ALCHEMY ARKTOS 29 GX EAGLE | $5,300

Alchemy made waves with the original 27.5-inch, 152-inal millimeter-travel Arktos at the 2016 North American Handmade Bike Show (NAHBS), winning both the “People’s Choice Award” and “Best Mountain Bike Award.” It wasn’t steel, it wasn’t aluminum, it wasn’t titanium. In a show overrun with gravel bikes, all-road bikes and plus-size steel hardtails, along came a big-tubed carbon en-duro bike, and it stole the show.

Skeptics questioned if the entirety of the Arktos’ 27.5-inch frame was made in the U.S., but all agreed: It looked great. And at a show where it’s not uncommon to see $10,000 titanium bikes with rear shocks bolted on in a visually less-than-$10,000-looking