Tomac

If you know anything about mountain bike racing, you know who John Tomac. America's second MTB superstar, one of only two people to win a XC and DH World Championship, and the guy every mountain biker wanted to be in 1993. Now he's teamed up with Manitou's former head man Doug Bradbury to build some pretty cool bikes.



165 - Tomac's latest ride, the 165 DH bike. Designed by Johnny T and Doug bradbury. So by rights, this bike should at least have an XVert Carbon on it. Doesn't that Boxxer look a little spindly?

204 Magnum - Jonnhy T's latest DH creation - the 204 Magnum. This one has a very tasty Stratos Super Star fork. TeamCow really likes Stratos forks.

00 Buckshot - Too bad this wasn't a slightly better picture, this one doesn't show the frame details at the seatstay/seatpost junction and at the BB area. I guess if you really wanted a Manitou HT, but didn't want to be stuck with an 1 1/4" heattube, this is what you should get.



78 Special - This looks like a beauty. Great fork and great brakes - looks very fast.


00 Buckshot - A super nice hardtail that's got the single speed treatment. Very nice bike...

Titus

Titus is another one of those cult companies - moderately popular, the people the own them swear by 'em, and they cost an arm and a leg. For some reason I can't put my finger on, I don't like them that much, but that's based entirely on looks.


HCR - Titus provides titanium frames for the shorter rider as well. Great fork...


Evolution - Who doesn't make a softail these days? You almost forget who invented them. Well I haven't anyway. [edit] it's moots!



QuasiMoto - Well you can't screw up a freeride bike right? Just get lots of travel, nobody really cares if it's heavy, or how it climbs, just so long as it carves turns going down. However, this bike just doesn't look right.



QuasiMoto - This is an outstandingly well set-up bike. Hope discs and a Hanebrink fork color-matched to the frame - looks great. But still a pretty strange frame.

Ti Cycles

I can't tell you anything about these guys. They got a bike with a weird name, and a weird design. And they paint titanium - not many people do that.

Skookum - Like the Kona U'Hu, the Skookum is one of those crazy, hybrid/URT designs. The bottom bracket is part of the rear section - but - there's a Horst link back there. So how does it ride? I have no idea. And those wheels, I don't know, they remind me of the Skyway wheels on my old Raleigh BMX bike in 1983. And if you've been around the site, you already know what I think of that fork

Surly

Surly is a very cool Minneapolis-based company that makes singlespeeds. And nothing but. What are you lookin at? OK, I had to be Surly for a bit there - actually, they also make a cross bike and now, a huckin' bike. [edit] having worked at a shop that sold them, i now know the truth; surly is one of the best bike companies in the world. the bikes are simple, inexpensive, work incredibly well, and cover just about every bike need you can think of. and a couple you didn't think of; fixie MTB with 3 inch flame tread slicks = yes. snow bike with 3.7 inch balloon tires and two rear hubs = yes. off-road unicycle = yes. a modular cargo bike with a 400lb payload = hells yea! quit wasting your time and just go to surlyville now.


1 x 1 - There's not much you can say about singlespeeds is there? Nice chainguard..


CrossCheck - Firstly, as a Canadian, and a hockey fan, I love that name. But beoynd that, you've gotta be kidding me. As if CX isn't hard enough, you have take all the gears off... (although, look closely, and you'll see a derailleur hanger) I guess you're already carrying the bike most of the time anyway...


CrossCheck - The first Surly I've ever seen with a derailleur on it. Seems a little odd. Very nice bike though.

Sunn

Sunn is a French company that made a half-assed effort to sell bikes here in 1998. I heard they went out of business, but I think they still have a website for their French operation. Their most well known for owning World Cup DH races several years. [edit] i remember steel, softtails, weird paintjobs, plastic/rubber 'buttons' on the frames, and that dude that won every DH race for like 4 years in a row...

Radical + - This is the bike that took Nicolas Vouillez to so many World Championahips and World Cup wins. Doesn't really look that special does it? I think that's a clear sign of his talent.

Revolt - This is Sunn's racin' hardtail. And I really like it, apart from those Obsys forks. Those things really suck.

Steelman

Steelman makes mostly cross bikes, but there's one beautiful mountain bike in the lineup. All I can say about Steelman is that former NORBA racer Don Myrah raced one when he was being too difficult for any other factory to pick him up. [edit] now did this story go? myrah was a hot in norba racing for a year or so, on a ritchey. then he signed a deal with campagnolo. this mean he had to ride a klein, yeti, or fat chance.. he wouldn't ride aluminum, and fat couldn't or wouldn't build a bike to his geometry specs, so he rode his old ritchey repainted with fat decals on it. but according to me, he rode a steelman with fat chance decals on it. so there you go. because i know you care.

Eurocross - I like this bike - Syncros, XTR, and V-brakes, which require special adapters to work with non-V road bike brake levers.

Spot

Spot of Vancouver got on the single-speed bus early. And they make some of the coolest single-speed hubs around. If you want a cool single-speed and you're poor - you get a Surly - if you're rich - you get a Spot. [edit] spot is no longer canadian; they're now in colorado. what i really like is that they make frames to fit the gates belt drive system.

Spot brand - There's some really cool parts here - Arch Rivals, a Manitou fork, and only one speed...

Spooky pt. 2

it would seem that spooky was - and still is - a company running on t-shirt sales! wonders will never cease. though a scan of reviews at that MTB site i love to hate (mtbr.com) makes you wonder if resurrecting this name was a good idea...


Project X - This bike screams downhill. Profile BMX cranks, Marzocchi Monster-T, Nokian Gazzalodis. It looks like it weighs 100 pounds.


Project X - A little bit of refinement to the frame here - which is good. Still looks huge and heavy though.

Spooky

Spooky came roaring out of the gate with some serious attitude. Their website took some very unsubtle shots at other companies - Santa Cruz especially. They made East coast hardcore-style designs in hardtail and full suspension. The end came in a pretty ugly way too - I have a favorite saying from wrestling that fits nicely - Spooky founder Chris Cotroneo's mouth wrote cheques his ass could not cash. Literally... [edit] it would appear that spooky lives. with a really lame website that you've seen a hundred times before - you know; 'we sell bikes?! oh yeah, we sell bikes! sorry i forgot, i was too busy posting cool stuff i found that's so much cooler than the cool stuff that everyone else is posting.' looks like crazy-ass graphics unique to each frame is a priority though - that's alright.

Darkside - Spooky's XC bike. Very light, made from Easton Elite tubing, and definitely with an East Coast bias. Meaning it would make a great woods bike. Just the kind I like.



Metalhead - This is clearly not an XC racer; single chain ring, Z.1 Bomber, short stem, riser bar, and check that moto-style gusset on the headtube/downtube junction.


Metalhead - A pink Metalhead that seems to have been photographed in the same spot as this Brooklyn Machine Works TMX. [edit] link removed because it wouldn't have worked and i'm too lazy to link to that bike again. search for BMW bikes at the top of the screen if you really care about


Motorhead - How many DH bikes does one small Eastern company need? I guess when you think of using the name 'Motorhead' - you'd better use it. And using the Stratos MX-6 in this application is also a good idea.

Pit Boss - Spooky's Pit Boss, the aluminum version of their 'North Shore' design hardtail. Custom painted here, with weird color combinations. By the way, I don't think you should mention the North Shore around these guys - they'll probably flip out and start goin' off about the East Coast.

Specialized pt. 3

FSR - I wouldn't normally post a pic this small, but this is special - a prototype FSR DH frame. You can see that Specialized made a pretty big change to the frame design before the FSR made it to production. Or was it that they just had to have a DH bike out there on the race circuit, and didn't have the M.A.X. backbone chassis sorted yet?



FSR - One of many lessons in building a DS bike you'll find on the BikeGide. Short stem, small frame, no seatpost, chain guide, beefy fork. It might make a decent downhill bike too, but it doesn't really have the right stuff for moderm DH courses.


FSR - This is one of Specialized's original FSRs from 1995 or so. Not a great bike by today's standards, and certainly not along the lines of a typical TeamCow ride (we prefer coil springs to air springs), but a nice bike nonetheless.


Stumpjumper - This old-skool steel beauty belongs to Dario of Italy. He upgraded only what really needed upgrading (the brakes), and kept it light and simple. Nice ride Dario!