Stratos shock back there, like Trek (and others) do, seems pretty dumb.

What's the point of adjustability when there's only 2 inches or less of travel to work with? I can imagine the conversations at the bike shop; "The last 3/8 of an inch of travel is kinda harsh, can you adjust the compression damping?"



Private - It's good to see that the steel hardtail is alive and well. You have to laugh at that upside down stem though. In 1992 I could see that, since nobody designed their frames for suspension, but this is 2000. It makes my back hurt just looking at this bike.

Diamond Back

Diamond Back goes way back in the history of mountain bikes. And BMX bikes too. One thing I really don't like about them is their constantly changing corporate identity. They went from Diamond Back to DaimondBack to DBR and seemingly back and forth between the three every year. They've always been a "big" bike I wouldn't be embarassed to be seen riding.


X-6 - DBR's freeride-type bikes are one of the few mass-produced bikes that TeamCow likes. This one is kinda cool with it's Risse fork and apparently link plates from an Intense M-1.


Team Issue - A serious race-only hardtail. The low, long stem is a dead give away. The despised Cadel Evans used to own World Cup courses on this bike.


X-10 - The DBR DH bike. Never seen one before, but this one looks pretty cool. Why does it have a reflector on the seatpost? Do they run DH races at night now? Did somebody use this monster to run down to the 7-eleven for a pack of smokes?


XTS-3 - It kinda looks like DBRs are now called DiamondBacks again. They have a habit of changing their name every year or two.

Anyway, I like the bike in general, but I'm not a big fan of the graphics...

X-6 - I'm not sure that this is an X-6, but it doesn't matter - because this bike is HARDCORE!

Dagger

Dagger arrived in 1993 or so with a FS featuring an AMP rear end attached to an Easton triangle. Apart from that, I can't tell you anything other than they still make bikes, and they have the worst web site ever.


Hardtail - I like this bike, apart from that Kore stem. I don't think i've ever seen Ritchey pedals in yellow before - maybe they aren't Ritchey's...


Hardtail - Very nice - the right fork, the right seatpost, the right everything. Cool.


FS - This one has a nice new Easton stem and seatpost, a new Rock Shox fork, but those old Rock Shox/AMP disc brakes...


Hardtail - I don't know if Odyssey sold bikes, or if that's just a really big sticker. This might not even be a Dagger. Nice bike either way...

Chumba Wumba

I believe the Chumba Wumba is a product of a Southern California bike shop. Specifically, the Bike Beat. What possessed them to name thie bike after a super-political English pop band is beyond me.

Zulu DH - I can't stop laughing when I look at this bike. It's the mountain bike equivalent of a 1967 Cadillac.

It's so long, and the head angle is so shallow, it looks like a low-rider. Like it should have gold-plated spokes and rear-view mirrors on it...

Curtlo

Curtlo has been making bikes for quite some time now, though they've never been really popular. Their golden age was the early 90's and the Kahlua mountain bike team featuring future three-time World Champion Alison Sydor. They seem to still going strong though, and I reallt like their bikes.


Mountaineer - I have it on good authority that this is a Curtlo Mountaineer. The bike that Alison Sydor used to race back in the Kahlua days. You can still buy them, with frame decals presumably, and they are very nice. The Mountaineer is on my list of "the next bike I'm going to buy. [edit] It didn't happen, I think I had a Santa Cruz Superlight at this time, from there I went to a series of Giants, a Haro, and now a Rocky Blizzard.


Mountaineer - This is a bit of a head scratcher. On MTBR this was advertised as a brand new Curtlo frame. But all the parts are straight from 1991. Rock Shox Mag 21, Deore DX derailleur, Tioga T-Bone stem, and Onza barends. It's a nice all-original, vintage bike, but I can't see somebody putting old parts on a new frame.

Control Tech

Control Tech is known mostly for their stems and seatposts, but they have some frame building going on too. It's primarily for other companies, this is the only bike I've seen sold under their name.

FS - I don't know the exact name of this bike - but from the looks of it, I'd say Control Tech may have been building bikes for Schwinn. Doesn't it look like this bike?

It's a good thing that Panaracer finally makes the Fire in plain black...

Cove

Three cheers for Canadian content! Deep Cove cycles is the ultimate North Shore bike shop. At some point I guess they decided that the equipment out there was just not adequate, so they made their own. There are a few running around Edmonton, and they are very nice bikes.


G Spot - Three guesses as to what this bike is for... Beefy frame, bash guard, no front derailleur, double crown Bomber, flat pedals. I'm sure the similarities to the Kona Stinky are intentional.


Hummer - I wouldn't want the suspension seatpost, but otherwise, this is a gorgeous hardtail. Easton carbon bar, Avid Mag brakes, Marzocchi X-Fly fork - all excellent.


Stifee - If I had a bike like this - I'd want it to be just like this one. Does that make sense? You know what I mean right?




Hummer - Another sweet titanium Cove. And this one has the seriously light Psylo SL. Which I kinda like in that color.

Cortina

Cortina is a pretty nifty little family run outfit - I read about them in MBA - one brother designs, another tests, that sort of thing. I see very little of them out on the net, but they seem to have a good reputation.


Joyride - I wish this pic was bigger, because this looks like a really nice bike. I wonder if those tires really are that bright, or if it's just the way the picture came out.


Extreme 8 - This bike looks absolutely huge and heavy. But I bet it works really well. And the fork is freakin' massive!


Europa - This looks like an excellent slalom/dirt jumping bike - good fork, serious wheels, and a beefy frame.

Corratec

Corratec is a German company (I think) that doesn't sell bikes in North America. I can't really tell you much else...


Titanium Bow - I wish they sold these bikes here because I really like that split top-tube. It reminds me of the Rocky Mountain Cirrus of 1990. This is a textbook race bike right here - full XTR, SID's, stubby little barends - definitely built for speed. [edit] Took this pic at a World Cup event in Canmore. The German dude riding surely had no idea what we were doing.

Colnago

Colnago has been building road bikes since the 50's I believe. Mountain bikes have never really been their thing though.


C-35 - This crazy carbon lack-of-seattube bike came out in the late 80's/early 90's. I believe that some Italian Master's dude won a World Championship on one.

Clark Kent

The first I ever heard of Clark Kent was when they built a full-suspension bike for Scott back in the day. Some time after that they came out with their own bike with a cool-looking truss-type rear section and a heavily manipulated titanium front triangle.

F-16 - This frame sure looks like the classic Breezer paint job... Looks like a pretty cool bike though.

Cinelli

Cinelli, like Bianchi, is a name with a lot of history behind it. I had no idea they made mountain bikes, but I guess even the old-skool European companies can get wrapped up in the hype.


Otto Mila - It doesn't look all that special, but does seem to be original, so that's pretty cool.

Chuck

Chuck made some fabulous and expensive aluminum monocoque frames. They went out of business last year to concentrate on the RCR line of shocks. RCR has since morphed into Romic. More management changes than bars in Old Strathcona.



CR HT - The more I look at this bike, the more saddened I am that Chuck has halted production. It just looks like a ton of fun to ride.


CR FS - The very impressive Chuck CR-FS. An Aluminum monocoque frame, and what looks like square section tubes in the rear are actually more monocoques. This one is really nicely set-up; Magura hydraulics, Marzocchi Z.1, and an XTR drivetrain.


CR FS - This is Jack's Chuck. Chuckasaurus. XTR, RaceFace, Hope discs and hubs, and the amazing Stratos FR-4. In 10 plus years of riding, I haven't seen many bikes better than this one. [edit] Jack is Jack in the Box, founding member of TeamCow.