High-Tech vs. Handmade: The Beautiful Contrast of These Two Mountain Bikes

This week, I had two very different bikes show up at my doorstep. One made of steel and aluminum, with no batteries anywhere on it; the other, primarily carbon, even down to the spokes, and requiring batteries not just for the derailleur but for the dropper, fork, and shock.

One is an ultralight, short-travel machine, designed and tested at the highest level of cross-country mountain bike racing. The other is made of steel and alloy, with external cables throughout and almost no carbon fiber visible. But both of these bikes are unified with a single emotion as I unboxed and built them. The same emotion that keeps me excited about mountain biking year after year.

Two Mountain Bikes, Worlds Apart

Although the bikes are the antithesis of each other, designed for very different riders and riding styles, I found myself elated at the idea of riding both. The rides I’ve imagined are opposites, but that’s the beauty of this sport. Bikes are inanimate, but they have the ability to spark feelings in us as a reminder that we’re all just the same kids who wanted to just ride our bikes around in the woods and get lost in daydreams about the adventures we’d take as soon as we were free from homework or school.

Stinner Romero LT

On one hand, there’s the Stinner Romero LT, a long-travel steel bike handmade in Santa Barbara. It’s calling my name like the One Ring as I type this. This is a bike that I’ve been terribly excited about, and it’s been a few months since I’ve been on a bike with more than 150mm of travel, and I cannot wait to ride it around more than just up and down the block. There are no batteries anywhere on it, and it’s not the lightest bike, but that’s not the point. The Ministry Cycles’ 3VO suspension system, which this bike sits on, paired with a steel front triangle, has me seriously excited to go see how stupid I can be down a hill.

Specialized Epic 9

On the other hand, we have the Specialized Epic 9. An all-out spaceship that is covered in batteries and sensors to tell the suspension what to do and when to do it. It’s an absurdly light frameset, covered in top-end gadgets that are all designed to maximize efficiency in the most fun way possible. In reality, it’s a bit too bougie for my blood, but god dang if I’m not giddy about lacing up the stiffest shoes I have and putting on my tightest kit to see just how close to a KOM I can get. The wheels alone are just 998g, and that’s far and away the lightest wheel I’ll have ever ridden.

As I stood and looked at the two machines I had just assembled, realizing how stark the contrast was between them, I felt the same excitement I felt as a kid, and I can’t emphasize how important it is to let yourself fall back to that ignorant joy. As I write this, I’m sitting next to my window, gushing about how much fun and joy the bicycle brings, when I should be out riding, but just as there is duality in the two bikes sitting in my shed, there is duality in life. Jobs, life, and all the noise of “normal” life drowns out the things that keep the heart chalice full, and sometimes all we have is the longing for another chance to go play outside.

“Get a bunch of bikes, and ride them around with your friends. It’s the shit.”
-Tyler, the Creator

If only it were that simple. Instead of riding my bike on this beautiful spring day, I’ve stared at a computer screen writing this, edited video footage of myself riding bikes, talked to a camera about riding bikes, cleaned a house we just moved out of, done errands, cooked food, and made coffee for others. But each moment I’ve not been busy with the “normal” stuff, I’ve been dreaming about swinging a leg over a bicycle. Life isn’t always fun and games, but longing makes the heart grow fonder, or whatever.