Designed and manufactured in Dresden, Germany, the Cowboy Cookie is a versatile steel and aluminum downcountry platform that’s at home anywhere from ultradistance racing to local trail rides.
Josh Weinberg, action photos by Jared Nelson
Steel full suspension bikes have risen in popularity in recent years. Once a fringe choice of bespoke framebuilders, some of the largest brands are at least teasing their own take on what can be done with the adaptable material. While they are usually heavier than carbon alternatives, steel frames can be more durable, easier to repair, fabricated more affordably, and offer unique ride qualities.
Plus, it’s a lot easier for builders and brands alike to quickly prototype and iterate steel bikes in a workshop – right at brand HQ – than rely on the often lengthy and expensive computer modeling and overseas molding process required to make carbon frames. But creating a viable full suspension product from steel is a tricky economic proposition, which is why there are still relatively few options to pick from.
Dresden, Germany-based Sour Bicycles launched two mostly steel full suspensions last summer as part of its experimental Sour Racing Development (SRD) program – the Cowboy Cookie and Double Choc. I say “mostly” because the rocker link and swingarm of both frames are machined from aluminum. More on that later. The Double Choc is an all-mountain/enduro frame made for 140-160 mm front travel and 136-148 mm rear travel, while the Cowboy Cookie is solidly in the downcountry category for 120-130 mm forks and 120 mm of travel in the rear.
Traditionally, I would describe downcountry bikes as a mix between XC and trail. The term was coined nearly a decade ago and it seems like the bike industry is finally settling into leveraging the category for what it’s really capable of. Downcountry bikes often use short travel suspensions to achieve optimal pedaling performance that are paired with progressive geometries to comfortably navigate trail features and descents. Bikes you’d want to race at your weekly short track and then take into the mountains for an all-day epic on the weekend.
But many of them are locked into the XC side of the spectrum, maxing out at 120 mm of front travel, race-oriented geometries, and tighter tire clearance. And even though segments within mountain biking have become pretty well defined, there is still plenty of variance within them. The Cowboy Cookie could be built as such an XC-oriented bike, with a quite lightweight parts assembly, or it could take the form of a beefier trail machine like I’m presenting here.
Highs: Attractive steel and alloy frame with simple yet effective detailing that’s built to last. Modern geometry and Horst link suspension offer excellent balance of pedaling and descending characteristics.
Lows: Limited rear shock compatibility. Heavy in comparison to carbon alternatives (which could also be seen as a positive.) A 90 day pre-order timeframe could be a turnoff to riders looking for more instant gratification.
Price as tested: €3,500 for the frame
Overview
The Cowboy Cookie was designed with versatility in mind. Sour markets it as a rig that’s equally at home in an endurance race as it is on local singletrack. Former team rider Quinda Verheul rode her prototype Cowboy Cookie in multiple races last year, including the Atlas Mountain Race, as an adventure-worthy test case for the short travel platform alternative to the more commonly used hardtails. According to Christophe Suesse, owner and designer of Sour Bicycles, it is meant to be an efficient and agile pedaler while also holding its own across technical terrain and challenging descents.
Built around a fairly traditional four-bar Horst Link suspension platform, it features a flip chip in the lower suspension linkage that can change geometry based on rider preference, clean external cable routing (what a novelty!), wide chainstays for ample tire fitment up to a 29 x 2.5” (it can squeeze a 2.6!), and a beautiful alloy swingarm made by Actofive. Frame + shock options are available to order straight from Sour and customers can also choose from a list of accessories at checkout, but typically these frames are not sold as complete builds. They are also not sold on demand. Rather, you need to place a preorder and sit tight while your frame is made during Sour’s subsequent 90-day production cycle.
When I started here at Escape Collective I promised that my reviews of readily available production bike models would outweigh those of niche alternatives. I’m completely on board with this, as our audience is global and we want to ensure this resource we’re creating is as applicable as possible. Even though steel full suspensions have gained traction in the bike industry in recent years, with the likes of Starling, REEB, Cotic, Contra, and more making strong cases for its viability, the material is still incredibly niche in terms of the greater market.
It can be tricky to compare bikes like this to competition because they are often sold as frame only and built up with a custom selection of parts, making each one slightly different based on rider preferences. Yet, the Cowboy Cookie serves as a spotlight on how some artisan bike manufacturers are ramping up domestic manufacturing to meet production-level demand and as a platform to look at the downcountry category of bikes that continue to become more robust and grow in popularity.
Sour Homebrew
Sour Bicycles started out as an offshoot of parent company Binova. Based in Saxony, Germany Binova primarily designs ebikes and battery-drive systems. Chris Suesse was one of the nine cycling enthusiasts running Binova when in 2020, just as the pandemic was starting, he decided to split off and create his own brand. Chris’ last name is translated from German to mean “sweet,” so calling the company Sour seemed fitting. He employed a small team and built out a catalog of steel bikes that now includes five hardtails, two gravel bikes, two all-road models, and two full suspensions.
“Homebrew” is what Sour refers to as its onshoring production program. In a move that’s opposite from what some artisan US-based builders have recently done in farming out production to Asian manufacturers, Sour has brought production in-house which was previously done in Taiwan.
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