Brendan Fairclough made his first appearance at Rampage in 2012 and had everyone talking as he forged his totally unique canyon line. He injured his left MCL in qualies and was unable to compete in finals but he had definitely announced himself on the Rampage scene and was able to stomp it in 2013. He was competing in 2012 on his mega-slack Scott Gambler that was setup in the short wheelbase mode.

All eyes were on Zink after he raised the bar at Rampage 2010. Unfortunately, he took one of the biggest slams in Rampage history in training and was unable to take part aboard his Hyper.

The Coastal Crew's Kyle Norbraten cleaned back to back 360s on the upper slopes aboard his Specialized Demo. Safe to say the viewing public wasn't best pleased with his score and a Pinkbike catchphrase was born.

Mick Hannah came to bring the speed on his Morewood Makulu race bike.

Kurt Sorge took the first of his three Rampage wins in 2012. His run included a huge send on the new Oakley drop aboard his Giant Glory.

Tomas Genon was fresh off his Crankworx Joyride win and straight into his first-ever Rampage with a unique set up. Check his rear shifter that is mounted to the Merida's seat collar, as well as the extra rear brake housing.

Single crown forks weren't all that rare at Rampage back in 2012. Brett Rheeder was rocking a Trek Session 9.9 fitted with a single crown Fox 180mm fork up front.

Kelly McGarry was already out injured when we took this photo of his prototype Diamondback but he would return in 2013 to crush his historic Canyon Gap backflip. R.I.P Kelly.

Talk about throwbacks... Wil White was representing on his Karpiel DiscoVolante, complete with Spinergy DH wheels. He took it all the way to 12th and beat some big names on the way.

RockShox's Black Gold stanchions were new for 2012 and Semenuk's custom painted Session was black to match them. Just like Rheeder's Session, his 9.9 also seemed to have slightly different seat stays than what was found on the stock bike.

Another single crown fork, this one a Marzocchi 66 on Sam Pilgrim's NS Soda. Sam was a rider who we were used to seeing on hardtails at that point so it was interesting to see him throw down on the bigger Soda. Unfortunately, a windy qualifying day saw Pilgrim wash out and miss out on finals. He returned in 2013 on a full downhill bike.

In 2012, we called Kenny Smith's Demo the 'best looking bike of Rampage'.

It wouldn't be Rampage without Kyle Strait. In 2012 he was riding GT's carbon fiber Fury.

Casey Groves' Morpheus Loki was probably the shortest travel rig at Rampage 2012. It's hard to imagine a rider on anything other than a downhill rig these days.

Not all Specialized riders were on Demos, the Claw was rocking Specialized's Status, a slightly shorter and taller option compared to the Demo. While most riders went with downhill-dedicated brakes, Darren ran Shimano's XTR stoppers paired with an eight-inch rotor up front and a seven-inch in the rear.

Lacondeguy finished fourth in 2010, 2012 and 2013 until he finally broke the streak and took it to the top step in 2014. YT had shown a new carbon version of the Tues in 2012, but Andreu was aboard his aluminum rig for the event.

Antoine Bizet was the surprise package of Rampage 2012 as he rode to second place on his Kona Supreme Operator.

Greg Watts' Haro would be considered a big-travel bike anywhere but Rampage.

Chris Van Dine was on Yeti's carbon fiber 303wc downhill bike, a machine that Jared Graves had been using at World Cup races that season. The carbon front end featured very similar lines to the 'standard' 303wc. Hidden up against the seat tube is the bike's vertical rail that the swingarm-mounted shuttle travels up and down on.

After Cam Zink's heart-stopping 360 off the Oakley Sender in 2010 , Rampage took a year off in 2011 and returned as 'The Evolution' in 2012.The Oakley Sender had been built up into a fortress and a lot of riders were eying up the new Canyon Gap. With eternal glory and the FMB 'Golden Camelbak Bottle' ( yes, seriously ) on the line, 33 riders arrived from around the world to take on the updated course, here are some of their bikes:Watch the full event highlights here: