First look: Zumbi custom mountain bikes
Originally posted on April 15, 2014 at 11:38 am
Zumbi is a Polish company, in business for about a decade, building stock and fully custom bicycles. At Sea Otter we were able to check out this F-11 model, a 160mm travel 27.5 all mountain bike.
The rear travel is handled by a floating pivot/mini-link design, in this case being controlled with a Cane Creek DB Air, but just like almost everything else on the bike, that can be swapped or customized to the customers liking.
Geometry can be customized with head angle, top tube length and seat tube length all able to be dialed in to suit riding styles and body measurements. Custom geometry is only a $100 upcharge, with a frame (w/o shock) going for $1,800, or $2,200 with the DB Air. Riders can also choose their preferred wheelsize.
Paint is also truly custom, with a solid color choice of just about anything out there included in the price. Custom design and airbrushed art work starting at $175. Linkages can also be anodized in wide range of colors.
Not looking for an all mountain bike? Zumbi also builds trials bikes, DJ/street bikes, hardtails, short travel trail bikes, freeride, downhill, e-bikes and fixies.
Zumbi’s American importer also works with some other brands, including the TrickStuff disc brakes on this bikes. These are the Cleg brakes, which come in a two or four piston model. This German brand comes in a huge range of mix and match colors, including colorful Goodridge brakes hoses. Color comes at a price, with a front and rear set coming in at a cool $1,000.
And from the same importer is the Black Mountain cassette. The entire cassette (except for the smallest cog) is machined from a solid hunk of aluminum with a hard coating. While these cassettes won’t last as long as a steel cassette, Black Mountain claims about 3,000 miles on the road.
There are standard 11-36, 11-40 and 11-42 10 speed cassettes, with 11-42 11-speed in development. Price is $250, which is not a cheap cassette, but it is less expensive than the high end SRAM and Shimano offerings, which may help to offset its reduced life.
