You may be familiar with Cole Bernier's name from
Remy Metailler's recent video at Big White Bike Park. In it, Metailler chases Bernier down some of the bike park's gnarliest black diamond tech and jump trails at serious speed. We were curious about Bernier's three-wheeled adaptive mountain bike, so we decided to do a full bike check on it.
The company that makes the bike that Bernier rides is called Bowhead, which is based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The founder of the company, Christian Bagg, was injured in 1996 while snowboarding and paralyzed from the waist down. He starting inventing his way around the challenges he faced and building adaptive equipment. What started as a way to solve his own problems grew into a company that allows others experience the outdoors.
Bowhead offers several different models which are available globally, including the bike park shredding Bowhead Reach that Cole rides. However, each bike that is sold is built to order by Bowhead's team
of engineers to cater to different requirements and preferences. For example, there is a quadriplegic option where you use your elbow to brake and twist your wrist to throttle.
The base model is $14,900 USD, but can cost up to $18,000 USD on a bike with as much carbon and titanium as Cole's bike. Bowhead says they're working on a lower cost model, but ultimately build the bikes to be the highest spec possible and don't cut any corners.
 | It’s hard to express the love I have for this thing. It handles just like a 2 wheel bike. It’s sturdy, it’s sendy, it’s smooth, and it’s fast. Ohhh bro it’s fast. I will never get enough!—Cole Bernier |
The articulating front end of the bike means you can stay level on up to a 30 degree slope and carve into a corner.
 | I have tried a four wheel bike but width is a big factor which limits access to trails. You’re then limited to riding trails which are wide enough. This bike is 742.95mm wide, no wider than most MTB handlebars, which enables us to go on 99.99999% of MTB trails. The articulation in the front of the bike is what enable us to make such a narrow bike and this gives us so much more freedom being able to reach places we couldn’t have imagined.
Like with mountain bikes, where the front wheel goes, the back wheel tends to follow. Most the trails I want to ride have cambers or tricky traverses. Without functioning knees to help distribute weight, I found myself tipping over a lot. The articulating front end of our bike is a really crucial part of our design. It’s what took the longest to develop after 20 years of trial and error we got the where we are today. You can stay level on up 30 degree slope or carve into a corner like you are on rails.—Christian Bagg, Bowhead founder |
With square edge hits, the front suspension has a maximum travel of 82.55mm. However, because of the articulation in the front end, Bowhead says the effective travel can be as much as 203mm.
Bernier's bike uses Magura MT7 brakes with 203mm rotors and 4 piston calipers. Bowhead runs double front brakes using a splitter so that one lever powers two front brakes. Bowhead typically uses 220mm rotors, but Bernier runs 203mm rotors to match the purple rotors and hubs. Brake bleeding is the most difficult thing to service on the bike, but otherwise most parts are standard high-end MTB and BMX components.
Cole uses a Fox DHX2 coil in the rear with a 600lb spring and runs the rebound in the rear nice and slow so he doesn't get bucked when jumping.
There are Raceface Grippler Grips on the WeAreOne Da Bar Package with a 20mm rise bar and 700mm wide bars
65 Comments
Please community; support nikifor to make his dream come true!
Shouldn't be too hard for us to get the money together..
and how can someone downvote his comment ?!?
Looks like a Maxxis FBR 26x4.8 to me on the pictures.