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To offset the doom-and-gloom of recent months, I've been collecting parts to build my long-distance MTB. I had vague plans to ride the HT550, lots of Divides and maybe even to Nordkapp. Not sure these will ever happen now but so what? I've enjoyed building it; love looking at it... and it rides brilliantly. Only one ride in but it feels so much better than my MK2 Solaris that it sort of replaces: climbing, smoothing chatter, everything.
The quality of the Mason Raw frame is stunning. The welds and alignment are perfect. It's the first bike I've ever handled that didn't need its derailleur hanger re-aligning from new. Made and painted in Scotland. Mason were great to deal with too.
Mason Raw (large)
SID Ultimates
XO drivetrain
SRAM G2 brakes (bought Tech 4's bought they didn't look right)
OneUp
Ritchie Coyote handlebars
Looks very refined.
Is it similar geometry to your old Solaris? Steeper seat tube giving easier climbing?
bought Tech 4’s bought they didn’t look right
How can a brake not look right?
Looks great does that. In a sea of carbon and/or fugly e-bikes, a steel hardtail is still something that will stop me in my tracks. One question, does the internal routing not open up loads of opportunities for water to get inside a steel frame and cause problems? I guess the inside of the tubes get some kind of treatment but do you potentially still get water sat in the frame???
Geometry:
Slacker head and steeper seat angles (two to three degrees). Similar effective top tube and stack, but much longer reach. Shorter chain stays.
Brakes not looking right:
Just too bulky at the caliper end. No worries though, they look perfect on my Tallboy 🙂
Water ingress:
It's reasonably well sealed, however the frame is very well thought out... It has a stainless steel bb shell, a drainage hole, plus it's "ED" coated 👍
How did it handle the descent down to Rowarth? 😀
High five 😄
I didn't this time... I continued towards Lantern Pike, Picking Rods, and down through Ethrow 🙂
Marple local btw
How can a brake not look right?
Hope brakes a bit blingy. You don't want anything too blingy distracting from a lovely frame like that IMO.
Beautiful ... 🙂
Have a Bokeh that I love and will be replacing an aged Tinbred with one of these 🙂
Nice one Stanley. It’s a stunning bike. I have a Definition to keep my mtb fitness ticking over when I’m short of time. Really nice finish.
I’ll be sure to wave if I see you (grew up in Marple, often tie an mtb ride that way with a welfare check on the olds)
Enjoy it!
Lovely bike, but personally I can’t get past bent seat stays on any bike
I'm in that camp too, but who cares what I think? If you like it, you like it. Nice colour as well.
Lovely looking bike! Right up my street 🙂
Boring question... what mudguard are you running bolted on to your SID?
Very nice bike. The bent seatstays are mainly to give room for a post mount brake caliper within the rear triangle/ on the chainstay.
You can achieve the same thing with a dropped chainstay or funny shaped dropouts but they aren't any prettier.
Boring question… what mudguard are you running bolted on to your SID?
I thought the SID bolt on mudguard was a bit pathetic. That's a Mudhugger FXR on there 👍
I’ve found the SiD mudguard great. Just taken the fork off and gone back to Fox though.
Anyway, lovely looking and built bike that. A keeper.
That looks amazing 🙂
I liked it so much I looked up the price of a frame and then rapidly closed the browser window. 😜
That is one classy looking frame! Love the colour.
I can’t get past bent seat stays on any bike
That’s what proved the weak point on two Solaris Max frames for me.
I do like looking at nice bikes made with nice touches (eg; the route the rear brake hose takes, just nicely done to avoid frame rub).
Something pure about hardtails even though I get backache just thinking about them.
But. That colour. Given I'm balls deep into chipping all our render off before I repair the horrors previously hidden before we spend a lot of money having it all rendered again I didn't need my wife to see your bike and start talking about painting the windows and doors in that colour. Looks lovely on your bike, not sure about on our house!
That is veeeeery nice
Very, very lovely.
But then I would say that as I have a Mason Exposure on order, delivery June and I just cannot wait. Except of course, I'll have to. Same colour, also steel - what else is there really??
Not really a fan of steel frames, post mounts between stays or green bikes but that's kinda nice with well thought out routing, often overlooked and an afterthought to some frame makers.
Very nice. I love steel frames, even bendy seat stays. Rather than ask, I'll check out the geometry Vs Solaris. I would like to n-1 with something like this but it's needs to maintain the playfulness of my Soul, which I think is unlikely in a 29er.... Or ?
What's the front fender?
I might be biased as I’m lucky enough to own a Bokeh but that is an absolutely lovely bike.
You're right, that is steel and lovely!