Three Indie Bikes from Outerbike Crested Butte That Think Outside the Box

A bike festival for the people, Crested Butte's Outerbike gives consumers a weekend of very hands-on bike testing. Max Ritter photo.

Sometimes I get the feeling that the bike industry is just a bunch of engineering nerds copying each other, continuously finding minute improvements on one style of thinking when it comes to making bikes faster and more fun. While that’s not a bad thing, it’s refreshing to see something new and radically different every now and then.

At Crested Butte’s Outerbike this year, I was greeted with the usual suspects: big name brands with flashy tents and their latest, greatest carbon fiber do-it-all machines. Yet, hiding between all the fluff, I found exactly what I was looking for: a different approach to the same old problem. I found three bikes from three indie brands that promise to do things their own way, and they do it pretty damn well.

These three bikes are the result of thinking outside the box, getting creative, and applying some serious engineering to bicycle design. The machines are beautiful, unique, and yes, they get me excited to get out and rip some epic trails.

Proudfoot Primed
www.proudfootcycles.com

A steel-framed full-suspension bike? Max Ritter photo.

Hidden in a stable of adventure-ready steel fat bikes and gravel grinders at the Proudfoot booth, I found a beautiful murdered out full-suspension rig that just begged to abused on all kinds of trails.

Proudfoot is a tiny brand (they share a manufacturing space with a brewery) based in Golden, CO. Owned and operated by Jon Acuff, an aerospace engineer who spent years designing and manufacturing airplane parts, Proudfoot makes beautiful steel-framed mountain and off road bikes, all designed and built by hand. Already a hit among the bikepacking and gravel crowd for their simple and extremely durable designs, Proudfoot also offers the Primed, a short-travel full suspension bike that looks ready for anything.

The Primed, a versatile 27.5”+ or 29” all mountain full-suspension rig, is based around a 120mm travel single pivot steel frame. Simplicity and durability are this bikes M.O., with only one suspension bearing on the frame, smartly spec’d with a cheap and more or less indestructible Cane Creek Forty headset bearing, instead of proprietary and expensive angular contact bearings. Proudfoot offers various build kits for each bike, as well as a full-custom option. I rode a custom build, featuring a well thought out mix of parts, aimed towards the burlier end of the spectrum.

Simplicity, and impeccable attention to detail, like the integrated chain guide, as part of the tubing. Max Ritter photo.

Suspension duties fell to a 130mm travel Rockshox Pike Debonair with the new Charger 2 damper up front, and a Rockshox Monarch on the rear. I was most impressed by the wheel and tire combination, with a set of heavy-duty Industry 9 Enduro wheels running a Maxxis Minion DHF+ and a Schwalbe Rocket Ron. These gave the bike unparalleled grip in loose, dusty corners and through technical rocks and roots. Their plus-sized volume helped to make the short travel feel plusher on hard hits.

Riding a plus-sized steel full suspension bike in the bike park may seem a little ridiculous, but this little machine felt comfortable on even the gnarliest sections of trail. In the air, it felt much like a dirt jumper: easy to move around and just begging for more airtime. Plus, the all-black build just looked badass, turning heads in the lift line.

After a few days of riding largely carbon fiber superbikes, the Primed’s simple design and incredible attention to detail stood out in an incredibly saturated mountain bike market. It was weird at first, but it felt like riding a work of art that outperformed all expectations.

Zerode Taniwha
www.zerodebikes.com

All carbon, everything. Max Ritter photo.

As a brand with the motto “ride outside the box,” Zerode brings something radically different to the table. A single-speed enduro bike, you may ask? Nope, it has gears, and a whole lot of them. Zerode was one of the first brands to fully embrace the Pinion gearbox as a better alternative to a standard derailleur-based drivetrain. The Taniwha is the New Zealand-based brand’s 160mm-travel full carbon enduro brawler, a bike that many privateer racers have started using thanks to the durability and amazing suspension performance the Pinion gearbox offers.

The Pinion is a fully self-contained drivetrain and shifting system, built into the bottom bracket area of the frame. It eliminates unsprung weight and external moving parts from the rear of the bike, instead centering it on the frame. As a result, the Taniwha feels much more planted and does not leave a derailleur and gears open to trail damage. Chain forces no longer drastically affect the suspension, allowing for a much smoother feel on the trail. Finally, this version of the Pinion offers an incredible 600% gear range, equivalent to a 10- to 60-tooth cassette, something a standard drivetrain simply won’t offer.

Where the magic happens. That's what 600% gear range looks like. Max Ritter photo.

Out on the trail, the Taniwha immediately felt different. Shifting the gearbox took some getting used to, as it requires the rider to let off the power while pedaling to shift (this does, however, mean it can shift without pedaling). However, the centered weight was immediately noticeable, giving the bike insane traction and handling much like a dirt bike in corners. The rear suspension felt much more supple due to less weight on the rear wheel, which made the bike feel like riding a cloud through rock gardens and rough terrain.

The Pinion Gearbox comes with a grip shift, but it works beautifully. Max Ritter photo.

The new Taniwha comes spec’d with Cane Creek’s new Helm fork, another departure from the norm. A 160mm fork designed for the enduro crowd, it features an incredible range of adjustment for those who want to eek every last bit of performance from their gear. It took a few runs to get it feeling comfortable, but once dialed, it felt like a very capable contender to what Rockshox and Fox have on offer.

Like many full-carbon frames running on carbon wheels, the bike felt a little too stiff for my liking. While it allows for incredibly precise and fast riding, I was hurting after only a few runs through the bike park. This may be more a testament to my fitness, but I am sure the average rider would prefer a slightly more forgiving ride for long days on the trail.

Overall, riding the Taniwha was akin to piloting a deftly engineered spaceship dripping with high-tech componentry. It just wanted to rip down the gnarliest trails I could find over and over again. This carbon fiber dream machine offers a unique solution to the never-ending debate on suspension kinematics, providing a worthy alternative to the drivetrain issue along the way. It was refreshing to ride something that required a few runs to get used to, and ultimately felt like it could radically outperform bikes in its class thanks to its unique design and engineering.

Still confused as to how Pinion works? I am too, but here is Pinion's explanation. 

Spot Mayhem
www.spotbrand.com

Not another carbon superbike! This one has a trick up its sleeve. Max Ritter photo.

Perhaps the most normal looking of the three bikes here, the 29”-wheeled Spot Mayhem has a trick hidden up its sleeve in the form of a leaf spring in its suspension. Yes, a plain old leaf spring, the same technology found on old-school truck or locomotive suspension. The bike still utilizes a normal rear shock, but instead of maintenance-intensive pivot bearings holding the lower link, a short piece of composite acts as a leaf spring, something Spot calls Living Link. Spot is a growing brand also out of Golden, CO, who broke into the full-suspension scene a few years ago after making urban and road bikes for years. The company is owned by the Lumpkin family, who created Avid brakes before selling the brand to SRAM.

The Living Link technology first appeared in 2015 on their 27.5”-wheeled Rollik, in an attempt to do what every bike brands wants: improve pedaling efficiency and downhill ride quality at the same time. Instead of licensing existing suspension designs, they decided to create something new. In the process, they created a system that provides a smooth, consistent suspension feel and makes the frame incredibly laterally stiff and what is typically its weak point, the suspension linkage.

Spot's Living Link suspension design, that short flat piece of material acts as a leaf spring. Max Ritter photo.

Talking to Spot at their booth, I was presented with the analogy of a ruler: held flat, it flexes up and down, but tip it on edge and it does not bend at all. Makes sense, and yes, it creates an incredibly stiff rear end.

What does it translate to out on the trail? At first, the bike feels relatively normal compared to everything else I rode, but the leaf spring is certainly noticeable once the suspension becomes active. The bike is very springy and agile, wanting to hop around and move through rough terrain instead of plowing straight through it. The same goes for uphill riding, where the leaf spring combined with a very forward rider position makes the bike a super nimble and energetic climber.

The bike is available as both a 29” and 27.5+” machine, with 130mm of travel on both versions. 

About The Author

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stash member Max Ritter

I manage digital content here at TGR, run our gear testing program, and am stoked to be living the dream in the Tetons.