Wildwood Cycles is the work of emerging Victoria frame builder Jesse Hildebrandt, whose been building frames under the Wildwood name for a few years now. We have several friends on Wildwood frames, and have even featured Mark’s Wildwood here before. Knowing what our friends consider ‘normal use,’ the survival of these bikes is a testament to their quality. Not surprising, given Jesse’s history in the BMX scene and current day job as a Red Seal certified welder. But even a quick look at this Blue Mango CX shows that these bikes are as good looking as they are well made.
Kyle’s Wildwood ‘Blue Mango’ steel cyclocross bike is built around Italian made Columbus Life tubing. Life is Columbus’s Niobium alloy based tubing, an alloy that allows for thinner wall thickness and a lighter weight while retaining the strength and feel of a steel frame. Jesse’s built this Wildwood CX with 12mm through axles, and super clean internal cable routing throughout. California’s ENVE Composites provides the carbon fork, which Jesse’s painted to match the frame.
All of these details are hard to notice, though, with the incredible Blue/Mango colour scheme Jesse’s applied to make Kyle’s Wildwood perfectly match the array of Chris King Mango parts on this build. The King headset, King R45 road disc wheels, and King PF30 BB are all done in a stunning Mango finish. Jesse’s complemented these eye catching King parts perfectly with Mango lettering and details on the inner fork legs.
Rounding out the build is a full SRAM CX1 Force 11-speed group, including SRAM’s HydroR disc system. Kyle’s Wildwood is rolling on HED Belgium tubeless ready rims and Schwalbe X-One tubeless ready rubber. Final details include a 3T bar/stem combo that Wildwood colour matched to Kyle’s frame, a Thomson Elite post and Pro Turnix saddle.
Wildwood’s are made in Victoria. The headbadge is a view anyone from here will recognize
Kyle’s Wildwood featuers a carbon fork courtesy of California’s ENVE, and has gobs of clearance
We can’t get enough of this seamless hose clamp, which Jesse painted mango to match
It’s small detail, sure, but one with a great visual effect
The Mango fork details run directly down to the Mango Chris King R45 disc hubs
HED Belgium rims: very appropriate for cyclocross
Schwalbe X-One Tubeless CX tyres have been getting a bunch of praise since their release
SRAM’s really jumped in to the CX game, and Kyle’s running a full Force CX1 group
SRAM Force Hydro levers – a welcome change from the first generations of mech road discs
The King R45 disc hubs allow for a through axle, to match the strength of SRAM’s HydroR brakes
This Wildwood features super clean internal cable routing through the chainstay
Yes, the Mango King headset, but also Wildwood’s very neat internal cable routing
Details are important – like the barely visible Chris King Mango PF30 BB
Goes to 11: SRAM’s Force CX1, and the 12mm through axle hub, to keep things tracking true
The cleanest that 11 speed cassette will ever look, once cross season starts
Fancy carbon bits round out SRAM’s Frorce CX1 drivetrain
Force CX1 also gets the chain retaining X-Sync tooth design for this 40t chainring
Columbus has a strong history of Made in Italy steel tubing. Kyle’s is built with ‘Life’ tubing
Jesse killed the paint job on this Wildwood – down to painting the 3T bar/stem combo to match
One more look at the lettering and fork leg mango details
