kolo recently traveled down to the Yankee Springs TT to take part in their 30th anniversary race. If you’ve never ridden Yankee Springs, get it on your calendar. It’s a rocky, twisty course that is as challenging as it is a total blast to ride. At the race, however, I ran into Velo City Cycles owner and professional model, Brad White, astride a new carbon steed. A long-time Cannondale Scalpel rider, I was intrigued by the different rig he was rocking for the race. It was one of the best-looking bikes amongst the almost 800 bikes at the event, and I immediately wanted to know more.

BMC FOURSTROKE 01 Three

The bike uses BMC’s Premium Carbon lay-up to create a super solid frame, coupled with their well-known Advanced Pivot System. The squishy bits are a Fox Float 32 SC up from with 100mm of travel, while out back there’s a Fox Float DPS with a matching 100mm of travel. Both forks have remote lockouts, making this an extremely functional full-suspension bike; especially in Michigan, where oodles of travel is somewhat superfluous anywhere but Copper Harbor. The SRAM Eagle drivetrain, now-ubiquitous on any premium-spec bike, offers up 1×12 fun for any terrain. A 32T comes stock up front and goes 10-50T in the back.

Stopping power comes from Shimano, with their SLX line mounted with 160mm rotors front and rear. The hoops are supplied by DT Swiss, with incredibly eye-pleasing Vittoria Barzo TR boots strapped on to complete the premium package.

Why It’s Sweet

As I raced around the rough and wild Yankee Springs course, I realized that, at the ripe old age of 30, this whole full-suspension thing is making more sense to me. Especially with the overall weight of FS bikes coming down every year, the fractional weight penalty applied to full squish bikes is, at least to me, completely worth it if it means I make it to the end of the race or ride and not feel like I went 8 rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime. While I’m not ready to make the leap to full squish just yet (mostly because wife says I can buy a new bike if I’m willing to bet half my stuff she won’t move into her mother’s house), the appeal of bikes like the BMC FourStroke 01 Three is self-evident. This bike is lighter than my hardtail, has incredible specs, and looks the absolute business in that matte grey. Here in Traverse City, full-suspension has sort of always been viewed as a bit overkill. But, the lighter these bikes get, and with remote lockouts becoming standard on pretty much every FS now, there’s very little reason to not go full squish.

And if you’re going to jump helmet first into the FS world, this BMC has the specs to be a workhorse for a long time to come. If you want to find out more, shoot Brad and his crew an email with questions. In the meantime, I’ll be drooling over this rig and asking wifey-poo if refinancing our house is an option to pay for this radical machine. The answer will be no. I will still endeavor to ask anyway.

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