Zap Bike Media

Zapata "Zap" Espinoza started riding bicycles over 50 years ago as a member of the Schwinn Sliders BMX team before transitioning to short-lived career as a pro motocross racer in the late 70s. Years later, after flunking out of law school, the opportunity of a lifetime arrived when he was invited to merge his passion for pushing pedals and twisting throttles to become an editor at Mountain Bike Action and Motocross Action Magazines. Under his guidance, MBA became America's top selling mountain bike publication.

In 1993 he was hired by Bicycling to re-create their failing mountain bike magazine and soon it too became the #1 mountain bike mag. In 2003 he was hired by Trek Bicycles as a brand manager. In 2007 he once again answered the call of journalism to become the editor of Road Bike Action Magazine. Soon enough he was also named the editorial director of Electric Bike Action and Mountain Bike Action Magazines.

Zap is currently slinging words as a freelance journalist for Zap Bike Media and working as a marketing consultant. He still loves racing and Mexican food.

Principal, Green Mountain Innovations LLC

Alan Coté practices patent law as a Registered Patent Agent and principal of Green Mountain Innovations LLC. His primary work is advising clients on patent matters, and drafting and prosecuting patent applications for them, while Cote is himself an inventor named on four cycling-related US patents. He is recognized as a leading expert on bicycle technology and intellectual property, and writes a regular column for Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, “Industry Patent Watch”. Cote has worked in the bicycle industry in numerous roles, is a former elite-level road racer, and also serves as an Expert Witness in bicycle-related legal cases.

Faction Bike Studio

Erick's journey in the cycling world began in 1994 when he joined Cycles Devinci, a prestigious bike manufacturer. Over the years, he honed his skills and gained invaluable experience working at Devinci, contributing to the development of their high-performance bicycles. This tenure provided him with a solid foundation and a wealth of knowledge in bike engineering and design.

In 2010, Erick Auger's entrepreneurial spirit led him to embark on a new venture, and he founded Faction Bike Studio. Drawing upon his years of experience and his desire to create bikes that seamlessly blend form and function, Erick set out to establish his reputation in helping various companies across the world to bring their products to life.

Under Erick's leadership, Faction Bike Studio quickly gained recognition for its innovative designs and meticulous attention to detail. His visionary approach to bike manufacturing allowed him to bring his creative ideas to life, resulting in bikes that not only performed exceptionally but also boasted striking aesthetics. Faction Bike Studio is committed to offer bike brand all the confidentiality they expect, so for this reason all the client list is never shared or advertised.

When Erick isn't immersed in his workshop, he can often be found exploring trails and pushing the limits of his own designs. His hands-on approach and personal testing ensure that every bike project done by the Faction Bike Studio meets his exacting standards.

Owner/Founder, Viral Bikes

Steve Domahidy is a 35+ year veteran of the bicycle industry and has worked throughout the industry in many different roles, but most of his time has been spent in design and development. Steve is most known for co-founding Niner Bikes in 2004 with partner Chris Sugai and heading up R&D for that company for 7 years, collecting a slew of patents along the way. He stepped away from Niner in 2011 and immediately picked up two very high profile consulting gigs: Steve helped launch Factor Bikes and designed their first bike; the award winning Vis Vires which became the Factor One in production. He then went on to help launch Faraday Bicycles, an upstart e-bike company based out of San Francisco who made amazing city e-bikes well before the trend peaked. Steve was instrumental in developing the business strategy and market delivery of Faraday, resulting in huge growth and an eventual buy-out of the company by Pon Holdings. In more recent years, Steve was the Directory of Development and Carbon Engineering at Argonaut Cycles. He designed Argonaut’s award winning RM3 road bike and award winning GR3 gravel bike, as well as all components and rims for Argonaut’s complete line. In addition to the design of the bikes themselves, Steve patented Argonaut’s unique molding technology, designed every single mold, and laid up every single frame and component as it was going through R&D. His hands on experience building Argonaut’s own factory in Bend, OR helped to catapult sales of that company. In 2022, they saw growth of sales of over 300%.

For the past seven years, Steve has also been working on his own company, Viral Bikes, dedicating the entire brand to pushing technology in the drivetrain world. “I think the derailleur is an antiquated technology for mountain bikes and we should move away from it, post haste,” says Steve with a wry smile. All Viral Bikes are currently equipped with Pinion Gearbox drivetrains although he maintains that other drivetrain options are possible, as long as they don’t involve a derailleur. After completing work with Argonaut, Steve turned his attention back to Viral and began working on a new, state of the art, full suspension bike called the Optimist 160. The bike premiered at the Enve Builder Round Up this past June, simultaneous to Eurobike, and Steve was given the exclusive launch of the new Pinion electronic shifting gearbox, the SmartShift, for the Optimist. The bike itself is a masterclass on new technologies, featuring titanium 3d printed lugs using a state of the art 3d printing technology called Electron Beam Melting (EBM) bonded to carbon tubes. Built around the new Pinion gearbox, this bike features 160mm of rear wheel travel from a single pivot design utilizing a flex pivot stay built into the titanium drop outs.