Spotted at Sea Otter: Durango Bike Company Moonshine
Owning a small bike manufacturing company isn’t for the faint of heart. Determined to help bring back quality bike building to US, Jeff Estes is doing his part, forming Durango Bike Company a few years ago with a few simple goals. Read on the find out if he’s achieving what he set out to do.
The Durango Bike Company is a small husband and wife team out of, yes, you guessed it, Durango, CO. One of the original mountain bike crazed towns in America, and site of the first UCI World Championships, Durango is an awesome testing grounds for new bikes, and Jeff and his wife Wendy are excited to be up and running in this Southwestern part of Colorado.
Jeff is a bit of a man on a mission, with it consisting of three parts: 1. Build simple, efficient, and durable mt bikes that are good at their job. 2. Bring manufacturing of all sorts, but starting with bikes, back to America. 3. Have fun with this business of mt biking. Whether he’s riding or working at building his business, Jeff is a pretty happy guy, and really does seem to be enjoying himself.
Estes has been in the business for over 25 years. As a sponsored racer, as a sales rep, at a bike shop, with frame builders, and now with his own biz for a few years. He believes in the “soul” of mt biking. Durango has a lot of soul, and a lot of people who have given their lives over to this sport, and Estes is pushing hard to be part of that legacy. He says “Durango Bike Company was formed to showcase the great American craftsmen that we have here in the U.S. It was formed to show that little movements with something as simple as a bicycle can have huge impacts and positive effects on all of us.”
Estes went on to explain to me that he did a lot of research before starting his small company. He knew he wanted to build simple, efficient, and durable bikes. He had ideas about suspension design, but he reached out to friends made over the years, and friends of theirs. People in the car and motorcycle businesses. People in other industries that made products needing different types of suspension. And he asked for their feedback on a suspension design that was all of the above qualities: simple, efficient, and durable. He says they all came back with small variations of the “Horst Link”, which is something that Estes was already thinking, having worked with Horst Leitner at AMP Research years ago. This feedback sealed the deal for him, however there was one problem. Specialized held the patent. And wasn’t giving it up. But it did have an expiration, and that date was just about one year ago, mid April, 2013. Which is about when some European companies (LaPierre) started showing up with the Horst link 4 bar linkage on their bikes. And also about the time things went into overdrive at Durango Bike Company.
Moving onto the bike that turned our heads, the Moonshine made us stop and ask questions at Sea Otter. At a glimpse, with 160 mm travel front and rear, 650B wheels, 67º head tube angle, and 432mm chain stay length, the bike looked like something we’d like to swing a leg over. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity at Sea Otter, but certainly will this summer.
Some of the best news is this. With a fantastic build kit, including SRAM X01 drivetrain, RockShox Pike and Monarch Plus RC3, Crankbrothers wheel set, Thomson and Chris King bits, and Schwalbe Hans Dampf tires, the price is $6495, depending on your exact build. Impressive.
A few words from Estes about the process of making the bike. “We start by getting custom tubing designed and engineered for our specific 3 frames delivered to our factory in Durango. The machined parts, (BB, dropouts, head tube, linkages, mounting hardware, etc) are also custom made for us in the US. We then miter all of the tubing here in Durango and fixture it. We then have it welded by a company that specializes in custom aerospace aluminum welding. The frame then goes to a heat treating facility that ensures the frame hits the T6 hardness and tests each frame for quality control. The frames are then powder coated and returned to Durango where we post machine, re-thread and face the BB, ream and face the head tube, ream seat tube and assemble each frame and install head tube badges. We then finally build each bike complete and test ride before shipping.” He reminded me several times that all his bikes have a lifetime warranty. He also mentioned that his bikes “were designed for ride quality, not marketing purposes.”
Some other details about Durango Bike Company should be known. The factory and demo center is on solar with 77 solar panels on the roof and is located at the base of Horse Gulch in Durango, CO. One of the more popular trail systems in the area. So not only are they doing the right thing by using renewable energy, but they can go out the back door and be on trails in a matter of seconds.
The Moonshine looks good. They have an awesome demo program for you to check bikes out. Estes wants you to find out the best way possible. Swing by, borrow a bike, and ride on some killer trails in Horse Gulch. I can’t wait to get on one myself. You can find out much more info and how to get in touch through their website at Durango Bike Company. Now go ride.
Words, Photos: Daniel Dunn
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