It was back in April of this year that I first got to see the CONTENDER from STATE BICYCLE CO. I have always been a huge fan of steel frames so when I saw Scott and Andre’s bikes at the Red Bull event I was eager to learn more about these. Now their bikes were built up with some high end components however the way the CONTENDER comes stock is still a great ride and value right out of the box. The first thing that catches my eye is the iridescent silver paint job, it definitely catches your eye. Then I started to check out the components on the bike from its carbon fiber fork to its SRAM power spline crank set. The bike has a very comfortable ride and its geometry is not to aggressive to ride on the street everyday to commute yet with a few changes in components the bike is race worthy. The bike comes standard with a 48/16 gear ratio which for some may be a bit strong yet the 172.5 crank arms give you more leverage to make this ratio feel like a piece of cake. So if you are in the market for a good steel frame bike that come complete at a good price I would definitely check out the STATE BICYCLE SITE.