While working on our upcoming, 40th anniversary issue of Mountain Bike Action, we reached out to one of most-often-used test riders of the past, Bernie Tusko. While many of our past test riders, most notably John Tomac, were well-known mountain bike racers, Bernie was not a well-known mountain bike racer. Instead, he was a professional speedway motorcycle racer, who was one of former MBA editor Richard Cunningham’s riding buddies and one of the most talented and stylish mountain bike riders we ever photographed.
We recently contacted Bernie to ask him about his days as a test rider for our July 2026 issue, which will be our 40th anniversary issue. We also asked him if he could show us what mountain bike he’s riding now.
Here’s what Bernie told us:
“I split riding time between a dream-build Scott Ransom, which is 170mm travel at both ends, while still being well under 27.8 pounds, without any fragile parts.
“And a full-custom-build Scott Genius, which is 160 mm front / 150 mm rear, and under 25.6 pounds. (The full-custom color-shift pearl paint job is quite a sight, especially in the right light and angle, it will shift from gold to green to pink to orange).
“This is not about being any kind of Scott fan boy, it’s more that with all the traveling I do, I need a super-capable and versatile bike, that I can be dropped anywhere on the planet and make it happen. As well as being lightweight, so I can pack all of my riding supplies and still make it under the airlines weight limit.”
Above: Here’s Bernie riding his Scott Genius. (Photo courtesy of Bernie Tusko)
This is Bernie’s Scott Ransom bike. (Photo courtesy of Bernie Tusko)