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Bike Check: What the Supercross Pros Pedal

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Oakland SX Behind the Scenes

Two weekends ago, we braved the fumes of high octane race fuel to take a look at what bikes the Supercross pros had lined up in the pits. While most of the bikes on display were for warming up, many racers are also passionate cyclists. The vast majority of SX Pros have some background in BMX and notable riders like Cole Seely and Ryan Villapoto can regularly be seen on training rides.

So brap past the break for some mx and bike p0rn…

Ryan Villopoto

Ryan Villopoto ScootersWe’ll start our tour of the pits at the booth with the bike wearing the number one plate.

Ryan Villapoto Scooters (2)Sitting dead center in the pit area where these two mean green scooters, but buried a little further to the side…

Ryan Villapoto Venge

Was this beauty – RV1’s Specialized Venge. It’s set up on rollers for prelap warm up spins, so ignore the dorky flat pedals that have been mounted up.

When Ryan isn’t riding his motorcycle, he spends allot of time on his bike. His trainer, the legendary Aldon Baker, has trained many of the sports greatest athletes and was a pro mountain biker racer in a former life.

James StewartJames Steward Race Bike and Giant Road Bike (1)

While Bubba’s race bike was being prepped, we took a look past his Suzuki to see what was sitting on the trainer.
James Steward Race Bike and Giant Road Bike (2)
His Giant TCR was equipped with a full Ultegra gruppo and finished off with Giant branded components.

Chad ReedChad Reed Race Bike and MTB (2)After a 22 race dry spell, Chad Reed was back on the podium with a win at A2 a few weeks ago.

Chad Reed Race Bike and MTB (3)Then Chad came back last weekend and pulled away from the pack for another win! Not bad for a guy who’s thirty one going on thirty two. That comeback story means more media attention and an upgraded bike. This entry level Stumpjumper build with Shimano SLX groupset, Renthal components (also one of his MX sponsers), and aluminum tid bits was sitting in the pits at Oakland.

Chad Reed New bIke

For A3, Specialized, Shimano, and Fox, came together to present him with this Epic hi-viz yellow bike.  Picture shamelessly stolen from Specialized Global PR Manager Sean Estes’s Instagram feed.

Chad Reed Race Bike and MTB (1)Just for posterity sake, here’s a picture of Chad’s actual race bike in the middle of it’s prerace tear down.

Eli TomacEli Tomac Race 450

Tomac is a name that’s already made it’s mark in the cycling world, but now John’s son is trying to create his own legacy in the motorcycle arena. A crash at the first race of the season left him unable to race the first few rounds, but we still got a look at his toys.
Eli Tomac MTB BikeNext to the fleet of candy red Honda’s was this hot number from Specialized.  

Mike AlessiMike Alessi 800 Road Bike and Race Bike (1)

Mr. Holeshot had several race bikes on display, but just over the black barrier was his training bike.
Mike Alessi 800 Road Bike and Race Bike (2)
An aluminum Giant Defy with entry level Shimano components and some Giant branded bits.

Trey Canard

Trey Canard Race Bike and MTB BIke (1)Trey Canard and the Muscle Milk Crew are also sponsored by Specialized.

Trey Canard Race Bike and MTB BIke (2)So we weren’t surprised to see this beautiful Stumpy displayed front and center.

JGR Yamaha (Justin Brayton, Josh Grant)

Yamaha JGRThe Yamaha team is lucky to not only be riding this years fully redesigned YZ450, but these two beautiful bikes…

Yamaha JGR MTB (2)We actually had to wait a few minutes to get close enough for this shot because a group of young boys where drooling over these bikes. It’s amazing to be at a supercross race venue and hear ten year olds arguing over whether the Pike or Float 34 is a better fork!

Yamaha JGR MTB (1)

TLD/Lucas Oil/Honda (Christian Craig, Cole Seely, Jessy Nelson, Malcolm Stewart)

Lucas Oil Team Honda PitsIn addition to an excellent BBQ, the TLD/Lucas Oil/Honda team area was filled with these wonderful steeds.

Lucas Oil Team MTB Warm upsPlus a few shiny mountain bikes. The team did throw slick tires on the rear of these Stumpjumper Evos for use on the trainer.

Ruben Alanis Salazar

Ruben Alanis Salazar Race bike and Mercx Road Bike (1)Out of the main pits and into the privateers quarters, there weren’t as many shiny race bikes, but there were pedal bikes to spare.

Ruben Alanis Salazar Race bike and Merckx Road Bike (2)This guy is doing it right. A KTM for the trails and a Merckx for the road does a body good.

Killian Rusk

Killian Rusk 250 Race Bike and Trek Warm up Bike (1)Further along the pits someone was getting a new clutch…

Killian Rusk 250 Race Bike and Trek Warm up Bike (2)…while this stately older Trek looked on.

Ronnie Stewart

Ronnie Stewart Race Bike and Training Bike (1)The last stop in our tour of the privateer area was at Ronnie Stewart’s door.

Ronnie Stewart Race Bike and Training Bike (2)Setup on his trainer was this entry level Specialized mountain bike, with his number plate over the badge area. 

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Ti
Ti
10 years ago

My balls just begged me to scroll past the Merckx bike as fast as I could.

PDXFixed
10 years ago

Oof, and that’s with the rear of the bike cranked up in the trainer as well…

pornitswhatlwouldratherbmaking
pornitswhatlwouldratherbmaking
10 years ago

cool story!

gabe
gabe
10 years ago

One typo: Chad Reed is 31..going on 32. Which is funny enough is the motocross equivalent of 45, Haha!

Ted
Ted
10 years ago

A lot of crossover, Andrew Short doesn’t travel with but has a sweet Custom Parlee Z-Zero, Enve, DA 11 and does a ton of gravel stuff on his CX bike in Texas, as you could guess he’s nails on an MTB too. Jason Anderson just signed on with Cannondale, and Davi Milsaps was on a Giant last year. Ricky Carmichael and Ryan Dungey are both part of the Trek Stable.

gabe
gabe
10 years ago

@Saris…No problem, I almost typed in my reply that he was 30! I received my SW Epic frameset in late December and saw they added the neon option late last month..Dammit I love that colorway! So pumped he took home the W Sunday.

Padrote
Padrote
10 years ago

well the merckx is cool I guess?

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

Gotta love moto

Braaaponmtb
Braaaponmtb
10 years ago

Eli Tomac rides Trek

bin judgin
bin judgin
10 years ago

This has nothing to do with several bike teams trying to recruit these guys for MTB racing.

greg
greg
10 years ago

that’s a whole lotta specialized.
what kind of stand are they using? the one that seems to plug into the right crank bolt…

Kyle
Kyle
10 years ago

Roczen and Dungey didn’t have a pair of KTM bicycles on hand?

Granite
Granite
10 years ago

Very cool !

Sardinian Rider
Sardinian Rider
10 years ago

Specialized smorgasbord.

Ryan Henry
Ryan Henry
10 years ago

Andy Stand. Great concept, pain in the neck to store!

Tony Talentino
Tony Talentino
10 years ago

Where can I purchase a thru-crank stand like they’re using?

howie feltersnatch
howie feltersnatch
10 years ago

the last pic is a specialized crosstrail, not an entry level mountain bike…….roadies…

braaaponmtb
braaaponmtb
10 years ago

actually they are called scorpion bike stands. they can be found @ http://www.scorpionbikestands.com Local socal company making some awesome stands for some of the MX legends Johnny O’ and Ricky Carmichael. Check out their product pretty sweet stuff

Sevo
Sevo
10 years ago

What’s the stem on Trey’s Specialized?

Jason Spiker
Jason Spiker
10 years ago

What is super cross?

John
John
10 years ago

Sevo it looks like a Shimano Pro stem

Greg C.
10 years ago

Its funny that Eli Tomac isn’t riding a Tomac after his dad let the company go under…again.

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