The ugliest bikes ever

I know this is a highly contested category, and I know that the title gets tossed around a lot year to year, but today we at TEAM ROBOT are proud to bring you the all time title holder, Mountain Cycle.

We present to you the ugliest bikes of all time:








Another great detail: the downhill bike requires a proprietary 35mm bottom bracket, and the size large DH bike has a 42.8" wheelbase. SOLD!



But don't believe me. Listen and watch as Gerard walks you through some of the details of this bike, and as he awkwardly caresses and strokes:

Mountain Cycle Shockwave 2 Intro on pinkbike.com

And these are just their new bikes, not to say anything about where they came from:












But, my first ever downhill bike was a Mountain Cycle Shockwave 9.5, and I loved that thing to death. I didn't ride it to death, because as ugly as it was, and as weird as the geometry was, that bike was basically invincible. Bender proof. My bike wasn't just clapped after a season of use. When I built the frame up, it was pre-clapped. The frame was new, but all the other parts were haggard, borrowed, or found in dumpsters.


Here's a picture of me keepin it real back on the Mountain Cycle in '06 at Willamette Pass (won that race, btw). I was stoked to get that fork, but then I slowly came to the realization that it didn't like to move up or down- not a good quality for a race fork. At this point I still had a Progressive 5th Element, which was actually worse than just bolting on a straight spring. Also, major style points for the Giro helmet, exposed man thigh and excellent riding position. What are Five Tens?






And in '07 at Skibowl (won it also). By now I'd moved up to a 888 and a Fox DHX 5.0, which was world better. Nonetheless, what's compression damping?






The Mountain Cycle today, still in operation somewhere in Idaho:




67 degree head angle
15.75" bb height
17.5" chainstay (that grows... A LOT)
5 inch tall standard headtube
22.3" toptube on the size large
Totally dialed





-Chaz