When the Droptimator launched at Sea Otter 2025, we knew we had to get people on the bike to experience what we were experiencing. Our first call went out to the fine folks at Mountain Bike Action as we knew they be quite interested in the bike and could give an unbiased opinion about it. […]
CX Magazine is one of those few cycling journals that lives and breathes Cyclocross. They get it. They understand what Cyclocross is all about and what a Cyclocross bike should be. The magazine has been around for a long time and while it is online only now, it still lives and breathes Cyclocross as a […]
If you read the origin story, you’ll know how we got here. And how excited I was to get the new Droptimator drop-bar mountain bike on the trails. The time crunch leading up to Sea Otter, where the Droptimator was unveiled, kept me from getting a ride in on my home trails in Portland. So, […]
The DROPtimator is finally here! Imagine a secret love child created by our highly shred-able Optimator XC hardtail and aggressive gravel crushing Storm King GP. That’s the Droptimator, and it’s finally real! Built around a 100mm suspension fork and a shorter, negative-rise stem, it has a 69º head angle. That’s a bit steeper than our Optimator […]
Last year, I wrote about the Monster Gravel bike concept, even considered how to design one and the challenges they present. Since then, I’ve thought a LOT more about this fat tire, drop bar mashup. And, being a bike nerd, continued thinking about how I’d actually design one. Which really had me thinking four things: […]
Editor’s Choice Awards are nice ways to round up the entire year and look at what products stood out in a crowded field. They let the reviewer give a “final thought” on what had the biggest impact on them over the course of the year and after countless reviews and test rides of other products, […]
In Part One of this Monster Gravel series, I showed you how we went from a simple gravel bike to having a version for everything from racing to exploring to bikepacking and more. And how all of that quickly led to this latest category, “Monster Gravel”. Drop Bar MTB vs Monster Gravel Below, you’ll see […]
Gravel used to be easy, right? Take a slacker road bike, mount bigger tires, and hit the backroads. But the category split into niches faster than anything before it. Where mountain biking took decades to have XC, downcountry, trail, all-mountain, enduro, and DH, gravel branched out in just a few short years. Now we have […]
Print and online reviews serve a valuable purpose for both the manufacturers and the consumers. For the manufacturers, they allow us to share our products with a wider audience than would be possible if we did not engage with media outlets at all. For the consumers, it allows them to learn more about a product […]
The first Storm King was designed in 2019 with the concept of clearing 700×50 tires. This was an evolution of the Barlow gravel bike (originally conceived in 2016) with its 700×40 tire clearance. Gravel courses were getting more demanding and customers were looking to explore further into the backcountry. The Storm King was created to […]
For many of us, bicycles are a passion that develops early in childhood as the thrill of pedaling creates opportunities to explore beyond where your walking legs can take you. Some people come to cycling later in life due to circumstances that force them onto the bike as they must give up another sport, while […]
Who does these sorts of things? I mean, what kind of person do you have to be to undertake an endeavor such as this? Is it the pleasure or the pain? Is it the challenge to say you “did it”? Or do you want to have a fun time doing something that you love very […]
