BMC is a Swiss company that builds with an eye for racing. Originally Bicycle Manufacturing Company, assembling mid-range MTBs, the company changed direction in 2000, creating a carbon-fiber factory in Switzerland and sponsoring the Phonak team.
The company leans on its Swiss heritage. They build well-engineered, practical, versatile bikes that are at home doing a wide range of things, even when their intended purpose might seem narrow. BMC’s Timemachine 01 and 02 time trial/tri bike is a perfect example. The bike’s seat angle can be set between 71 to 81 degrees. Likewise, the integrated front end is easy to disassemble for travel.
BMC builds with both hydroformed aluminum and several grades of carbon. They were early to the table with both endurance and aero road bikes, as they got better at both, they integrated ideas from those platforms back into their road bikes.
The Teammachine gained notoriety as a lightweight and stiff bike for BMC’s WorldTour squad, which took it to victories in the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, and the Olympic road race. As years have gone on, they’ve incorporated more and more aero and comfort elements into the platform to be used for a wider range of riders. Their highly-integrated aero road bike is the Timemachine.
The BMC Roadmachine is a full-on endurance bike with racing manners that allows for 33mm tires, meaning it is all-road ready. The Roadmachine evolved from its cobble-crushing GranFondo platform, adding aerodynamics and disc brakes to create a light, stiff, smooth, and comfortable ride.
The BMC URS, short for unrestricted, is the company's line of gravel bikes. They borrow tech and geometry hints from their road and MTB bikes, to make something truly different. Thanks to the MTT “soft tail” bumper in the back, there’s 10mm of elastomer suspension. The LT version has 20mm of suspension atop the non-telescoping MTT fork.
One thing that distinguishes BMC mountain bikes from the rest is that all their rides seem to take going uphill as a given. Maybe it’s living in Switzerland. This leads the bikes, regardless of purpose, to be good climbers, capable of taking on slow, grinding climbs comfortably.
The BMC Fourstroke is a full-suspension, cross-country whip that is designed to climb like a hardtail, and descend like a trail bike. As time has gone on, they’ve been tweaking the formula, making the seat angle steeper and the head angle slacker, so there’s an oomph to uphill power and play for descents.
BMC’s hardtail XC racer shows how much fun simple can be. They’ve incorporated rear-end compliance, with low, flattened seat stays on both BMC’s Twostroke AL and carbon versions and room for wide 29er tires. The carbon adds a D-shaped compliance seat post that can be swapped out for a dropper, and the AL has a 31.6 round post.
