The situation
Bike198 launched in 2008 and grew into one of the most-read mountain bike review sites of its era. Over $100,000 of review product came through it, and it's where Robb learned to build an audience in public.
By 2026 it had the problem most veteran sites have: an identity showing its age, and a publishing cadence that depended entirely on one person's spare hours.
The relaunch rebuilt all of it: a new brand under the "Live the Ride" banner, a dark editorial design built around reviews, and the full oneninety8 engine underneath. We show it as a case study because it's ours, and because it proves the system on a real audience.
What we built
A ground-up relaunch that keeps the riding human and automates everything else.
- New brand identity under the "Live the Ride" banner
- Dark editorial design built around reviews
- Review-first architecture: bikes, gear, guides, industry news
- AI content engine: research and drafts in the site's voice
- Social automation: every post becomes channel-ready social
- Affiliate & shop integration
- SEO and AI-search structure across an 18-year archive
How it runs week to week
Ride first
The engine never writes a verdict. Reviews come from the trail; the system handles research, structure, and everything after publish.
Never goes quiet
Guides, industry news, and social keep shipping on schedule between reviews, without anyone pasting posts around.
Full cadence, no staff
An 18-year-old site runs at magazine cadence in spare hours, because the system does the remembering.
Where it ranks
Page 1 for the terms riders actually search
Mountain bike reviews are a crowded field, with brand sites, big publishers, and forums all competing for the same searches. Bike198 holds page 1 of Google for buying-intent terms like these, from head terms to the head-to-head comparisons riders type right before they buy.
It's the same structure we build for clients: pages that answer the exact question a buyer is asking, in a format search engines and AI tools can read.
Source: Google Search Console, June 27 to Sept. 25, 2026.
Have a brand that deserves a rebuild?
This is the same process we run for clients. The Engine Teardown is free: Robb responds personally and sets up a time to talk.