This week’s “Bikes We Ride” post is a bike that gets ridden to the full potential of it’s namesake. Watching Gram pull casual wheelies for most of his commute brings deeper meaning to “Cosmic Stallion”. We’ll let him share this bike in his own words:

Like many children of the 1980s and 90s, I grew up riding lots of fat tired bikes.  I rode BMX bikes, Cruisers, “Mountain bikes,” Schwinns as well as lots of cobbled together customs that my family and I sourced from yard sales or thrift stores on the cheap.  I also grew up blocks away from lots of good trails, rocks, and plenty of jumps, large and small.  My riding buddies and I quickly learned which bikes were up to the task of getting airborne, and which ones were not, but these early lessons in bunny hopping, wheelies, curb hops and skids are what I think about when, as an adult, I can still bunny hop the max tracks as reflex, or sidehop onto the sidewalk in a split second if the need arises.


The only real problem with learning these skills is that I can’t seem to to ever turn the hooligan switch to the off position, which generally results in me destroying parts (so many rear wheels) on any and every drop bar road bike I’ve ever owned.  I mowed lawns for over a year and bought a 1993 Fuji Roubaix in 6th grade, and I broke plenty of stuff on that bike too.  It got bad enough that I swore off drop bars for a decade!  But after starting at Sellwood Cycle Repair, I had been missing drop bars, and my trusty tank of a commuter was feeling slow for my new, longer commute, so I built a string of cool vintage “hot rod” road bikes that were fun and fast, but none were really tough enough to handle any real abuse.




I set out looking for a modern bike that could fit a big fat tire, had disc brakes for wet weather stopping power, and yet still had sporty enough geometry that it felt fun and fast to ride.  I ended up with a Cosmic Stallion from All City, which I immediately switched to 650b wheels, and made it fancy with some carbon rims, fenders and a dynamo setup.  I love the hydraulic brakes, and the medium length chainstays (which make it a wheelie machine).  About a year into owning it, I felt like the bike was better at landing than it was at jumping, so I bought a KS Lev Integra dropper post, actuated it with an inline brake lever and stealth routed the cable through the Di2 port in the seat tube.

Here is the full Spec for the nerds:

• Headset: Cane Creek 40 with carbon bits
• Stem: Zipp Service Course SL 90mm
• Handlebar: Bontrager Carbon 42cm
• Bar Tape: All-City Super Cush w/ lock on plugs, Black
• Shifter/Brake Lever: SRAM Rival 22 Hydraulic, 11-speed
• Front Derailleur: SRAM Rival 22, Braze on w/Band Mount Clamp (28.6mm)
• Rear Derailleur: SRAM XO 10speed Clutch, short cage
• Brakeset: SRAM Rival Hydraulic, Post Mount, Shimano ICEtech rotors: 160mm front , 140mm rear
• Crankset: SRAM Force Carbon 50/34t
• Bottom Bracket: SRAM GXP
• Seatpost: KS Lev Integra, 27.2mm Stealth
• Saddle: Vetta SL
• Cassette: Shimano Ultegra 11-28
• Chain: Shimano Ultegra
• Wheels: Ebay Carbon/Kevlar rims, 32h 3x with Sapim D-Light Spokes, Shutter Precision front & DT 350 rear hub.
• Tires: Compass 650b x 48 Extralight, set up tubeless