We here at Canadian Cycling Magazine like our classic bikes. Classic means different things to different people, of course. While some love the early ATB-era mountain bikes, and others prefer the rainbow of ’90s anodising, not as many turn their rose-tinted gaze at the early aughts freeride era.
There are some reasons for that. The heyday of freeride wasn’t exactly about clean aesthetics. The vibe was more about survival, with any kind of polished finesse being jettisoned in favour of industrial-looking designs that brands hoped would make it through more than a handful of cliff hucks, stair case gaps and good old drop to flats. This was the era of Karpiel, Rocky Mountain’s RM-series, Kona Stab, Brooklyn Machine Works, Canfield, Balfa, and many more. It was also the golden era of freeride movies. New World Disorder, Ride to the Hills, Digger’s North Shore Extreme and a pile of other VHS tapes that are now referenced more than they’re actually watched (who still has a VHS player?).
Recently, while scrolling the classifieds for old school gems, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. The Chunk Juggernaut. A massive assembly of glimmering metal with forks that made the infamous Monster T look like a cross country fork. I needed to know more. 300mm travel? A 400mm fork?!? What IS this thing? I had to know more. So I asked.
Meet the Chunk Juggernaut: A DIY Freeride fever dream
The Chunk Juggernaut, as its been dubbed by its creator James Agate, is a beast. That’s a Marzocchi Shiver that it absolutely dwarfs in the lead photo. Despite looking like children’s tires, those are 26×4.0″ wheels it’s riding on. As mentioned above, massive travel numbers.
Chunk came into existence four years ago, when its creator needed a summer project to “keep busy on the weekends.” That added up to between 50 or 60 hours, mostly on the tools as he admits there wasn’t a ton of time put into ironing out details of the design.
Agate has a background in welding and in downhill, riding from around 2002 to 2012. Both are on the background as his career went in a different direction and, like many of us, his decade of downhill and freeride wound down as real life obligations took over. The love for the old school never died, though. Along with the Chunk, Agate has an impressive collection of classic freeride bikes, from the known favourites to more rare and obscure bikes (like a B-1 Woodbumble DH rolling on…
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