Mountain bike meets the rigors of off-road riding

Transition Bicycle Co. produces bikes for mountain bikers who want to tackle fast descents and 20-foot leaps.

But it started during a game of pingpong.

Kyle Young and Kevin Menard, the company's owners, were goofing off at the end of a boring day working in the product development department of T-Mobile in Seattle. They started talking about creating a company to build big, sturdy bikes for "free-ride" mountain biking - the kind of bikes they wanted to ride.

In 2002, they started the company with one prototype. They manufactured bikes in Taiwan, and sold them over the Internet, using Menard's basement as a warehouse. The business expanded slowly. They didn't quit their day jobs until June 2005.

Then they moved to Bellingham and set up their business in 2,500 square feet of a drafty old industrial building in Ferndale, selling five types of bicycle frames, plus seats, handlebars, stems, pedals and clothing.

The mainstay of the business is the DirtBag, a free-riding bike that costs $2,800 fully assembled.

In Whatcom County they have affordable industrial spaces and excellent mountain biking, Menard says. Both go to local areas such as Galbraith Mountain and Academy Road one or two times a week, plus trips to Vancouver's North Shore and Whistler Mountain Bike Park.

On these rides they test their products, gather feedback from riders and come up with new ideas.

Two local stores, Fanatik Bike Co. in Bellingham and Drop'N Zone in Ferndale, carry Transition bikes. Young and Menard, now aged 30 and 31, are planning a two-week road trip around the western U.S. to meet other bike shop owners.

They're also planning two more models. One is a "slope style" bike suitable for the wall rides and jumps at Whistler. The other is a lighter trail-riding bike, suitable for tackling Galbraith Mountain.

"We think about a bike that we want to ride and we just design it," Menard says.

Menard's educational background is in graphic design and advertising, and he spent three years working at Advanced Transportation Products, a Seattle-based company that manufactures recumbent bicycles from scratch.

He looks after most of the design and marketing work.

Young, a business administration graduate from Western Washington University, watches the practical business side.

"I'm usually the more cautious side ... Kevin's the dreamer," Young says.

Menard's wife, Kelly, works half-time at the business, and the pair have no other employees - but have had plenty of people asking about jobs. A few offer to work for free.

Eventually, they'll hire someone, though they don't ever expect to grow huge.

"It's a labor of love," Menard says. "The bike industry is not a get-rich industry."