CYOA bike checks: From rigid bikes to 32″ wheels and wild gearboxes anything goes at BC Bike Fest

While BC Bike Race celebrated its 20th year last week, and final year in its original format, that wasn’t the only milestone from the BCBR crew. As the race was wrapping up, riders were rolling in for the first BC Bike Fest. What’s a BC Bike Fest? The idea was to bring every kind of mountain biker back together under one festival and see what happens. Downhill, cross country, eMTB, enduro, pretty much anything on two wheels, all hanging out in North Cowichan.

The diversity of bikes and people this brought together was refreshing. From rigid handmade bikes racing enduro to space-age DH sleds, the latest and greatest in eMTB and even a few gravel bikes from the not-so-distant future. Here’s a few of the more interesting rigs from a very fun weekend.

Archibald Cycles AC1 DH and AC1 Enduro

We’ve talked to the guys from Archibald and seen photos of these rigs around, but seeing one of these Vancouver-made rigs in person was something else. They’re as stunning as they are wild. Alex has clearly put a ton of work into the design and it feels like I’m still finding new details every time I look at the bikes. Archibald had a few riders in the downhill race on Prevost (and on the podium), but had enduro builds of its AC1 in the booth, too. The bikes are built with Pinion or Effigear gearboxes and will work with a chain or a belt drive, making them pretty adaptable to riders preferences, as long as you don’t want a derailleur. The DH bike was fully kitted out with a Manitou Dorado Pro, EXT Storia shock and even a Helix coil from the Nelson, B.C. coil specialist. Wild rigs!

Erin and Noah’s Serious rigid rids

At pretty much the opposite end of the spectrum from Archibald, Erin and Noah were running fully rigid hand-made steel bikes for the BC Bike Fest enduro. Held on Tzouhalem, it used a comparatively approachable course  instead of the hardest trails organizers could find. That made racing these more fun than death defying. Noah makes the bikes himself and the two of them use them for… pretty much everything. Bikepacking, everyday riding on Vancouver Island and even, now, an enduro. The one thing in common? Both these and the Archibald’s are made in Canada. Cool beans.

Landyachtz goes 32″ for gravel

Landyachtz Bikes is diving into the fray with a 32″ gravel bike. The Vancouver brand loves gravel, whether that is riding local trails, racing, bikepacking or racing bikepacking events (Svein Tuft rode a custom Landyachtz for his Tour…