Way back in 1981, when mountain bikes were modified single-speed cruisers, owner Chaz Romalis and a few of his hard-core cronies opened up a little bike shop in Deep Cove. Located on the Pacific Ocean’s pristine Indian Arm, at the far eastern edge of North Vancouver, British Columbia, the shop was just a front at first - an excuse so Chaz and his buddies could tell their parents they actually had jobs. Today the Cove is a larger extension of that original reality and an integral part of the North Shore scene. Hundreds of high-grade bikes hangin’ from the ceiling. Local rippers bustin’ airs in the parking lot. Chaz’s dogs Gramps and Bronx chillin’ in the corner, blown after a morning epic of R & D. Riding culture in its thickest state.

TRAIL BIKE BUILDER ROLLING

RADICAL IS how Chaz Romalis describes the rugged terrain on the North Shore.

By Richard Ostler

Contributing Writer

So the Deep Cove Bike Shop owner designed a radical bike to meet the demands of mountain riding. It's handcrafted, it's titanium and it's expensive. Depending on the components for the bike, the price ranges from $3,000 to $4,500. Of course, when you spend this amount of cash, it's going to be a great ride.

"It's a bike for life," Romalis said as he proudly displays his line of mountain bikes. "When you spend this much money you get a durable bike that lasts forever."

The North Shore mountain trails are considered the best in the world by many local bikers. The area offers rugged trails, tough terrain, steep slopes and a close look at nature. It's everything extreme cyclists are looking for.

If you are a crazy, somewhat psychotic cyclist as Romalis claims some of his staff are, then you need the strength of titanium and a design for safety.

"We have the most radical trails in the world and no one was designing a bike conducive to the North Shore," said Romalis.

The 16-year veteran of mountain and trail biking has been working on his bike design for the last three years. He spent one of those years riding the prototype and fine -tuning its design.

"There's no secret formula," he said. "It all comes down from years of riding."

His bike design is called the Hummer, which he and a friend named while talking in a bar. He said he liked the name and it had great potential for advertising. (It rhymes with summer and bummer leading to the catch phrase, "Don't let summers be a bummer, get a Hummer").

But Romalis said it's been hard work to get the bicycle to catch on until recently.

Since mountain biking became a big trend in the early 1980s, many entrepreneurs have failed to sell home-grown bike designs.

"Other people have tried to do it but they went broke," Romalis said. "It's all timing."

Doug LaFavor is another North Vancouverite who is in the business of designing bikes. He said his company has been growing steadily over the years.

He has been a key designer of Kona bikes and components for nearly a decade. Kona bikes range in price between about $500 and $2,500.

LaFavor, like Romalis, has been mountain biking for years and says his ideas come from riding the trails.

"Everything we design comes from riders' experience," LaFavor said. "You have the edge when you ride the bikes and test them yourself."

LaFavor said some of the best bicycle designs come out of the Lower Mainland, primarily because the best trails are on the North Shore.

"Vancouver is positively the leading edge for bike design," he said. "There is a large base of successful people."

The bikes offer slight alterations in the frame to give cyclists the best performance and steering. Romalis says titanium is used because it's light and it's strong. And when you're cycling down cliffs or steep slopes, you need it.

"Titanium is bullet proof," he said. "You can't break it or crack it."

Romalis said that once the bike's design is perfected on the North Shore it's suitable for any terrain.

"If you take (the Hummer) anywhere in the world, it'll ride great," he said. "Because the terrain here is the wildest."