Maklin Bike Shop - In Depth Reviews
Bike Reviews Hub
Real-world ride reviews from a working bike shop. XC, trail, gravel, and road bikes ridden on Midwest singletrack, Bentonville rock, and everything in between.
*Updated regularly with new bike platforms · XC · Trail · Gravel · Road
Snapshot
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Featured Platform: Salsa Spearfish
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Latest Road Review: 2026 Cervelo R5
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Latest Gravel Review: Cervelo Áspero-5
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Tested Locations: MN · WI · Bentonville
Video Review Playlist
Real builds, real rides
Every review comes from a bike we built, serviced, or personally rode. No catalog rewrites. Expect honest impressions on fit, handling, and where each bike shines.
Latest Reviews
Salsa Spearfish Mountain Bike Review
2025 Salsa Spearfish Deluxe – Full Ride Review Jump Ahead Video Review Overview & What’s New on the 2025 Spearfish Deluxe The 2025 Salsa Spearfish Deluxe we tested began as the stock XO Transmission + Flight Attendant build. For our Bentonville trip and the Little Sugar race, we swapped several components to match our preferred…
Cervelo R5 Road Bike Review
2026 Cervelo R5 – First Ride Review Jump Ahead Video Review What’s New on the 2026 R5 Cervelo focused heavily on weight reduction for this generation. Nearly every component was trimmed: frame, fork, hardware, cockpit, and seatstays. The bike ships just under 15 pounds with TPU tubes. With both TPU tubes installed, it is slightly…
Cervelo S5 Road Bike Review
2026 Cervelo S5 – First Look & Frame Updates Jump to: Video Review • History & Setups • Review Summary Video Review History & Setups Review Summary 📍 We’ve got the brand-new 2026 Cervelo S5 in the shop. The previous generation is sitting right behind it, so this walkthrough focuses on what’s changed, what’s improved,…
Mountain Bike Reviews
Salsa Spearfish Mountain Bike Review
2025 Salsa Spearfish Deluxe – Full Ride Review Jump Ahead Video Review Overview & What’s New on the 2025 Spearfish Deluxe The 2025 Salsa Spearfish Deluxe we tested began as the stock XO Transmission + Flight Attendant build. For our Bentonville trip and the Little Sugar race, we swapped several components to match our preferred…
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Niner RKT 9 RDO Full Suspension Drop Bar Mountain Bike Review
This is Steve with another Bikes We Ride from Maklin Bike Shop. Today I’m sharing a pretty unique build: a previous-generation Niner RKT 9 RDO converted into a full-suspension drop-bar gravel bike. This is the older geometry—shorter, steeper, and lighter feeling than the current version—which made it a great candidate for this kind of setup.…
Read MoreGravel Bike Reviews
Jamis Renegade Gravel Bike Review
Today we’re talking about this custom Jamis Renegade. Jamis released a new Renegade this past year, and we brought some frames in to build them up. We put this one together at the end of last summer and put some miles on it through the fall. I’ll walk through the frame, how we have it…
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Time ADHX 45 Gravel Bike Review
I’m Steve, and today on Bikes We Ride we’re diving into the Time ADHX 45. I built this bike for myself and have been riding it through the fall. So far, I’m loving it and wanted to share the full breakdown. We’ll cover the frame, drivetrain, wheels and tires, cockpit, my specific build choices, and…
Read MoreRoad Bike Reviews
Cervelo R5 Road Bike Review
2026 Cervelo R5 – First Ride Review Jump Ahead Video Review What’s New on the 2026 R5 Cervelo focused heavily on weight reduction for this generation. Nearly every component was trimmed: frame, fork, hardware, cockpit, and seatstays. The bike ships just under 15 pounds with TPU tubes. With both TPU tubes installed, it is slightly…
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2026 Bianchi Oltre Comp Road Bike Review
2026 Bianchi Oltre Comp Road Bike Review Jump Ahead Video Review Frame & Geometry I’ve been putting miles on the Bianchi Oltre Comp, after also riding the Cervelo S5 extensively. The Oltre Comp is not the pro-level Oltre RC frame — this is the base carbon layup, and you can absolutely feel the difference. It’s…
Read MoreBrand Index
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2025 Salsa Spearfish Deluxe – Full Ride Review Jump Ahead Video Review Overview & What’s New on the 2025 Spearfish Deluxe The 2025 Salsa Spearfish Deluxe we tested began as the stock XO Transmission + Flight Attendant build. For our Bentonville trip and the Little Sugar race, we swapped several components to match our preferred…
2026 Cervelo R5 – First Ride Review Jump Ahead Video Review What’s New on the 2026 R5 Cervelo focused heavily on weight reduction for this generation. Nearly every component was trimmed: frame, fork, hardware, cockpit, and seatstays. The bike ships just under 15 pounds with TPU tubes. With both TPU tubes installed, it is slightly…
2026 Bianchi Oltre Comp Road Bike Review Jump Ahead Video Review Frame & Geometry I’ve been putting miles on the Bianchi Oltre Comp, after also riding the Cervelo S5 extensively. The Oltre Comp is not the pro-level Oltre RC frame — this is the base carbon layup, and you can absolutely feel the difference. It’s…
2026 Cervelo S5 – First Look & Frame Updates Jump to: Video Review • History & Setups • Review Summary Video Review History & Setups Review Summary 📍 We’ve got the brand-new 2026 Cervelo S5 in the shop. The previous generation is sitting right behind it, so this walkthrough focuses on what’s changed, what’s improved,…
Today we’re talking about this custom Jamis Renegade. Jamis released a new Renegade this past year, and we brought some frames in to build them up. We put this one together at the end of last summer and put some miles on it through the fall. I’ll walk through the frame, how we have it…
I’m Steve, and today on Bikes We Ride we’re diving into the Time ADHX 45. I built this bike for myself and have been riding it through the fall. So far, I’m loving it and wanted to share the full breakdown. We’ll cover the frame, drivetrain, wheels and tires, cockpit, my specific build choices, and…
Today on Bikes We Ride, I’m reviewing the Cervelo Caledonia I’ve been riding for the past year. The Caledonia is Cervelo’s endurance road bike—built to ride farther, stay comfortable longer, and smooth out rougher pavement without giving up that fast, sporty feel. I’ll go through the frame, drivetrain, wheels, cockpit, and some of the changes…
Hey there — Steve here with another Bikes We Ride from Maklin Bike Shop. Today I’m sharing my Niner RLT 9 RDO, which I’ve been riding for the last three years. I’ll walk through the build spec, how I had it set up over time, the wheel and tire combinations I ran, and my overall…
This is Steve with another Bikes We Ride from Maklin Bike Shop. Today I’m sharing a pretty unique build: a previous-generation Niner RKT 9 RDO converted into a full-suspension drop-bar gravel bike. This is the older geometry—shorter, steeper, and lighter feeling than the current version—which made it a great candidate for this kind of setup.…
Latest Review — First Look at the New Cervelo Áspero-5 This section covers the newest generation 2026 and later Áspero-5 . Previous gen review remains below. Jump to Section Video Review Frame Overview We’ve got the new Cervelo Áspero-5 in the shop, and I had a Cervelo S5 parked behind it while walking through the…
This is Steve with another Bikes We Ride from Maklin Bike Shop. I’ve been riding the Niner RIP 29er for a couple of years now, and this is actually the second RIP I’ve spent meaningful time on. My first was the 27.5 version, and while that bike was fun, I’m 100% a fan of the…
This is Steve with another Bikes We Ride from Maklin Bike Shop. I’ve been riding the Cervelo ZFS-5 120 this summer, built with the XO Transmission drivetrain. It’s mostly stock with a couple of swaps, and I thought I’d walk through how it rides and how it compares to the other bikes I’ve spent time…
This is Lynn’s custom gravel bike—a Niner AIR 9 RDO drop-bar mountain bike conversion built specifically to help her ride the Badlands Gravel Battle with more confidence on the downhills. We ride a lot of different setups, but this one is easily one of the most unique builds we’ve put together. Since it’s part of…
We’ve been riding the previous-generation Bianchi Arcadex for about a month and a half. We brought some of these in on a closeout, turned one into a demo, and started putting miles on it. We were already familiar with the Campagnolo Ekar drivetrain, so this has been a good way to see how that system…
Bikes We've Spent Time Riding
We've spent time on a lot of bikes and many prior to us starting the YouTube channel or realizing we should do reviews on them. That said, having the list of stuff we've spent time on gives you an idea of what we have to compare against when we are doing ride reviews. These are bike that we've put some real rides on, not just short test rides out of the shop. Here's the list...
Mountain Bikes
- Cervelo ZFS-5 120 X0 AXS Transmission
- Cervelo ZHT-5 GX AXS
- Cervelo ZHT-5 Custom XX1 AXS Transmission
- Felt Edict NINE 3
- Niner AIR 9 RDO GX
- Niner AIR 9 RDO Custom XX1
- Niner Gen 2 JET 9 RDO XO
- Niner Gen 3 Jet 9 RDO XT
- Niner Gen 3 Jet 9 RDO GX
- Niner Gen 3 RIP 9 RDO 27.5 GX
- Niner Gen 3 RIP 9 29 XO AXS
- Niner Gen 1 RKT 9 RDO GX Eagle
- Niner Gen 1 RKT 9 RDO Custom XX1 AXS
- Niner Gen 2 RKT 9 RDO GX Eagle
- Salsa Gen 3 Spearfish XT
- Salsa Gen 4 Spearfish X0 Flight Attendant
- Salsa Gen 4 Spearfish Custom XX1 T-Type
- Trek ProCaliber 9.5
- Trek ProCaliber 9.8 SL GX Eagle
- Trek Remedy 9.8
- Trek Supercaliber 9.8 GX Eagle
- Trek Supercaliber Custom XX1 AXS
- Trek X-Caliber 7
- Trek X-Caliber 8
Gravel Bikes
- Cervelo Aspero Apex AXS
- Cervelo Aspero-5 Ekar
- Jamis Renegade Custom 2 x GRX 800
- Niner ORE 9 RDO Custom Force / XX1 T-Type Mullet
- Niner RLT 9 RDO 2 x GRX 800
- Niner RLT 9 RDO 1 x Force XPLR
- Niner RLT 9 RDO 1 x Force 10-36
- Niner RLT 9 RDO 1 x Apex
- Salsa Warbird 2 x GRX 800
- Salsa Warbird 2 x Force Wide
- TIME ADHX 45 Custom Force
- Trek Boone 1 x GRX 800
- Trek Gen 1 Checkpoint Ultegra
- Trek Gen 2 Checkpoint Force AXS / XX1 Mullet
- Trek Crocket 1 x Rival
- Trek Crocket Custom 1 x GRX
Road Bikes
- Bianchi Oltre Comp Ultegra Di2
- Cervelo Caledonia Ultegra Di2
- Cervelo R5 Ultegra Di2
- Cervelo S5 Ultegra Di2
- Specialized Allez Ultegra
- Trek Emonda SL6 Ultegra
- Trek Emonda Custom Aluminum Ultegra
- Trek Modone SL6 Ultegra
Fat Bikes
- Salsa Beargrease X0
- Specialized Fatboy Comp
- Trek Farley 9.8
- Trek Farley Custom GX Eagle
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