Yokeiseasy Bicycle Company builds its bikes “from scratch”, featuring TIG-welded steel and titanium frames from American materials, in a family-run workshop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, where hard-working, Amish and Mennonite communities still populate the rural farmlands. While the small company will build any type of bike with full custom options, mountain bikes are at the heart of the business.

Mountain bikes are at the heart of Yokeiseasy's business.  All photos: Yokeiseasy Bicycle Company

Phil Reist, one half of Yokeiseasy and its chief design collaborator, isn't afraid of change, and he welcomes the ongoing development and adoption of new standards that have been features of mountain bike design since the beginning.

“I love seeing the acceptance of dropper posts on mountain bikes. More standards is not something most frame builders want, but I like seeing people trying different things with fat and plus tires. We don't know where it will settle but the fun is seeking out new alternatives,” said Reist.

The new alternatives that Reist seeks out can be explored with any type of bicycle, using the steel and titanium tubesets that Yokeiseasy crafts into frames at its family-owned machine shop.  

But as much as Yokeiseasy welcomes change and new standards, it’s all run through their filter of preferences, as the company’s website explains:

“We carefully filter industry trends and try to incorporate in our designs only features that we believe in.  Our goal is not to sell you on new trends, but to deliver the best option that the industry has to offer.  At the end of the day, we are our own customers and we set our standards high.”

Full builds as well as full custom framesets are part of the Yokeiseasy menu, as well as a new semi-stock mountain bike program that, as Reist explains, will expose a broader clientele to the charms and performance of Yokeiseasy bikes.

“The latest thing we're offering is our two semi-stock options of mountain bikes. Both steel. One long travel and one cross country. This will allow us to offer American made frames at a better price point. We still offer full custom,” said Reist.

But even the full custom price point is very reasonable, and it opens up the world of  custom frames to people that might not be able to afford a fancier - or call it more pretentious - brand. Full custom steel frames start at a very reasonable $1650, and full custom titanium frames start at $2500.