ONE BIKE TO RIDE THEM ALL
Lake Ehfect was intentionally designed from the bottom bracket U.P. to become the ultimate fat, mountain, gravel, bikepacking, all-terrain bike on the market.
One bike for every surface.
The Upper Peninsula is a technical and challenging proving ground for bikes. We wondered out loud on every ride... "Does anyone make a bike that feels like the right bike for tackling what the Upper Peninsula has to offer?"
One bike for every season.
Lake Ehfect is a nod to "The Big Lake" a.k.a. Lake Superior and the influence it has on the way of life U.P. here. Three season bikes will hang on the wall half the year - and that would prove to be our biggest challenge. How to design a bike that is fat compatible, delivers the narrowest qfactor possible, and still offers an aggressive but comfortable geometry for long days in the saddle... three-hundred sixty-five days a year?
Challenge accepted.
MADE U.P. is a culmination of... making stuff up. In 2020 we launched Project Adventrus, which at the time was a 1,100-mile circumnavigation (sorta) of the Upper Peninsula by bike. The route was a combination of local knowledge and stuff we MADE U.P. Marc and I launched on October 10, 2020. Here's the route:
That October would end up being the snowiest on record. Without even knowing it... the route we MADE U.P. two years ago would end up being the inspiration for Lake Ehfect.
Made in the USEH.
Lake Ehfect was inspired by riding here, therefore, it should be built here. Steel comes from Iron Ore. Who brought the world iron? Da Upper Peninsula, that's who. Did you know all of the iron in the world is coming from a mine located near Marquette and out of the Mesabi Range in northern Minnesota? Bikes built to travel the earth should come from the earth. Our goal is to design, manufacture, and build all MADE U.P. bikes right here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The first Lake Ehfect prototype has been built and sent into the wild. Aptly named LE_proto_v1.0, at the time of this update we have logged over 400-miles in snow, rain, mud, and gravel. Basically everything you'd expect from a spring in da Yoop. About half of those miles were ridden setup fat. The latter half on wheels from our friends at Velocity USA in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She's passed all the tests thus far.
What's next?
Lots of riding and testing. Setup fat, skinny, rigid, with suspension, racks, without racks, loaded and unloaded. The ultimate test is scheduled for this fall when we plan to launch the final Project Adventrus expedition. Wondering what we're going to do? No idea 🤣 We still need to make it up.
Be the first to know.
Interested in a MADE U.P. brand? Wanna see bikes designed and built in the U.P.? Sign up for the mailing list and you'll get inside access to testing updates, trips, and other stuff we make up. You might even be the first to get access to a limited run of Lake Ehfects we plan to offer later in the year.
