A visit to the brand’s website reveals that the brand is run by passionate mountain bikers who are in touch with what cyclists want. That being said, the rapid growth in popularity of electric mountain bikes has not gone unnoticed, and Propain has launched its newest model, the Ekano 2 AL. The biggest monster of them all though has to be the Fugio.
genesis bikeThe Genesis Incline is the bike I have the most experience with between the two bicycles, as I ended up with the Schwinn around the time the snow began to fly, and the cold moved in. Genesis bikes became renowned for their use of steel tubing and ethos for function over form. If you’re in the market for a more porteur-style bike, the Brixton is where Croix de Fer meets cargo. Its 1×9 drivetrain keeps things simple, while the swept back riser bars give the rider a more upright position.
Braking is done by using front disc brakes and rear rim brakes, that are both wire driven. The Day One — its inaugural bike from 2001 — is still going strong as a low maintenance singlespeed with disc brakes and mounts for mudguards. Moving into the racier end of the spectrum, the Zero and Zero Disc are full-carbon road bikes with aggressive geometry. As the price increases, so does the level of tech, with Di2 included in the top-end model.
After I felt comfortable with it, I aimed for a short uphill at about 50° or so. But I stood on the pedals and pedaled hard, not expecting the forward pedaling to be that strenuous. It was a stalemate for about 30 seconds, and without any incident, I fell off the bike.
The Core range is based around a 6061 aluminium tube set that is butted where needed with some gentle manipulation to ovalise the down tube as it meets the seat tube at the bottom bracket shell. There are strengthening gussets where the down tube and top tube meet the tapered head tube and the seat stays are an old school wishbone style, the lack of a bridge gives ample mud clearance. Twist shifters tend to be a quick and easy way to tell the quality of a bike. Unfortunately the Incline is equipped with twist shifters. While aesthetically, the quality of the bike was fantastic, I did run into quality issues.
Propain’s bike lineup consists entirely of off-road capable mountain bikes ranging from enduro, freeride, dirt jumper, and downhill. The new Ekano 2 AL is the brand’s vision of an electrified freerider, and is equipped with the brand’s latest technology. It’s the first e-bike from Propain for feature the Pro10 linkage, a dual-link suspension system that evenly compresses the rear shock top and bottom, ensuring optimal suspension performance.
As such, the makers that congregated in Portland last week are outliers of the bike industry. Artists giving life to their ideals by building unique and utilitarian vehicles to carry their owners on journeys long and far. The drive to produce by hand has come in packages large and small since the first humans crafted tools from rock, bone, and wood. No surprises, just great bikes that you can pay off with as low as 0% APR financing from Affirm on select bikes. As the name suggests, the Propain Ekano 2 AL gets a frame made out of aluminum. More specifically, the front portion of the frame, as well as the tubes on the swingarm are made of 6066-T6 aluminum.