Allied releases its first ever mountain bike, the BC40

Velo News

After plenty of teasing via its sponsored athletes and social media, Allied Cycle Works doesn’t have to keep a secret any longer: the Bentonville, Arkansas brand has a new mountain bike.

The BC40 joins Allied’s quiver of three drop-bar bikes -- the Able, Echo, and Alfa -- as the brand’s first dedicated mountain bike.

Named after the iconic Back 40 trail system that snakes through the hills and hollers of northwest Arkansas, the BC40 was designed and engineered with Allied’s backyard riding in mind.

"The BC40 project has been over two years in ideation, development and testing, but the vision for this bike concept has been on our minds since the origins of Allied,” said CEO Drew Medlock. “A bike that extends the capability boundaries of cross-country while giving up nothing from a weight and pedaling efficiency standpoint."

With a four bar linkage suspension design and a frame weighing in at a scant 1,950 grams, the BC40 is decidedly a cross-country race machine.

However, 120mm of front and rear travel make for merriment on the trails, as well.

Allied sponsored riders Payson McElveen and Lea Davison will be two of the first to take the BC40 to the races. Both athletes are part of the six-race Life Time Grand Prix series where the next race on the calendar is the Leadville Trail 100.

McElveen told VeloNews that the promise of a bike like the BC40 played into his decision to sign with the brand six months ago.

"This bike was at the top of the list of reasons I joined Allied over the winter. They designed the bike they want to ride and race, but I honestly feel like it was made for me,” he said. “A light 120 XC bike with awesome geometry and two bottle cages is exactly the machine I need for the rides and races I love doing most. It's really a dream come true."

Davison, who now spends as much of her time shredding on Vermont’s Kingdom Trails as she does racing, said that the BC40 immediately held a candle to her stalwart Specialized Epic.

“The Epic has been my most favorite mountain bike to ride ever, so it was a tall order to like this bike,” she told VeloNews. “I loved it. I chose it every single day that I rode in the Kingdom. It's nimble. It has a good pedaling platform, and I was able to jump the gap jumps, and go off drops. Holy moly I can ride this bike.”

Like Allied’s other models, the BC40 will be built from the ground up at the Allied Factory in Rogers, Arkansas where molds, tooling, and suspension linkage are machined in-house, and all carbon is hand-laid.

Allied’s bikes are built to order, and customers can choose base and logo color options. In the future, Davison and McElveen’s custom paint jobs may be available as limited editions.

Medlock said that bringing the BC40 to market during the historic supply chain challenges is a testament to Allied’s continued growth.

"I'm incredibly proud of this team,” he said. “We have been able to double our in-house manufacturing capacity over these last two years while simultaneously developing the BC40. Given the hurdles we have faced every single day with the entire supply chain faltering and fighting to keep our operations running smoothly though the pandemic, it's a huge accomplishment. We can't wait to see this bike pushed to the limit by our athletes Lea Davison and Payson McEveen at the upcoming Leadville 100, Marathon Nationals and more."

The BC40 is currently available in five complete builds at the following price points: SRAM XX1 Eagle AXS ($12,115), SRAM X01 Eagle AXS ($10,755), Shimano XTR M9100 ($9,950), SRAM GX Eagle AXS ($7,965), and Shimano XT M8100 ($7,625)

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