Some of the most unique, handmade bikes are in Portland, Oregon, this weekend. MADE kicked off yesterday, and the small-batch frame builders have shown up in droves, putting their latest and greatest on display.
And, despite the barrage of 32” wheels and drop-bar creations, there are still small frame builders making unique full-suspension mountain bikes with “normal” wheel sizes.
A truly spectacular Significant Other
Ashley King is the frame builder behind Significant Other. The Denver-based brand offers four different models, but only one — the Ded Reckin — is currently available to the public.
King told us that the Ded Reckin was the first full-suspension bike she designed and dubbed Significant Other’s “Downcountry” bike, with 130/120mm of travel (F/R). Like all of the full-suspension offerings in her catalog, the Ded Reckin is a linkage-driven single-pivot with a titanium front triangle and a steel rear triangle.
Moving up in travel are the Trail and Super Trail offerings from Significant Other — the Doom Scroll Prophecy. “They’re the same front triangle, rear triangle,” Steve Ziegler explained, “just a different size shock and different lower shock mount.” Ziegler designed the single-pivot on Significant Other. He and King first met while working together at Reeb.
The Doom Scroll Prophecy Trail is a full 29er with 160/145mm of travel. Bumping up to the Super Trail gives riders 170mm of front and rear travel, but with a mixed-wheel setup. Ziegler said that they have only tested the Trail version with a 29” rear wheel, but anticipates being able to provide the option for a smaller rear wheel as well.
“You may notice there are a lot of different flip chips and different things we’ve been trying out,” Ziegler said, motioning to the Doom Scroll Prophecy Trail. “Different leverage curves — a lot of different things. If there’s enough interest and we roll this into a pre-order, there will be the option to run the Trail in 29 or mullet.”
And then there is the Steez Machine — a 24” kids bike with a massive 150mm of travel, front and rear. King and Ziegler said squeezing that much travel into the bike was likely the most difficult part of the design.
“I started making bikes in 2020 at Reeb,” King told us. “I was there for about two years and learned a lot about small-batch fabrication.” This is also where King got to work with steel. She moved on from Reeb and cut her teeth with a small titanium brand for a few years before taking that experience and putting it to use under her own brand.
King initially came to the first MADE on a fixed-gear bike with good tire clearance. That was the first bike that got some people’s attention. A brand reached out needing a gravel bike to display new tires. She moved forward with it, but another gravel bike didn’t really excite King. But the brand also mentioned an XC mountain bike tire, and King set off building the Ded Reckin.
“I showed [the Ded Reckin] at MADE here last year, and it was the first bike I ever showed where I was getting emails saying, ‘How do I buy this bike?’” King said. So, she set to fabricating enough to make available in small quantities.
Significant Other has the Ded Reckin for sale in limited quantities, available as frame-only, frame/shock, and frame/shock/fork options. It features a 65° head tube angle, a 76° seat tube, and is available in six sizes.
Other full-suspension bikes, other materials
Titanium wasn’t the only frame material found on full-suspension bikes at MADE.
On display at the Madrone booth was a single-pivot steel offering belonging to Wolfhound Cycles founder and builder Fred Cuthbert. Based in Southern Oregon, Wolfhound is known for gravel and hardtail bikes. The full-suspension Wolfhound was, of course, sporting a slick derailleur from Madrone, along with a very interesting use of a headset for the bike’s lone pivot point.
Hernán Montenegro of Montenegro MFG (MMFG) opted to leave his 32” wheel and drop bar bikes at home for a steel enduro bike. Well, steel and carbon fiber, to be exact. MMFG is known for its carbon repair and for building carbon bikes. For this big rig, the front triangle is steel while the rear is carbon fiber. It is also a single-pivot bike, and despite its ample suspension numbers, Montenegro claims it weighs a bit over 36lbs.
Moving on to aluminum, Portland-based Paladin Bikes had its AM1 on display. The bike can be set up with 150/140mm or 160/150mm of travel. Unlike other CNC alloy bikes that often use bonding, Paladin uses a patent-pending “multi-axis CNC” process to machine all sides of the frame at once.
They then drill out specific areas, such as the seat tube, while leaving others hollow. After hollowing out the downtube, Paladin covers it with a double-lap shear joint rather than adhesive bonding. The top tube is shaped like an I-beam, utilizing the sides to tuck in external cable and brake routing.
And, back to titanium, Sage had its Project FAF bike on display. The bike is made of titanium, of course, but also uses 3D-printed titanium at the frame junctions. Two different bikes were bouncing around the show: the Project FAF I’ve seen before and the “Harbinger,” both of which used a flex-stay single-pivot suspension platform, with subtle differences between them.
Lastly, I know I said no 32” bikes, and I really meant it. But this pink Sour just really caught my eye, and that looks like a pretty big front wheel.
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