Do let’s, dear reader, focus on the evenings getting longer, the weather getting warmer and the trails getting drier rather than the current cold snap and potential for snow, for spring is springing! Here’s what I’ve found in that back room of the internet bike shop this month!
Terra Bikes
Terra Bikes is a small outfit from Arezzo in Northern Italy, currently making a very nice looking steel trail 29er hardtail, the Codadura trail.
Its geometry is modern, if not suuuper progressive, (64.5° head angle, 75° seat angle, 425-475mm reach, 60mm BB drop and short 428mm chainstays) and can be built with a 140-170mm fork, if you were so inclined. One feature that did interest me though, is the finish, which is just clearcoated steel, meaning it will rust and become patina’d over time. Terra says this will not compromise the warranty, but if you like your frames to look shiny and new for years after buying this is NOT the frame for you…
If however you like your bikes to show you the abuse they’ve taken, prices are around £700. If you like the look but the Geo isn’t quite enduro enough for you, there’s an enduro version, which has a 63° head angle, 78° seat angle, and 480-510mm reach, and is available for preorder shortly.
Latest Singletrack Merch
Buying and wearing our sustainable merch is another great way to support Singletrack
If neither of those tickle your fancy, there is the ‘Serie Speciale’ Program, essentially a custom geometry service with seemingly no limit to what they can make, from gravel bikes to this 165-180mm 3D printed, high 4-bar pivot and idler, steel DH/superenduro beast, the Aria.
Give them a follow @terra.bikes or head to www.terrabikes.it, where you’ll also find details of this 110g (sub 100g with Ti hardware), 40mmx35mm stem.
Engin Cycles
Also players in the very nice stem game are Engin Cycles, a Philadelphia, USA, based bespoke Ti frame builder of both MTBs and Gravel machines which I’m not going to talk about, despite them being very lovely, because the order book is closed for the moment, due to it over flowing with orders for the $4,500 plus frames. Head here to see some of their work.
Anyway, stems. Engin’s have a more traditional look, or as traditional as MTB gets, whist still being bang up to date, with this 35mm clamp 32/40/50mm offering, available from around £100-£135 (at current rates, exc duty etc) for the Ti bolt version in lots of different shiny or understated colours.
There’s a seatclamp to match too, again traditional styling, but twin bolt to better spread the load on dropper posts, for around £35
Next up on their ‘classic styling, bang up to date’ product list is the Port Royal crank, named after the local gnarly hill in Philly, it has a very 90’s MTB look (might be the purple end caps…), but comes ready for direct mount chainrings, has a 30mm axle, and can be fitted to gravel or MTB frames. Available in 170mm, from April/May 2022 and 165 and 175mm options following in the summer. Weight is 530g for arms, axle and hardware, so while not heavy, they are more reassuringly weighty than some superlight carbon offerings. Similar price too at around £500, but this will fit the look of some bikes where carbon would look out of place.
Engin doesn’t just make old looking new stuff, they also make tools to make that stuff with, so if you’ve been on a frame building course and impressed everyone with your handiwork, and feel you could make a go of it building frames, Engin can hook you up with all you will need with The Process Fixture V2.
There are loads of custom options to tailor it to your ‘needs’, but this is either for the ultimate home workshop, or the pros, with estimates around the $10,000 mark to get you started. Now, where’s that Euromillions ticket?
Suba Cycles
On to a company who don’t make stems now, with Spanish family steel frame builders, Suba. Language fans will be excited to learn that this is a contraction of ‘Suba y Baja’ or ‘what goes up must come down’. This is wholly appropriate given they make frames to cover everything from trail to enduro, 120mm to 170mm travel, with off the peg options or full custom for an extra 210 Euros. There are tons of other options, from sliding dropouts for singlespeeders, to gearbox options, to welding extra tubes into the frame for the klunker look. What they all share though, is a very cool two tone paint scheme, which you can now feast your eyes on.
Pricing starts from around £1000 for a frame, then you just have to try and not go too crazy with the options list, which can be found at https://subacycles.com/mtb-gravel-steel-bikes/
And Finally
This month for the more out-there ideas I stumbled across a kickstarter for a new suspension linkage based around a URT rear end. Which you should take the time to go and read, if you want to see some ‘interesting’ prototyping. The only slight issues seem to be variable reach numbers while on the move, serious flex in the linkages, and that it didn’t make the funding target. It’s cool that designers are always thinking up new stuff though, even if they don’t go anywhere. Maybe one of the big brands will pick up the patent and the below rendering is a view into the future.
The explanatory video even includes a brief glimpse of a bike we’ve featured before on these pages, along with the quote ‘it does not need a complicated and inefficient idler to properly function’. Take that, bike industry.
Until next time, peace out.