Price: (frame only) $414.00 US ($599.99 CND)
Colors: Only Black
Uses: Slalom, Urban, Dirtjumping & Freeride
Contact: .243, www.243racing.com
General Info: Reynolds 4130 Chromoly, laser cut and heat treated. Heavy gauge head tube, drop outs and gussets. Over sized chain stayes, down tube and top tube providing optimum strength and durability. Vertical drop outs, 24" + 26" brake pivots, S.I. Disc brake mounts, 26.8 seat post, 6-8" disc, max tire clearance: 24"x 3.0 + 26" X 2.7.
Pros: Less pedaling into hits, solid and a friendly owner!
Cons: None (well, it makes my friends jealous).

THE COMPANY First of all the company name is "point two forty three", they are a small frame and component company out of Vancouver BC, our pals from the north west. A fellow by the name of Eric Fox started the company in early 2001. "The goal of .243 racing is to offer people top of the line products which are built to withstand the punishment of the shore, at affordable prices." I also think it is worth noting who’s riding these bikes, (I was impressed to see 4 of my favorite riders using these frames!). And the line up goes like this: Darren Barrecloth, Preston Blackie, Jesse Roberts, Satoshi Taniguchi, Kyle Scully.

.243 also outfits Chris Donahue and Nigel Quarless (two mountain bike revolutionaries in my opinion) with components.

Any how, I am easily influenced by raw talent and a good black paint job so I went ahead and e-mailed Mr. Fox at .243 racing. This is where I was sold. We played e-mail tag for a few hours on a Sunday night where he answered all my questions and set me up with a way to have my local bike shop order and receive whatever I wanted from his company.

PURE DESIRE Because I am not sponsored and no one gives me frames to ride and break, I have spent allot of money and I have obsessed way too much on bikes for the past 3 years. So I was approaching my 3rd year riding and I happened to be blessed with the presence of the Rye Airfield skate park in Rye, NH during a snowed in winter. I never did any park riding prior but I was on my way to falling in love with it! Love has it’s bumps and my bike and I were taking plenty of them. So I decided that I better OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) my way into building up a new bike that can take anything. My general ideal for a bike is this: a bike that makes me better than I am and that will never brake. I know this is a total fantasy but it’s an honest desire.

I’ll just say that I was looking for something really solid, low top tube, a bike I could put bmx parts on (because they’re cheaper and stronger) and I was also thinking about horizontal drop outs because I found myself breaking, more than shifting, my derailleur. I had narrowed my search down to 2 companies which .243 was one of. Both companies, like most small ones, make batches of their frames so I had a little wait. I am also biased with local frame builders which may sound strange coming from a New Englander concerning a BC bike company but I lived in Oregon for 7 years and I am planning on moving to Bellingham Washington In June, so everything pointed to the .243.

I ordered a frame with the horizontal drop outs and bmx BB (they make euro bb and vert. drops as well) a stem, bars, seat, post and tires all from this company, nice ‘eh?

THE LOOKS Even my dealer, said that it was one of the nicest looking bikes he’d seen. This is a nice quality for a bike but vanity won’t do anything for you when you are tossing the bike out of your way from 12 feet in the air. Let’s just say that this frame is very sassy!

THE RIDE Shall we start out with the obvious? The weight. I think Mr. Fox put extra weight on it just so my arms would get all Popeye-like! But seriously, when I pump into things with this bike (jumps, parks, manuals and street stuff) I do a fraction of the pedaling that I did on my previous and noticeably lighter bike. This took a bit to get used to, I was over shooting some and going higher and casing others. I switched out the horizontal drop out locking system for some standard chain tugs (I have the bike set up as a single speed) and I adjusted everything to accommodate me on this new bike and I put in my hours. Let me just say that in the park, I freaken’ haul! Now that I’m used to the bike, I can really throw my weight around and I don’t need to pedal much. It’s hard to explain, but this frame actually gives. I guess that’s the difference between steel and aluminum. The fact is, I know that this bike will bend before it breaks and that allows me to feel a bit more confident about this bike as far as an investment.

I now know why the cops refer to the streets as the beat. It took me a couple of hours to get used to this bike on the beat (street). I was a bit miffed at first, until I plowed through a hop to manual onto a 2 foot wall and just kept going straight and sturdy! I always get a little frightened when I’m ready to do something that requires commitment and a steady trajectory but once I get this bike up, I can trust its stability. So I had a breakthrough with this bike on the street and I now feel more confident than ever!

THE VERDICT It’s just a bike, right? This bike is a strong, sturdy and a straight shooter, no doubt! (The .243 Winchester is a similar weapon) Ultimately all I can say is that I am so glad that I own this bike! After all it’s not the wand, it’s the magician! (Damn nice wand though!)