First look: Durango Bike Co.’s American-made trail bikes

The Durango Bike Company might be a fairly new venture, but the brains behind the brand are long-time industry veterans who know a thing or two about building bikes. We stopped by the booth at Sea Otter to see what has been cooking down in Southwest Colorado.

All Durango bikes are hand-fabricated in Colorado in a facility powered entirely by the sun. In fact, the solar panels generate enough electricity to sell power back to the grid.

The Moonshine has been years in development, but now that the patent on the Horst Link suspension design has expired, they are free to offer the bike to the public. It’s built from aluminum with 160mm of travel front and rear. The 67 degree head tube is paired with 432mm chainstays for snappy handling. While it doesn’t come equipped with a front derailleur mount, if you really need one it can be added in production—such is the benefit of small American manufacturing.

Inside the ISCG tabs is a threaded bottom bracket, because hey, it works. The Enduro bearings in the swingarm’s pivots. are installed with brass inserts between them and the frame, allowing for the inevitable wear on surfaces to be easily remedied.

Durango really wants its bikes to be the best, and equips the complete builds with a fairly high-end parts spec, including SRAM XX1, a Rockshox Pike fork and Monarch Plus shock, and Crankbrothers Iodine wheels. A Cane Creek DB Air shock is optional, and Durango worked closely with Cane Creek to create a detailed blueprint for owners on how best to tune this rather complicated shock for their bike.

Prices range from $5,500 to $6,500 depending on the build. Durango is so confident that you will enjoy your bike that if you decide to part with it down the road, they will be first in line with an offer to buy it back.

We were also struck by the Hooey, a fat trail bike that is more at home in rock gardens than in the snow (although it does come with heated grips…) Unlike most fat bikes it has an 83mm bottom bracket shell and 150mm rear spacing. This obviously limits tire chose to the “smaller” end of the fat spectrum but can run off-the-shelf downhill parts. A complete bike will set you back $4,500.