Page 23 - Jan_14

last april, gellman hiked

tuckerman ravine with

the bike strapped to his

back and rode one of the

most difficult lines.

through glades as easy as any downhill too much. It’s a labor of love. strapped to his back and rode one of “I’ve got a 2-year-old daughter,

singletrack, and can carve giant slalom “I like having something that’s
the most difficult lines. Meanwhile, and she’s way more fun,” he says. He’s
turns on groomed hardpack.
low stress,” he says. “Whether it’s Cliff Pinto, a biker in Colorado, made taken her pint-sized Strider bike and
Given the variety of terrain they pressing skis or going out and riding, the first heli-drop on a Cyndrome snow converted it into a tiny ski bike that she

can tackle and the similarities to other it’s not life and death, it’s for fun. It’s bike at Silverton Mountain, Colorado. pushes herself around on—and she’s
popular activities, Gellman says the to watch people smile.”
And if he’s not pressing skis, assembling getting the hang of it.
bikes are more accessible than people That doesn’t mean he’s not bikes, testing prototypes on the snow, “She loves it, and who knows,
may originally think.
pushing the limits; last April, Gellman or on-call at the fire station, he still has maybe she’ll still want to ski bike with

“A lot of our customers have been hiked Tuckerman Ravine with the bike
plenty to keep himself busy.
her dad when she’s 16,” he says.
guys in their 50s and 60s who can’t
really ski or snowboard because of bad

knees or bad backs or ankles,” he says.
“They’re able to hop on these with
full suspension and go out with their
buddies again.”

In the event of a crash, Gellman
says it helps to be able to separate from
the device. While skis and snowboards
can exert torque on ligaments and

joints, the ski bike stays attached to the
rider through a leash strapped to the
rider’s arm. Helmets are a good idea

in any snow sport, and more advanced
riders prefer full-face helmets popular
in downhill biking.
Selling at $4,500 for a complete

model, Cyndrome has sold 23 ski bikes
so far. In the future, he says he plans
to release four more models, a cheaper,

price-point variety, and a higher-grade
slalom-style bike.
Gellman says he could scale up
production to as much as 200 bikes

in a month, but at that point, he says,
they would have to find more part
manufacturers. For a guy already with

a full-time job as a firefighter and
paramedic, he’s not pushing Cyndrome

FEbruary/March 2014
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