Once a year, every year, dozens of niche bike builders emerge from their smoking tool sheds, eyes watering from the bright sunlight and lungs shocked by the non-toxic air, to show off their wares to the assembled masses. This year the show travelled to Portland, Oregon on the West coast of the United States: home to great beer, a healthy music scene and one of the more accepted cycling populations in the world.

I popped down for a couple of days to check it out, here’s what I found happening in the world of mountain bikes, based on the absolute shortest of acquaintances - with so much at the show I had little choice but to corner a rep, get a few choice words out of them and snap a picture or two, before moving on to the next one.

Black Sheep Bikes are cool shop based in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and brought along a whole range of new bikes to the show.