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OUR STORY

HEY THERE, I'M MICK

Together with my wife Bekah, we run Hardtail Gang!

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It all started for me with a random invite from my friend Derrick to go riding with him back in 2012. I pulled out my mom's 90s mountain bike from our shed, aired up the tires, and met him on the trail - I was immediately hooked!

 

Mountain biking always seemed like something that was done "by other people, somewhere else" and I had no idea that the area I grew up in had trails everywhere!

portrait of the owners
bikes along a forest path
mountain biker next to a wooden bridge
mountain biker at the top of a mountain

When it came time to purchase my own bike, I already had a fascination with hardtails. I think it was a combination of a cool sounding name, the price point, and that it seemed pretty niche in the mountain biking world.

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I started on a Trek from a local bike shop, and when it came time to upgrade years later, I bought a Bird Cycleworks Zero AM frame from the UK and built it up from scratch.

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A decade into riding and I'm finding that I'm still not being "held back" from progressing or feeling the need to "upgrade" to a full suspension. I'm having just as much fun as I did when I started.

bird cyclework brand mountain bike

2017

2012

2013

BECOMING A HARDTAIL WEIRDO

FORMING HARDTAIL GANG

On a whim I decided to use our Cricut Maker to create a tongue-in-cheek shirt about switching to a hardtail.

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That's when the original "Not too late" tee was born. I posted a picture of it to my regional MTB Facebook group and got an overwhelming response of people who got a laugh out of it, and a handful who wanted to buy one.

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I hadn't advertised them for sale, but thought, what the heck. I ordered up some more shirts and went ahead and made a small batch of 5.

 

Thanks to the support of those 5, and going through the whole process once, I thought to myself "you know this could be a thing..."

mountain biker during a race

2022

blue tie-dye shirt with text

2023

tie-dye shirts with text
black polymailers

We invested $1000 to get started on what is now Hardtail Gang.

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Currently, ALL profits go back into the brand so that we can put out new designs, increase the quality of our product, and keep spreading the hardtail love!

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From one hardtail weirdo to another, I hope you'll join us on this awesome journey.

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Happy to have you in the gang!

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-Mick

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