When we set out to design the 2012 Supreme Operator, we considered all of the many facets today’s downhill bike are exposed to. It has to be a bike that can attack the pressure, speed and precision needed to compete on the World Cup race circuit. At the same time, the bike also needs to be able to handle the unpredictability, improvisation and playfulness that comes with riding big nasty lines in the middle of nowhere. Aggy dropping in on mega big Bralorne, BC burl. Photo: Blake Jorgenson

To show the diversity of our 2012 Shimano Saint-equipped Supreme Operator, we figured the best way to show the incredible range of the bike was to document both extremes. Lucky for us, we have some of the most talented gravity riders on the planet to take us there.

Aggy sculpting the BC backcountry, getting ready to Operate. Photo: Blake Jorgenson

Armed with the exacting standards of Shimano Saint components, coupled with a suspension platform that’s tough but light, plush but quick, and laterally stiffer than a skyscraper in a windstorm, we start our adventure where clocks and race tape rule the roost.

Mitch Delfs in Leogang, Austria. Photo: Ale Di Lullo

We end up where no one is watching, save the ravens.

Aggy and Sherrard. Photo: Blake Jorgenson

To World Cup stops in Leogang, Austria, and Fort William, Scotland with Kona Team Rider Mitch Delfs railing muddy, rider beaten courses full of technical turns, roots and rock drops, where the Supreme Operator turns gnarl into flow.

Sherrard sending roost. Photo: Blake Jorgenson

Then jump on a plane then a truck and some quads to a helicopter and we find ourselves deep in the rugged wilderness of BC’s Chilcotin Mountains. Kona Team rider Graham Agassiz and Grassroots rider Dylan Sherrard take the Supreme Operator (and themselves) to the edge on the steep, shale and rock ridden big mountain faces on some of the sketchiest lines this side of burlville.

Aggy and Sherrard into the big white. Photo: Blake Jorgenson

It all comes out golden. Quite “saintly” actually. The 2012 Saint-equipped Supreme Operator. From big races to big mountains, one bike to rule them all.

Saint Supreme Operator at sunset. Photo: Blake Jorgenson