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| QBP Photo |
Way back in 2013, before Rambo came out of the
Backcountry like a Quiet Cat, somebody at Quality Bicycle Products (QBP), the Minnesota-based
600-pound gorilla of the bicycling industry came up with an idea. Essentially,
it was, “let’s design and market a fat-bike for sportsmen.” QBP was the parent
company of both Surly, creator of the Pugsley, and Salsa, with it’s fat-bike
entry, the Mukluk, both of which were regarded as bicycles with their 4-inch-wide
tires primarily to be ridden on snow or sand. They had been around for a few
years at this point and were starting to gain acceptance for other types of
riding such as commuting and long-range bicycle travel. What the folks at Q
envisioned was a wide-tired mountain bike with a sturdy frame, solid rims
(wheels) where the Pugsley and Mukluk boasted weight saving rims with holes
between the spokes, a robust, reliable drivetrain, and a RealTree ® camouflage
paint job. They called it the Cogburn.
The Cogburn drew its name from the tough,
fearless one-eyed US Marshal Ruben J. “Rooster” Cogburn played by John Wayne,
Jeff Bridges, and Warren Oates in the three variations of Charles Portis’
Western novel, “True Grit.” Cogburn brand manager Bobby Dahlberg said that the
name was meant to evoke the spirit of Rooster Cogburn, “a rough-and-tumble guy
who gets it done.” Quality’s own advertising for the brand called the bike, “a human powered all-terrain vehicle (ATV) built to
take hunters, anglers and foragers quickly and quietly further into the
backcountry.” They introduced
the brand at Minnesota’s Game Fair, promoting its backcountry capability with
T-shirts emblazoned with a deer head and gear cog motif, and the insignia of
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) on the sleeve, the sale of which
generated a two-dollar donation to BHA for every shirt sold.
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| QBP Photo |
The volunteer mountain bike patrol that I
belonged to (and still do) had been gifted two Surely Pugsleys, so I was
familiar with fat-bikes. I had seen the Cogburn at Game Fair, bought one of the
T-shirts and camo ball cap with the logo embroidered on it, (I still have both)
but it wasn’t until the Winter Camping Symposium the following October that I
was actually able to ride one. It was “love at first ride.” With its upright
seating position and longer wheelbase, the Cogburn was a joy to ride. I’ve said
elsewhere in this blog that two years earlier I had purchased a custom-built
mountain bike, and it’s a great bike built for the rigors of bike patrol and
emergency medical services. But, if the Cogburn had been introduced two years
earlier, I probably never would have bought the patrol bike. I ordered one
shortly after arriving home from the symposium, and took delivery at the end of
December, just after Christmas.
It’s been said more than once that I put the “angler”
into Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the national public lands and waters
advocacy organization that I had been part of for several years before the
Cogburn came out. Indeed, initially my bike was used to access backcountry
streams and lakes, but it was such a great ride that it quickly became my
primary mountain bike. Although I have great fellow feelings for both gun and
archery hunting, I am not a hunter. I use the Cogburn to seek trout.
There were some very good magazine articles,
videos, and even some syndicated TV programs that featured the Cogburn in its
native environment. Publications as diverse as “Petersons Hunting,” “Wheels Afield,”
“Bicycling,” and “Outside” featured stories about the Cogburn. The bikes
appeared on several different episodes of "My Outdoor TV" streaming service. Word
got out, and sports men and women responded positively.
Sadly, the Cogburn’s run lasted only a few
years. In October of 2017, just four years after it was introduced, QBP
announced on social media that they were shutting down the Cogburn program, thanking those of
us who had bought the bikes for our support and wishing us the best. While it
was never revealed the exact cause for the shutdown, marketing pressures being
what they are, what had been a unique niche had attracted competitors, and many
of those utilized pedal-assist electric motors. Where the Cogburn could get you
farther, faster, and with minimum impact, E-bikes did the same thing, expended
less human energy, and came in a variety of camouflage paint jobs.
Wishing you dry trails and tight lines.
