Pistol on the Trail, Guerrilla in the... Gravity?
If this looks like a double post, it is. This is the bike feature! Look for the bar/stem feature! With that out of the way… welcome to the world of Guerrilla Gravity, where rear triangles and front triangles frolic and flirt free of the arbitrary social structures that define travel as a set measurement, where 27.5” and 29” are both acceptable answers, and where reach is just an (adjustable) number. Since it’s not a bike unless you ride it, and you won’t ride it unless it’s yours, GG wants to make sure it’s exactly what you want.
Except that you can ride it before it’s yours because this is a demo! Huzzah! Surely not even you, the educated consumer, saw that twist coming! Malarkey aside, Guerilla Gravity makes this yours by giving a great starting part with huge modularity and adjustability to dial it in to the perfect spot. But we know what the best stuff to build it with is, which is when it really becomes yours. So, welcome to the best stuff to build it with.
Wheels are Oregon’s pride (if we had our say) Astral Serpentines, hand-laced to Project 321’s. You do an Industry Nine if you wanted, but there’s no wrong answer there. Where you can see Matt Telmosse’s hand is the suspension, which is of course provided by the lovely Swedes over in Sweden’s yellowest boinger lab Ohlins. And it would ride like crap if it weren’t for suspension whiz Mike Howse. Mike is an encyclopedia of all things damper and all things spring—if you see him in the shop picking up forks and shocks for rebuild, ask him a question about what gen of damper you have or where your fork crown was cast. He’ll probably know, which would be intimidating if he weren’t the nicest guy around.
Bars and stem are provided by house favorites Tenet Components and painted in Ohlins Corporate Color Scheme (TM) by Riley while he was in town. Squishy grippy bits are from PNW Components, as is the Loam Lever and Bachelor Post. Which are just the best! If there’s one downside to the Trail Pistol, it’s the dropper housing routing. But if that’s your downside there’s a damn lot of upside.
The bar/stem gallery will be posted next week. Stay tuned.