| Our Story
Our philosophy is simple; don’t discriminate, innovate. That's
why we developed the first suspension compatible cargo racks
back in 1996.
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The first set of Cold Springs,
circa 1996. |
After years of using backpacks to carry our bike-camping
gear, we realized there had to be a more efficient and ergonomic
solution. We wanted something that would allow us to ride trails
and carry our bikes over rivers, locked gates and rocks. Panniers
and racks were the obvious answer. But
we soon realized there were no racks compatible with mountain
bikes with suspension and no frame eyelets. No
one considered this type of bicycle as a viable option for touring
and bike-camping. So
instead of buying new bikes we made our own racks, and the “Cold
Springs Carriers” were born.
Channing Hammond
Channing Hammond, founder of Old Man Mountain, grew up in a
metal fabrication shop surrounded by inventors and engineers. His
Grandfather was instrumental in engineering and designing Charles
Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis airplane and his Dad's Bonneville
Salt Flats race car (which is driven by his mom at over 300 mph)
holds several land speed records. Channing has been doing overnight,
backcountry mountain bike trips since he was a teenager.
Profiles of Channing in the media:
The
Old Man Mountain Story, Adventure Cyclist—April 2004
Goleta
Valley Voice —November 2003
Why Choose OMM?
Efficiency
Consider this; if you had a Red Rock in the rear and a Sherpa
on the front you would be able to carry 100 pounds of gear, while
having less than 3 pounds of racks. Now that's efficient!
Proprietary Tooling
Each component of a rack (tubes, side-bars, dropouts, top plate)
must be held by a jig to allow the welder a solid foundation
to weld on and to ensure dimensional precision. Our welding jigs
are painstakingly crafted to the exact specifications of each
model. This ensures proper alignment and makes our production
highly efficient.
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Dynamic Load Ratings
You
don't ride only straight ahead on a flat surface, so why should
your rack be rated only in these conditions? All of our racks
are rated for a "dynamic" load. Simply
put, we test our racks in actual, real-life conditions. Our load
ratings take into account, all forces; up, down, and side-to-side...much
like the forces you would encounter during your own trip.
Customer Support
No matter how well prepared
you are for your trip, things happen. That's why we make every
effort to solve any issues that arise. When you purchase an Old
Man Mountain rack, you also purchase the best support in the
business. This includes free shipping
of spare parts anywhere in the world, anytime, for as long as
you own your racks.
Versatility
Whether its a SoftRide Beam-equipped Co-Motion Tandem, or a
full-suspension GT I-Drive, our brake boss and axle-mounting
designs offer new solutions to old problems. Our dealers and
customers are always telling us about new and exciting ways our
racks solve their gear carrying problems. Our racks can also
fit disc-brake equipped bikes and 29" mountain bikes.
Complete Selection
Most people know us for our mountain-bike and suspension compatible
racks, but did you know we also make more conventional models?
With the addition of our new AC LowRider, we now have the most
complete line of racks you'll find anywhere.
Materials & Construction
Other rack manufacturers have soiled the perception of aluminum
by worrying more about profits than reliability. The result is
shoddy welding and the use of sub-par grades of material. The
right alloy combined with proper construction makes Aluminum
a truly amazing material. It's used by airline manufacturers
and land speed race cars to provide ultimate combination of rigidity
and light weight. Our rack material is a bomber grade of Aircraft-grade,
6061-T6, tubular aluminum.
More importantly than the material
is the quality of the welds. Our welds are second to none and
each joint is welded on both sides, resulting in joints that
are far superior to other aluminum racks. The light weight
of aluminum also allows us to use a much larger wall thickness
than
tubular steel racks.
Front Suspension Compatible Design
Other front suspension compatible designs hang the weight of
the pannier and gear over the crown of the fork (we actually
prototyped this design but scrapped it in favor of our current
design). This design causes all this extra weight (think of
it as adding 30+ pounds of body weight) to compress the suspension
over each bump, causing premature wear on the fork and means
you'd have to adjust the fork every time you pack up.
Our front suspension design, of which we offer two choices,
(Sherpa, and Ultimate Lowrider), attaches the weight
of all your gear to the wheel which means you don't have to mess
with fork adjustment each time you load your gear. We also have
a much stiffer design in that both of our models provide
bracing at the bottom of the rack. Both of our suspension-compatible
front racks mount to the axle with our QR Skewer (included),
providing a solid attachment which excellent lateral rigidity. |
