WORDS CHIPPS PHOTOGRAPHY CHIPPS & STEVE BEHR
INTERVIEW
Keith Bontrager has been a bike industry name since the earliest days of the sport. While not a great self-publicist, his thoughts on bike design have nevertheless had a great influence on mountain biking over the last three decades. It’s been 15 years since we last interviewed him in Singletrack and so we reckoned it was time to see what had changed. We despatched Chipps to Keith’s house in Santa Cruz to quiz Keith and to have a particularly good chicken molé and pulled pork tortilla lunch.
Keith has always been merciless in pointing out the emperor’s new clothes and has never taken anything at face value. If someone says that a particular tyre size rolls quicker or corners better, Keith will ask for proof or he’ll go and create his own experiments to prove or disprove the theory.
It’s the same with interviews and journalists. If you’re asking the same dull questions as everyone else, then you’ll quickly know about it as he’ll tell you that you are. And even when we think we’re being clever, he’ll quickly bring you back to earth.
Keith, we were talking about the continual pursuit of increasingly niche bits of the mountain bike world. Is this because we’re running out of new ideas? Or is there still room for innovation in the bicycle world?
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About Singletrack
This issue has adventures from every corner of Britain, plus features from far flung corners of the globe. Whether you’re stay-cationing or joining the jet-setters, this summer issue is sure to have you occupied for those hours by the pool or sheltering from the rain outside your tent.
(Hand) Made In China – We get unprecedented behind the scenes access to some of the bike factories in China and Taiwan. Is it a sorry sight of oppressed workers in shabby conditions? Or skilled bike builders in state of the art facilities?
Classic Ride: Northern Ireland – Ian Bailey finds us a rare legal loop around the trails of Northern Ireland.
Trail Hunter: Snowdon – Just because something is popular doesn’t mean it can’t be a classic. Tom Fenton opts for the dawn raid on the highest peak in Wales.
Bike Test: Killer Hardtails (in Innsbruck) – Three tough trail hardtails from Kona, Nukeproof and Trillion make the trip to Innsbruck to see just how capable a modern hardtail can be.
Group Test: Hi-Tech Tyres – James Vincent checks out the current generation of burly rubber. Is there such a thing as a tyre for all seasons? Or even a tyre for a whole Lake District ride? He’s been getting the punctures so you don’t have to.
Interview: Keith Bontrager – Keith has been designing bikes and components since the eighties. He invented the mantra ‘Cheap, light, strong – pick two’ and has been behind Trek’s component line for over two decades. Chipps tries to get a little more than the usual stock answers to the stock questions.
Column – Jason Miles discusses the merits of riding the wrong bike.
Room 101 – Charlie the Bikemonger decides which bike world items and issues shall be thrown to the bears, or whatever it is that lives beyond the door of Room 101, and what shall be allowed to continue to roam our earth.
ST Recommended – We’ve picked three products so good that you need to go out and buy them now. All of them.
Oddball: Fuel – Coffee…