Bombproof MTBs at the Bicycling Australia Show

Former vert BMX star Jon Byers is one of the last people you'd expect to be spruiking a line of mountain bikes. His company, Eastern Bikes, makes bombproof BMX bikes for riders whose riding style is termed 'abuse' by most makers of big-wheeled machines. But when Eastern started dabbling with 26in-wheeled jump bikes and considering a suspension frame, its Australian importer Dirt Works had an idea: why not get someone who knew what he was doing take care of the suspension aspects?

The logical choice was Ellsworth, as Dirt Works also handles the Ramona, California suspension specialist in Australia. A licensing deal was brokered and Eastern now has four suspension bikes in its range using Ellsworth's single-pivot design. Byers told Cyclingnews that he was seeing "a lot of transition from BMX" to mountain biking, and that these riders were breaking regular mountain bike frames.

And that, in part, was why Eastern is offering a suspension frame with a chromoly front triangle. "Aluminium is traditional but for some people chromoly is the only way," said Byers.

See the rest of our Bicycling Australia Show coverage here