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Downhill Bikes

The 8 sexiest custom downhill mountain bikes of 2016

Dream machines

We all think our bikes are special but those that really want to show it off will spruce it up with a custom paint job. Unfortunately, it’s normally the pros that get first dibs on custom frames, but at least we get to oggle their gorgeous kit.

Here are the best custom downhill mountain bike frames we spotted in 2016

Gold Specialized Demo

An S-Works Demo 8 is already pretty exclusive but if you want to add an extra sprinkle of bling then the boys at HiFiveGFX could help you out. For €500 they’ll attach some custom stickers to pimp your ride. This one was inspired by the world of rap where gold chains and rims reign supreme. Word.

Adam Brayton’s World Championships Scott Gambler

Adam Brayton is a quiet and reserved bloke, so when we saw what Hope had cooked him up for the World Championships we were blown away. It’s a loud and proud Scott Gambler that shows just how proud the Barnoldswick bunch were to have their rider in the World Champs. Hope truly are the masters of anodising – how on earth did they make those two-tone cranks??

Steve Peat’s Spitfire Santa Cruz V10

If anyone deserves custom bikes it’s Steve Peat. In his final year of World Cup racing, Peaty showed off a number of sweet themes including Tartan and Swiss Cow but our favourite has to be the Spitfire from Vallnord

Troy Brosnan’s space themed Specialized Demo (plus kit)

Planetary Intergalactic. A casual glance at Troy Brosnan’s space themed Demo may not take your breath away but it has some gorgeous details including the nebulous graphics and retro purple pedals.


However, this is a bike that really comes alive when you see the tailored kit Brosnan had made with it. Jet black with stars, suns and his two pet dogs shooting lasers out of their eyes. Bonkers!

Aaron Gwin’s World Championships YT Tues


Gwin is normally a fan of bombastic, stars and stripes themes, but he chose a classier affair for his first World Champs with YT. This muted red, white and blue theme was painstakingly put together by Adiran Flor with over 50 hours of work put into it.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for Gwin to break his World’s curse, but at least he looked good as he bumbled down Val di Sole with a puncture.

Dean Tennant’s cedar Transition TR500

 

What better homage is there to the trails of North Shore than a cedar wrapped frame. Dean Tennant’s Higher Calling 2 saw him shred through Squamish on this beautiful Transition TR500 and it made for one of our favourite videos of the year.

The Athertons raw finish World Championships Trek Sessions

In a way this is almost the opposite of a custom frame because it has no paint at all. The Athertons went into the 2016 Worlds raw and the rest, for Rachel Atherton at least, is history.

Paint can add up to half a kilogram to a bike so the raw finish is all about saving as much weight as possible. Thankfully, it looks pretty eye catching too.

Loic Bruni’s Rainbow Specialized Demo

Loic Bruni came out of the blocks at the start of this season as the reigning World Campion, and he wanted everyone to know as he rocked this Rainbow designed Demo.

It seemed he may end up suffering the curse of the Worlds after crashing out in Lourdes, but he sprinted to victory in Cairns to claim his first ever World Cup win.

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