The Philly Bike Expo is not your typical bike industry event. It’s a space for not only the latest bike tech that brands want to feature (see here), but also for unique builds and alternative voices. In addition to the exposition there was a total of 39 seminars at the 2022 Philly Bike Expo. One seminar of particular interest was by Ronnie Romance, Ultranicus on Sunday October 30 at 1:30PM. Only titled a “Ted Talk”, Ronnie always has something interesting to say (also see here). At this year’s show, Ultraromance went into quite a bit of detail about the philosophy around his unique “mountain bike” builds. Clearly labeled as an “opinion piece”, Ronnie explains why he disdains modern componentry from SRAM, 1x setups, ENVE forks, Shimano GRX shifters, and pretty much everything else about your big box gravel bike. The video is an hour long, but well worth your time if you are at all curious about the origins of mountain biking in the northeast and a great primer if you wish to build your own all terrain bicycle in the future. Enjoy and let us know your favorite parts of this Ted Talk in the comments!

Ronnie’s most recent build spotted in Connecticut. This is the all new Ron’s Bikes x Crust Bikes Alumalith ATB.

Follow Ronnie here and here

Philly Bike Expo