Go farther, have more fun. That’s the tagline that Woodpecker Cycle Co. uses on its website, and it’s a great way to sum up their bike builds. Built by Daren Beenen out of Lacey, Washington, this ‘THIK MINI’ was the star of the show from Woodpecker, but it was not their only showstopper. All of the Woodpecker builds manage to combine a level of creativity with whimsical good looks that can only make you smile.

The THIK MINI came about as a compromise between Jeremy from Teravail and Daren. Jeremy wanted a mini velo, but Daren wanted to build something with a Pinion gearbox and a “stik shift.” The result speaks for itself.

THIK MINI

Making a retro-inspired stick shift for a 6-speed Pinion gearbox isn’t exactly an easy task, but Daren figured it out with some help from the U.S. team at Pinion. The stick shift itself is actually based on the shifter housing for the gearbox, but Daren figured out a way to take it apart and make it work.

Daren is quick to give credit to everyone who helped him on the build, and that continues with Coy from Thompson Bicycles, who helped Daren build the fork. Adam Prosise from Prosise Metal Works machined the brass housing guides, as well.

These are apparently Hope rotors that are only sold in Japan. Apparently Onyx makes headsets now? Potentially a prototype.

The THIK MINI rolls on 20 x 2.8″ tires, and may be the coolest mini velo we’ve ever seen.

Woodpecker DH Bike

As complex as the THIK MINI was to put together, this DH bike ramps it up a notch. Running around 195mm of rear travel, this one is also based around a 6-speed Pinion gearbox with a Gates Belt Drive.

Gates helped out with the proper belt drive tensioner placement, though the UDH belt driver snubber was designed by Daren with help from Liminal Machine Works – who also helped with the idler carrier. Once again, Adam Prosise helped out with the pivot hardware.

Unlike the THIK MINI, this bike uses a Pinion Smart.Shift system, which meant figuring out what to do with the battery. Instead of simply putting it on a carrier outside the frame (which is what Daren says he probably should have done), Daren actually cut the battery housing to split the two cells to make them inline, so they could be stored in the downtube.

Finish it off with a unique powdercoat finish, and you have the best-looking belt drive DH bike at MADE.

Gravel Bikes

But wait, there’s more! In addition to a gravel bike on display in the Teravail booth with a beautiful finish, Daren also had his daughter’s 650b gravel bike on display in his booth.

The kid’s gravel bike is a great use of 650b x 47mm tires, and is built with truly kid-proportional parts including Hup components handlebars, Appleman cranks, an SQLab Saddle, and potentially the only TRP Hywave S shifters outside of Giant kids’ road bikes. We first saw the kid-sized shifters when Giant/Liv introduced the Liv Seek at Eurobike in 2025. They still aren’t available for sale aftermarket, but Daren managed to get a hold of a set to build this bike.

Both frames are painted by Daren with alcohol ink – a process that involves a white basecoat that is then overlaid with an alcohol ink color. After the alcohol evaporates, the color is left behind and then wet paint clear coated with wet graphics. The result is pretty stunning.

woodpeckercycleco.com