Episode 2 of Building Bikes with Arid Cycles

I love metal bikes, and I love it when new brands emerge out of my home state, so it’s no surprise that I have been really intrigued by the operation that Ethan is running with Arid Cycles out of Bend, Oregon. Similar to Neko Mulally's Frameworks videos the Building Bikes Series will cover detailed aspects and the process of creating a frame from start to finish.

Episode 2 of Building Bikes dives deeper into the design choices behind going low-pivot vs. high-pivot, ride characteristics, and some first impressions from an outsider's perspective. This video gives more insight into this prototype project. It features some insight into anti-rise values and the intricacy of small geometry and suspension changes to fine-tune a platform for the desired riding experience. The Arid prototypes are incredibly modular, with adjustable dropouts, removable seat stay bridge, and adjustable headset cups to get incredibly granular with the geometry numbers. Check out Ethan Eggerts V3 bike-check here!

The Orbit bar is an interesting 6-bar suspension system with a large diameter bearing as the 6th bar in the equation. This 6-bar design uniquely balances high-pivot and low-pivot characteristics to achieve the best of both worlds. This is no small task, but the Arid Spade is an ever-evolving project that is constantly improving and learning, and it is really cool to hear impressions of the ride feel and perspective from other riders.

I have been watching this project closely since it was initially teased in 2023, and I am looking forward to seeing how things progress with this experiment. Stay tuned for more!