This bike is officially our "most insane custom bike" that we've ever built! The owner of this bike is a great customer of ours, Julian from Vancouver, BC, who is coming off of a 2011 Specialized Enduro. He wanted to try out something different, so he had this Nicolai Geometron shipped to him from Germany. Once he received the frame, he drove it down to us at The Lost Co to help him out with his custom build. He had an idea of what he wanted for about 50% of the components, but key things like the fork, cockpit, tires and custom wheels were some parts he needed recommendations on.

        Since Julian lives in Vancouver, BC, we knew the type of terrain he would be riding often so we planned out his build accordingly. From old school steep jank on North Shore Vancouver trails, to steep committing rock slabs in Squamish to huge unforgiving features in the Whistler Bike Park, this bike needed to handle some extreme conditions. To tackle all of this, we built up his bike to be reasonably light without giving up on any brute strength. First, we started by building up his custom wheels with our shop favorite DT-Swiss XM481 rims laced to Shimano XT M8010 hubs with DT-Swiss Competition spokes and brass nipples. This wheel equation equals a wheelset which is burly, reasonably light and rides with a little bit of built-in "pop" to create a lively ride. The "pop" is due to the double-butted spokes, which we used according to Julian's rider weight and riding style. That way, the wheels aren't too stiff and ride like circular bricks clunking their way down the trail.

          We also recommended the Maxxis Assegai tires front and rear in the DoubleDown/MaxxGrip casing. With that rubber combo front and rear, it's actually going to be hard to lose traction. Stuffed in the rear tire is a CushCore tire insert to add a little extra grip in the rear, as well as a more quiet ride and some rim protection. To get the rubber to grab the dirt, we installed some Shimano XT 4-piston brakes with 203mm rotors front and rear to give a stoppable characteristic to a seemingly unstoppable steed of a bike.

        A big part of any build is the suspension, and since this frame shipped with an awesome EXT Storia V3 coil shock, the front fork was up to us to figure out. For the "best bang for Julian's buck" we recommended the Marzocchi Bomber Z1. We've had a great experience with this fork and truly believe it's the best value for our dollar out there. We set the fork at 170mm to match the frame's travel of 175mm. The OneUp Components V2 Dropper at 210mm was the longest post we could get in this bike for Julian's height, which is mated to our shop favorite Chromag Lynx DT saddle. Last but not least, Julian wanted to utilize Shimano's new SLX M7100 drivetrain by using those cranks, shifter, derailleur, chain and cassette. This drivetrain is 1x12 with a 10-51t range on the cassette!

          Overall, this bike is freaking insane and is going to be a blast to blast down some gnarly trails. We measured the headtube angle and it sits at 61.5°... yep, that's crazy! We're super excited to hear back from Julian to see how this rig handles climbing up to 19th Hole in Squamish and bombing down Goat's Gully in the Whistler Bike Park.

Julian... thanks a ton for coming to us and we hope you fall in love with your new ride!

-The Lost Co Crew