Lots of mountain bikers have idly thought about designing their own frame, but actually doing it is an entirely different matter. But ex-pro racer Even Turpen took the leap, and his Contra Bikes prototype is nearing production readiness (and was perhaps the coolest thing we saw at Sea Otter this year). So we brought Evan on the show to talk about the bike design and what he wanted to accomplish with it; the a-ha moment that sparked the project in the first place; learning to design and fabricate a bike starting from square one, and a whole lot more.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- Growing up skateboarding & pivoting to mountain biking (2:19
- Working in a bike shop & the a-ha moment (5:54)
- Learning to design a bike (14:10)
- First single-pivot prototype (19:02)
- Learning fabrication (27:04)
- Patent infringement & heading back to the drawing board (40:36)
- Production bike design & status (50:39)
- The Contra name (58:38)
- Evan’s Big Idea (1:01:57)
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