LINKS TO THE WEBSITES OF THE WORLD'S TOP BIKE COMPONENTS MAKERS
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  • ADVENTURE COMPONENTS - It's a small U.S.-based company that specializes in manufacturing a large quantity of MTB components, many of them for downhill use. They offer: cranks, hubs, brake boosters and levers, chainguides, headsets and a lot of small parts. The site is nice (even if the striking yellow background is really too strong!), modern, with good photos, clear descriptions and technical data.

  • AEROSPOKE - Aerospoke offers a complete range of wheels, hubs and accessories. They specialize particularly in interesting high-quality composite wheels. The site is good, easy to browse, with good pictures, and offers not only information on the products but also technical details about the design and structure of the wheels.

  • AMBROSIO - Ambrosio is a famous Italian manufacturer of rims, wheels and hubs. The site is nice but strangely it offers good information about hubs, limited information about wheels and nothing at all about rims, the most famous product of Ambrosio!

  • AMERICAN CLASSIC DESIGNS - A manufacturer of MTB superlight components: headsets, cranksets, bottom brackets, skewers, hubs, pre-built wheels, rollers for training etc. Nice, modern and complete web site, easy to browse with nice pictures and good product descriptions .

  • ANSWER PRODUCTS - The well-known manufacturer of the famous Manitou forks. The site is nice and rich in information showing the complete 1997 range with technical specs (check out the interesting titanium coil-spring + MCU elastometer solution). Unfortunately the nice graphics it so abundant that the pages load very slowly with modem dial-up connections.

  • ARROW RACING - Besides bikes Arrow Racing manufactures also bike components. They produce stems and rims but are getting more and more well-known because they are one of the few companies in the world manufacturing 24" tires. These are the new trend in the downhill world thanks to their huge and large thread. The site is not very clear and there are no technical specifications of the components.

  • ATAK - A manufacturer of many different components: brake, brake levers, hubs, seat posts, head set and so on. The products look good but the site offers only one black&white photo for every group of components, and most of the site is under construction. Therefore there are very few technical details.

  • AVID - The famous American brake company. They offer a very wide range of high quality brakes and related accessories. Moreover they recently entered the disc brake arena. You can find both mechanical and hydraulic disc versions. The site is modern, fast, easy to browse and offer good and detailed information (including the products' weight).

  • AZONIC - Azonic is the part of O'Neal company dealing with MTB. They are very famous for their high-quality stems and bars. They also produce accessories and clothing (helmets, jerseys, pants, gloves, protections). The link above refers directly to the MTB section which is well-done, conventional with limited graphics, but offers pictures, technical data and the possibility to order online.

  • BALLISTIC - A company that specializes in suspension forks. They offer both normal and inverted version up to 1800 mm of travel for cross-country and downhill. The site is easy and fast to browse and all the basic technical information is clearly reported. Unfortunately you will not find any in-depth details (including the weight!), owner's manual or a company profile.

  • BASSANO GRIMECA  - An Italian company specializing in disk brakes. They offer a complete range including: fully hydraulic, hydromechanic (cable-actuated with hydraulic caliper) and completely mechanic versions. The site is rather well-done, the descriptions are good and also the pictures are clear, but no detailed technical data (such as the weight) is given. The graphic is a little too dark and a little confusing.

  • BONTRAGER - They produce three interesting MTB models but they seem to be really good manufacturer of accessories: bar ends, grips, handlebars, saddles and even rims and tires. The site is very well done, complete and rich. It makes a balanced use of graphics without exceeding.

  • BULLET U.S.A. - This company is gaining increasing popularity for its massive downhill front forks named ZZYZX. They also produce other components for downhill bikes such as chain tension and roller systems. The site is not so wide, but nice and attracting, it does not exceeds with graphics and offers clear-to-find information on the different products.

  • CANE CREEK - A company producing different type of components: shocks, wheels, headsets, brakes and other. I personally tested their light air shock and I was really surprised by its excellent behavior over small bumps. The web site is nice and attracting, with neat and clean graphics. It offers all you can need: information on the company, the products, the races and good pictures.

  • CARAMBA CYCLES - Caramba offers a wide range of components as well as aluminium and titanium frames (for full-suspended too). The web site offers adequate information and is nice.

  • CHRIS KING  - A famous company manufacturing high quality bearing components: headsets (very well known), hubs and bottom brackets. Their long experience has led to extremely reliable components that are in fact backed by a multi-year warranty. The site is nice, modern, easy to browse, with good and cool pictures and a lot of interesting information including downloadable PDF manuals of all products.

  • CHUCK  - An interesting U.S.-based company producing only monocoque frames for mountain bike. They offer frames for hardtail, full-suspended for cross-country and full-suspended for downhill. The site is small and very simple, with no general descriptions of the products or the company but images are good enough and all technical data are available.

  • COLUMBUS - Columbus: the Italian, world-famous steel frame manufacturer. They recently started to produce also high quality aluminium frame. Nice site with interesting in-depth technical information (English version under construction)

  • CONTINENTAL - The famous German tire manufacturer has an entire division for bikes and offers a very complete and modern range of products. The site is well-done, easy to browse with adequate information and moderate graphics. It features also a very interesting and detailed tire guidebook that covers many topics from the history of rubber, to tire construction, to the modern silica technology.

  • CONTROL TECH  - A U.S. company manufacturing MTB components. They offer a complete range of seat posts including a new suspension post, stems, bars, bar ends, linear-pull brakes and even complete aluminium frames. The site is simple but attracting, very clear and easy to browse, it uses graphics without exceeding and offers complete technical info and very nice large pictures.

  • COOK BROS. RACING - A 25-year-old Californian company famous all over the world for its high-quality crankset. They also produce chainrings, bottom brackets, skewers, seatposts etc. The web site is nice, modern, wide and very complete. It is also easy and fast to navigate and the information provided is simple and complete.

  • DEDACCIAI  - Dedacciai is an Italian company famous all over the world for its high-performance frame tubes. They started with steel and offer now also aluminium. The site has limited and dark graphics and so it's not so attracting but offers high-quality in-depth information extremely useful to understand frame structure and tubes and to answer tons of commons questions.

  • DEKERF - Dekerf specializes in manufacturing three different MTB frames and a handlebar. All products are realized with high quality metals like titanium putting great care in details and production process. The web site is not so large, but, despite of this, offers pictures, descriptions and details that can satisfy everyone.

  • DT - DT is a famous Swiss company specializing mainly in spokes. They also offer very high quality hubs and accessories. The web site is modern and offers complete documentation, technical details, a table to help choosing the right spokes and a lot of clear pictures. Unfortunately it uses graphics very heavily and therefore it is rather slow if you have a dial-up connection.

  • EXTRALITE - An Italian company producing mainly frames but also components such as stems and wheels. They seem specialized in a very high-level design and manufacturing process. Frames and components are described in every detail. The site is nice, rather informative especially from a technical point of view but it appeared a little slow.

  • FORMULA  - An Italian company manufacturing disk brakes. They were pioneer in this field and have obtained a great success in downhill competitions. They offer two disk brake systems: a fully hydraulic version and a new cable-actuated model. The site is well-done, modern and interactive. It offers in-depth technical information including downloadable PDF manuals in five different languages.

  • FOX RACING SHOX  - There are different companies named FOX. This one is the world-famous manufaturer or rear shocks. Fox offers a complete range of air and coil-spring damped shocks. The site is obviously very wide and complete even if not so fast and intuitive to browse. It shows the products with detailed descriptions and images and also downloadable PDF owner's manuals in different languages.

  • GEAX - Geax designs and manufactures a wide range of MTB tires. Their web site is very unusual because to browse it you have to scroll laterally instead of vertically (for me it's annoying and you cannot scroll line by line). The tire description is detailed and there is also a selection table to find the right tire for each terrain and a technology section to understand the manufacturing process and the tire structure.

  • GIANI - This company produces only a special seat post: it has an elastometer shock absorber and works like a front fork. This solution is unconventional, easy to install and maintain. The web site is very well done, with attracting colors and graphics and is particularly complete offering also technical and maintenance information.

  • GRIP SHIFT - Manufactured by SRAM corporation, Grip Shift is the only shifting system that can compete with Shimano's. It is rapidly gaining popularity on simple bike as well as extremely technical MTB's. Check out also SRAM's ESP rear derailleur.

  • HANEBRINK - Hanebrink produces extremely specialized upside-down downhill forks which are used by some World Cup racers. The forks are really massive and feature triple clamp, 8" of travel and are ready for disk brake mounting. The site is still under construction and therefore not yet complete. Still it offers good pictures, technical data and an interesting online technical service manual.

  • HAYES - Hayes specializes only in disc brakes which are a more and more widespread product especially in downhill races. I particularly appreciated their site: it features a very attracting and balanced graphics, an always-present menu to ease navigation and offers not only in-depth information on the products but also very useful technical info on disk brakes, their advantages and performances.

  • HOPE TECHNOLOGY - Another company offering high-quality MTB components. Unlike other similar companies, they also offer a very interesting model of mechanical and hydraulic disk brake. Their web site offers good in-depth technical information.

  • HUTCHINSON   - A large French company producing also MTB tires for cross-country and downhill. They offer a large and very complete range of high-quality products that can satisfy every rider. The web site is plain with limited graphics but well done. The different tires are described in a clear and practical way: a picture, main features, design characteristics and basic technical information including weight.

  • INTENSE - They offer a range of monocoque aluminum full-suspension frames for dowhnhill and cross-country bikes. All the frames are very sophisticated and are used by top downhill champions. The site is very modern, with striking colors. It is user-friendly, very interactive and offers good in-depth information even if the pictures could be sharper and clearer.

  • IRC TIRE  - IRC is a more and more famous Japanese company manufacturing MTB tires. They offer a very wide and complete range and the products are based on advanced technology improvements. The site is well done because it's easy to browse and offers complete technical information (including weight) on every tire model with tables and pictures and also explanations of the underlying technologies.

  • ITALMANUBRI - A famous Italian company manufacturing state-of-the-art stems and bars. They offers a complete range of products for downhill and cross-country. The site is modern and original even if not always easy to browse. The information provided is at a good level with technical specifications including weight. The images are nice but a little small and non-zoomable.

  • KOOKA COMPONENTS - A manufacturer of high-quality MTB components: cranksets, chainrings, seatposts, stems and brake levers. Their web site is modern and original but on my browser part of the text was not visible. Information on the products is not detailed and pictures even if nice are a little too small and not zoomable.

  • KORE - KORE is a really well known company for bars and stems. They produce an extremely wide range of them. The web site is really unconventional: absolutely no images or graphics, black and white, while you search for a product; then it appears with many good photos and detailed information.

  • LOOK - The famous clipless pedal manufacturer. Check out the MTB-specific version.

  • LP COMPOSITES - This company specializes in seatposts, bars and bar-ends made in composite material: kevlar and carbon. The result are extremely light, stiff, and high-frequency shock absorbing products with a particular black (carbon) and yellow (kevlar) look. The site is nice and complete, with good pictures, and offers also information about the particular manufacturing process.

  • MAGURA - Magura is the German manufacturer of the well-known hydraulic brakes. They are famous for being extremely powerful and maintenance-free and are gaining increasing popularity. Recently the company has entered the disc-brake field with two models (DH and XC) and they are already a success. The site is very nice, modern and complete and is also in German.

  • MARZOCCHI - Marzocchi is an Italian company manufacturing famous motorbike forks. Recently they added an MTB suspension fork range. While the first models weren't very successful, the latest versions offer unique and superior technology derived directly from motorbikes. Their web site offers many details and is also aesthetically pleasant and unusual.

  • MAVIC - Mavic is probably the world's best known rim manufacturer, famous particularly for high-range models. Their web site is well done with a balanced use of graphics and offers a detailed description of every model with adequate technical details.

  • MAXXIS - They produce a range of high-performance bicycles tires not only under the Maxxis name but also for other private labels. The site is very complete and beside describing the different products, offers also a very complete yet simple to understand table for choosing the right tire for you. It features nice graphics and good images, but the colors chosen are a little too striking for me!

  • MICHELIN - Michelin is famous for its car tires but has gained a big popularity also in the cycling area. Their tires are used by many top teams and they offer a very broad range of them. The web site is really well done: nice, attracting and simple to browse. Beside offering information on the products, it also features a guide for choosing the right tires, technical details and general information on tire technology.

  • MOUNTAIN CYCLE - Mountain Cycle, beside producing MTB's, is one of the few manufactures of disc brakes. They offers two versions, called Pro Stop 2 and FH, one is cable-actuated and the other fully hydraulic. The site is nice and offers clear information about the brakes, even if it lacks a table of technical details including the weight.

  • MOUNTAINSPEED - This company produces different kits of coil springs, oil cartridges and other components to replace the original ones on many different forks. Nice web with clear, complete and detailed explanation of the products and a useful FAQ section.

  • NEWK BIKE PRODUCTS - A manufacturer of a wide range of bar ends. They are particular because combine a forward bar and a drop bar. Probably they are very useful for raids, less for normal MTB tours. The site is very basic, just one very long (and therefore slow) page. Images are very low-quality and information is minimal, mainly the product name and the price.

  • NOKIAN - Nokian is a Finnish manufacturer of tires and tubes. They offer an extremely wide range, from city tires to unusual winter tires. The site is good, with a careful use of graphics, a picture and a clear description of every tire and all the technical details. Moreover they offer a technical section about the structure of a tire, a search engine for selecting the right tire and other useful commercial information.

  • ONZA - The "porcupine" company most famous for their tires. Once, the "Porcupine" model was considered really one of the best. They offer also a wide range of components: brakes, brakes pads, seatposts, etc. The site is very unusual, with small pictures, small fonts, limited graphics, but it offers wide and complete information on the products.

  • PACE - Pace is a UK based manufacturer of MTB components. They offer mainly frames and different models of forks based on carbon. They have also other small components and accessories. The products are known for their good quality even if they are not so famous. The site is nice, modern, easy to browse and rather complete, offering also an FAQ section.

  • PANARACER - The famous tire manufacturer that had a great success in competitions (the Smoke model is very well known). The site offers basic information and the look is not very attracting. Probably the site is still under construction but I could not always find easily the information I was looking for. In any case the products are of high quality and the site is surely worth a visit.

  • PROFILE  - Profile is a well-known manufacturer of MTB components. They offer chainwheels, stems, cranksets, hubs and also a dual-slalom complete frame. The site is modern with a constant black background and blue titles. It has nice pictures that can be zoomed and offers few lines of text but all the basic information you may need including weight.

  • PSYCLE-WERKS  - A California-based company offering just two interesting full-suspension frames based on Fox shocks. The site is very complete and easy to browse (except the main page). It offers many pictures of the frames, detailed technical data (including weight), accessories, owner's manuals (in Word format), dealers list, links and other info. Graphics is used wherever useful without exceeding.

  • QRANC - A California-based company specializing in extremities (as they say): yes, head extremities (i.e. helmets), bike extremities (i.e. handlebars, stems and cranks) and body extremities (i.e. shorts, jersey, gloves, hats, shirts and downhill armors). The site is nice, easy to browse and unusual. It offers many good images and adequate technical information.

  • RACEFACE - They produce a wide range of high-quality components in a large variety of colors: cranks, rings, headset, handlebars, bottom brackets, seatposts with specific versions for downhill. The site is nice, easy to browse and fast to load. It is also attracting and offers also a specific section for technical information.

  • REYNOLDS - Reynolds is well known in the USA for its production of tubes for bicycle frames. Beside steel and aluminium they recently introduced carbon fibre and titanium. The site is interesting but mainly technical. The use of frames leaves only a small part of the screen for showing information requiring you to scroll often. No information is given on titanium and very limited on carbon fibre.

  • RISSE RACING - They produce interesting suspension forks, hydraulic cartridges, and rear shocks. Really amazing is the big, inverted downhill model, the Champ. The web site is normal and has few images, but offers complete information on the products avoiding unuseful excess in graphics.

  • ROCK SHOX - One of the famous suspension forks manufacturer in the world. It offer an extremely wide, complete and constantly updated range of suspension forks for every biker. The site is really well done, extremely large and full of information including technical data and owner's manuals. Despite its huge dimension, it's fast and easy to browse.

  • RST - RST is a well known fork manufacturers and offers really a wide and varied range of suspensions forks and rear shocks which are constantly gaining increasing popularity. The web site is wide, modern, attracting and well done. If offers graphics details only if you want them and complete technical information.

  • RVT - A company that specializes in titanium components. They offer very interesting Ti frames, bars, stems and other parts. You can find detailed information on the product and also tables about the mechanical properties of titanium. The site is funny, bright and nice and makes a good and balanced use of graphics.

  • SALSA CYCLES - Salsa produces MTB components and accessories (frames, handlebars, stems, water-bottles...). Their site is still under construction but it's nice, full of colors and makes a balanced use of new web technologies such as Javascripts and frames.

  • SCHWALBE - Schwalbe is a well-known German tire manufacturer that offers a complete range of MTB tires. The site is well-designed but still under heavy construction and therefore offers limited information which is also sometimes mixed with German terms and bad-formatted. However the product range seems good and complete.

  • SELCOF  - An Italian company specializing only in seatposts. They offer a wide range of products made of aluminium, carbon and also titanium. The site is nice, fast, clear and really well done. It offers complete technical details on the products and a large image for each seatpost.

  • SELLE ITALIA - Selle ITALIA is an Italian high-quality saddle manufacturer famous all over the world.

  • SELLE SAN MARCO - San Marco is another Italian saddle manufacturers really famous.

  • SHIMANO - Shimano is probably the most famous brand in the MTB world producing the majority of the components in today's MTB's. The web site has an attracting looking, covers the whole production of Shimano and uses heavy graphics (so it can be slow). At a first glance the information provided seemed a little schematic and not always easy to find, but this depends also on the tons of products they offer.

  • SPINERGY - This company offers only special wheels for road and MTB bikes. Their models are very advanced and feature four large carbon spokes. The site offers an in-depth analysis of wheels, with lots of technical details. Very useful for those who want a deeper knowledge of the subject.

  • S.T.M. - An Italian manufacturer of bike components. They are well known particularly for their forks. S.T.M. offers a wide range including upside-down models. The web site offers brief information on the different models. Unfortunately it is not so easy to browse, you have sometime to discover information testing and trying.

  • STRATOS SPORTS - Stratos specializes in shock absorbers for rear suspension. The company is very well known for the high quality and low weight of its shocks and the list of bike manufacturers using them is surely impressive. The web site is nice with some modern touch such as VR examples of the shock movement.

  • SUN RINGLE' - A company producing a complete range of MTB components: rims, wheelsets, chainrings, headsets, hubs, bars, stems, skewers and other components. The site offers good pictures, detailed technical info, a very short FAQ and other info. The look is not so attracting but it is fully functional and the site is rather easy to browse.

  • SUNTOUR - The famous company for derailleurs and crankset. They also produce interesting suspension forks. Their products are very good and some years ago Suntour was considered the only alternative to Shimano. The web site is simple but very easy to browse and complete with details and technical specifications.

  • SYNCROS - A producer of high-quality MTB components, especially stems and seatposts.

  • TAMER - A company specialising in seatposts. They offer "only" an extremely wide range of suspension and rigid seatposts based on carbon, aluminum and steel. The site is extremely complete featuring a catalog with pictures and detailed technical specifications, an online store, an FAQ, mounting instructions, company profile, news, and distributor network.

  • TEKTRO - A company specializing only in brakes. You can find many different models and they seem very nice. Dealing with only one component you wouldn't expect the site to be so large. But it offers also general info on bikes, tech problems, links, interesting technical articles and many other topics. Unfortunately, with my connection, the site was incredibly slow especially when displaying brake pictures.

  • TOM RITCHEY - Ritchey produces a wide range of extremely high-quality components and accessories famous all over the world.

  • ULTIMATE MACHINE - A manufacturer of high-quality, extremely light-weight MTB components; titanium and aluminium are essential for their production

  • TRUVATIV - A US-based company manufacturing DH and XC cranksets, bottom brackets, hubs and also V-style brakes. Their web site is rather nice even if, as usual, frames let only half screen available. The images are a little poor but there are extremely detailed technical specs including the weight and price. They also offer downloadable PDF versions of their user's manuals online.

  • ULTIMATE SPORTS ENGINEERING - USE produces suspension seat-posts (Shock post) and an interesting front fork (Stealth fork). The company has gained a good reputation for the quality of its products and the USE seat-post is very diffused. The site is funny, original and modern but not always user-friendly. Pictures are too small and not clear while technical data are complete and detailed.

  • VITTORIA - The famous Italian manufacturer of tubes and tires

  • VREDESTEIN - A Dutch company manufacturing tires and tubes.

  • WHITE BROTHERS - They are specialized in suspension forks for cross-country, downhill and dual slalom MTB's. They also produce other related components such as: coil springs, fork wipers, suspension oil. The site is not wide and there are only few lines of description for each product with small photos, but the products seem of good quality.

  • WHITE INDUSTRIES - A well-known manufacturer of high-quality precision MTB components: particularly hubs and cranks.

  • WILDERNESS TRAIL BIKE  - A famous company producing a wide range of MTB components. They offer saddles (the drop nose models), wheel components (tires, tubes, skewers, rims, hubs..), headsets, pedals, bottom brackets, brakes and even complete frames. The site offers in-depth and detailed information, but the use of frames leaves an active area that is really too small.

  • WOODMAN COMPONENTS - A company manufacturing MTB components including some not so common to find. They offer: bar ends, brake boosters, DH stems, suspension fork padding, rear fenders and hubs. The site is nice, fast and easy to browse. It offers very clear explanation and information on the different products, even if, sometimes, some technical details are missing.

  • ZIPP - Zipp specializes in sophisticated composite materials. They offer very unusual carbon-based cranks, rims, disc-wheels and hubs. The site is modern and attracting, offers an always-present menu and is very complete, featuring product descriptions, company profile, web site history, dealers and interesting sections explaining aerodynamics for bikes and composite materials.

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