In a sea of generic brands a small west coast frame builder has been quietly gaining attention and respect over the years. Young rippers like Guy Marsh and Billy Lewis can be seen aboard Tonic Fab's hand-crafted hardtails. We spoke with one half of the company, Landon Holt to get his thoughts on everything bike related and a few things that aren't...

Describe your experience in the bike industry before branching out and pursuing Tonic full time.

Prior to Tonic Fab, both Tony and I worked for a large OEM manufacturer. This company made frames
for Santa Cruz, Iron Horse, GT, Titus, and various other brands. I quit that and spent the better part of year
in Mexico and Guatemala with my girlfriend at the time. When I was down there, I couldn’t shake this idea of
doing my own bike company. So, when I got back, I got after it. I also started to work for Mountain Cycle about that time. I’m proud of some things we did for that brand. Even though it didn’t go anywhere, I learned a lot. Anyway, Tonic has yet to be a full time gig for either of us. Fortunately we are on the cusp of
changing that. This has been a huge learning experience, especially on the business end. We’ve taken our time, good or bad.

What has been the most positive experience you’ve had in the bike industry?
Tonic is a creative experience for Tony and me, so having people responding to what you are doing is satisfying. Especially people who pick-up on the subtleties of what we do. Our team has been a very positive experience as well.

What has been the most negative?
I’ve been exposed to some BS over the years. It’s always shown me the way not to be. Probably the worst thing I’ve seen was a local BMX rider beaten up by a couple of MTB jocks in Las Vegas. I tried to split up the fight, but it just got out of hand. I can’t say this kid’s behavior didn’t warrant some course correction, but seeing 3 adults gang up on a kid was pretty ugly. Yeah, that was the worst.

You’ve produced several track bikes; one of them is even ridden by Alfred Bobe who is widely regarded as one of the fastest bike messengers in NYC. What was your inspiration to build bikes other than MTB’s?
Hooking up with Alfred was cool. He’s the real deal. That’s who you need to be interviewing! Tony and I are just into bikes, period. Not just a single version of them. I’ve raced cross, as well raced in the Cycle Messenger Worlds in ’96 in SF. I love riding single track, trails, park and street too. I’m very proud of the new track bike and our next cross bike is going to be amazing.

You seem to be quite involved in the riding scene in the Pacific Northwest. What is it about that region that breeds such unique riders like Guy Marsh?
The NW is a bit of riding Mecca. It’s set a very high standard for me in terms of quality terrain. On the freestyle side, there’s a strong regional culture here that expresses itself in riding style, and bike set-up. Building the Underground is the anthem for this. Good riders are everywhere, but I think the NW stands out for its local pride, and stylish riders. Guy definitely has NW flavor.

You say that the Howie is not an easy bike to build. What fabrication processes do you employ that other boutique frame companies might not?
I don’t think we employ any fabrication processes other builders don’t have access to. I mean, we have a mill, a lathe, a chop saw, a couple presses, and an alignment table. We probably have more production bike building experience than anyone I can think of doing this. That certainly sets us apart.

Tonic is a means for us to express what we like in a bike and we won’t compromise that. We’ve got a short list of things we like, and a longer list of details we think are kind of atrocious, like huge drop outs, or chain stay crimps for example.

The Howie is very time consuming to build. For example, matching the chain stays to the chain stay yoke. It is very difficult to achieve a smooth transition between these two parts. Or the yoke it’s self. We take a flat, laser cut part, perform 3 machining operations to radius all the edges, then form it in our press and send it out to get heat treated by an aircraft certified heat treat facility. We’ve taken a feature which is usually rendered in a fairly crude fashion, and turned it into something we think is one of the most beautiful features of the frame. We try and make our frames as easy on the eyes as possible; distinctive without being outrageous.

Explain your “Spanglish” bottom bracket concept.
It’s just an external type BB, like a Shimano, with Spanish BMX bearings. If you are using 3-pcs cranks like Profiles on a MTB, this is a very good set-up. We aren’t the first to do it; Fly had something like this, and so did Magic Motorcycle and Sweet Parts.

What are you thoughts on the influx of hardtail companies over the past few years?
There’s no shortage of boring, derivative mountain bike brands. Very few Mountain Bike companies are doing or saying anything interesting.

Santa Cruz is probably the only MTB brand I pay any real attention too, although I like Ibis and Yeti too. Very passionate and doing some original things.

Mountain Biking is such fun activity, but too often the techno-babble and the squares pulling the strings paint the sport dead boring. That’s my rant.

As for hardtails: Black Market established a pattern for a good handling,
light weight 26” frame. The Thomas Hosford designed hollow yoke used on one of Atomlab’s new frames is very trick. Superco really nailed it with some very light, low slung rigs. Unions Street is selling a good 24” frame at a good price. Last Bikes out of Germany is doing some interesting work. I think the bikes have reached a bit of a plateau in terms of function.

Readers of Aaron Lutze’s “Match Videozine” website used to see photos of you riding all the time. Unfortunately you’ve had injuries sidelining you over the years. Has that experience changed how you look at riding, and moreover your life?
It’s impossible to ignore the magnitude of my last injury. How you ride is tethered to confidence, and my confidence is near zero for riding trails or park. On the up side, I don’t think I’ll have any trouble on a pump
track or, or riding single track. I am preparing my body, bikes and mind for a very full riding season this year. I terms of my life…I’ve channeled energy into other pursuits, which have been long overdue, like playing my guitar. I’ve also taken an interest in video making, and will get that cranking this year. I wrote and published this little magazine a few years ago that I want to turn into a short film, so expect to see that.

Riding bikes is very fun and rewarding activity, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Your blog has gotten a lot of attention in the last year, mostly for the consistent and clever updates. How important is that in terms of you reaching your consumers and fans?
It’s the first time I’ve ever had a public voice, so that’s totally new, and I’m having fun with it. It’s mostly shot from the hip. I really don’t have any rules, except I try to draw attention to things or people I like. The amount of traffic on the Blog is crazy, so that’s rewarding.

Blogs are critical for communicating what a brand is about. I think ours has really filled in the holes our website leaves. Fortunately we do have sparkling new website which oughta be rolling in a month or so.


For more information and to order a frame check out the Tonic Fab website