by John Kukoda
Cherry Bomb
Specifications
It's obvious that Rudyard Kipling never rode a Cherry Bomb, because East and West definitely do meet in the northern Indiana town of Lafayette, where John Cherry builds bikes that blur the distinction between nimble, Eastern-style singletrackers, and warp speed, Western fire road descenders.
The key is a measurement called trail– the distance the front tire's contact parch "trails" the imaginary point where the steerer tube would intersect the ground if it extended that far. It's an arcane but critical element in how a bike handles. Ancient cruisers steer like trucks because they have too much, for example, and shopping cart wheels wobble for lack of it. Our specs don't list trail because suspension forks don't offer much choice in offset, which, along with head tube angle, determines trail.
Fortunately, triple clamp fork crown originator Keith Bontrager does offer a choice, which explains the unfamiliar black Bontrager crown on the Cherry Bomb's Rock Shox MAG-21. Its l-1/4 inch offset is a half-inch less than stock, and the resulting increase in trail, when paired with the frame's 71 degree head tube angle makes the bike super-stable at speed. A road bike–Cherry's main product up to now–with above average trail steers from the handlebar at slow speeds, instead of leaning with the rider's hip movements, and thus requires a smooth, still body to track straight when going slow.
But slow-speed singletracking is more about precise steering than leaning into turns, so a properly proportioned mountain bike like Cherry's can offer both: light, nimble steering at slow speeds, with confidence-inspiring high-speed control. All from a scant quarter-inch variation from the norm. Plus, the shorter offset pulls the front wheel closer under the rider, so body weight helps keep the tire firmly planted.
Just as Gary Fisher did when developing a unique front-end geometry some years back, Cherry tested his hypothesis by building prototypes, identical except for their varying head tube angles, and fitted them with forks that varied from 1 1/4- to 1 3/4-inch in offset. Because the human body is amazingly adaptable to weird bike geometries (even wrong designs feel fine after a few rides), he took these to races and swapped steeds every lap. His eventual combination proved the most nimble on the slow stuff without being a handful to handle when he was hammered late in the race. On Indiana's fast, sandy sections, the 71-degree/1-1/4 offset combination proved most predictable, carving through turns with the rear end always breaking loose well before the front.
The final variation was to lower the head tube of his suspension-corrected geometry by a half-inch, so that the desired handling came with the fork partway compressed, as it is when riding, instead of with legs fully extended, the way most other bikes are designed.
Nuances of bike feel, and hands-on metalwork both come naturally to Cherry, 31, who admits "always having a passion for metal fabricating" thanks to the early influence of his grandfather, a tool and die maker. He grew up racing off-road motorcycles until he got "broke and poor" and switched to cheaper BMX competition, where he rocketed from beginner to pro in a year and a half. Because he and his dad own Project Bike Shop in Lafayette, he could try a different BMX bike every week, thus develop his sensitivity to subtle nuances in frame designs.
He's been building five years, producing only about 50 frames annually, mostly for the road, by himself, assisted only by a part-time tool and die maker who assembles his jigs.
Our 25.3-pound test bike sported a rigid, monostay seatstay attachment for snappy rear braking. The 4.25-pound bare frame with a gleaming, translucent red powder coat of the same material that makes Rock Shox's SL fork legs glow in the sun, applied over a durable, nickel-plated base. Welding seemed first-rate on this, one of his first Cherry Bomb frames, although Cherry says his later ones are even better. Sizing runs from XS through XXL, with the medium and large versions offered in both standard and long top tube variations that vary a half-inch.
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Last Updated: September 11, 2004