We were on day two of the REVEAL media summit a month ago when State Bicycle announced their first geared all-road/gravel rig, the 4130. At $799 complete, we quickly pushed the story out only to find out we weren’t supposed to tell anyone… but not anymore. It’s official.
Named after its frame material 4130 steel that’s pretty much made to be abused, the thru-axle, externally cabled steed comes stocked with State’s own branded 1×11 drivetrain with a 40t ring up front plus a SunRace 11-42 cassette out back. Stopping duties are handled with dual mechanical disc brakes and an aluminum cockpit with a flared drop bar.
Since it’s made for adventures, there are plenty of mounting points for accessories and fenders on the frame and on the steel fork. There will be a choice of 700c (with smooth thread Panaracer 35c Gravel king) or 650b (with knobby Panaracer 1.9″ GravelKing SK tires) wheel options to choose from. Having said that, it’s totally cool if you want to have both wheel sizes too, as States will include the second set, along with cassette, rotors, tubes and tires installed and ready to go for $349. A pretty sweet deal if you ask me.
In addition, the fork can be customized as well. The 4130 comes standard with a matching steel fork with multiple mounting points, but there will be optional upgrades for the $249 lighter carbon “race” fork with 1.9″ max clearance with no mounting points, or a $289 carbon “monster” fork, shown above, with 2.3″ max clearance with mounting points.
The 4130 is available now in Sonoran Tan or Pigeon Gray in four sizes to fit riders from 5’1″ to 6’4″. Stay tuned for an in depth review!
You may know Mosaic as a boutique titanium framebuilder, but the Boulder-based company also happens to make really, really sweet steel frames for those who prefer that unmistakable ride of a well-crafted steel bike. Hello, Mosaic RS-1.
So what’s so special about the RS-1? First, the lead-time is six weeks. That’s ridiculously impressive considering each frame comes with rider specific geometry and matching Columbus Spirit HSS steel tubes for a tuned ride.
But the individualization obviously doesn’t stop there. Available in both caliper and disc brake variants, the RS-1 can be painted in your choices from Mosaic layouts and 45 stock colors, all done by their in-house paint shop Spectrum Paint & Powderworks.
In addition, each frame can be tailored for mechanical/ Di2/ EPS/ eTap shifting. Also included is a tapered Chris King DropSet Headset and a braze-one from derailleur mount. There’s even a choice of 68mm english-thread or a PF30 68mm bottom bracket to choose from. The seat post diameter is at a fixed 27.2mm.
In addition, each frame can be tailored for mechanical/ Di2/ EPS/ eTap shifting. Also included is a tapered Chris King DropSet Headset and a braze-on front derailleur mount. There’s even a choice of 68mm english-thread or a PF30 68mm bottom bracket. The seat post diameter is at a fixed 27.2mm.
Other small details worth noting are star-shaped cable port/bottle boss reinforcements and an integrated derailleur hanger.
For the caliper brake-equipped frames, the RS-1 will be spec’d with QR front and rear, 28mm tire clearance and an ENVE carbon road fork.
Meanwhile, the disc-version, the RS-1d will come with front (142×12) and rear (100×12) thru-axles, flat-mount brakes front and rear, 30mm of tire clearance, and a carbon Columbus Futura Disc fork.
The RS-1/RS1d are available to order today for $6,000 per frameset.
I was all ready to photograph this wooden bike at the Cal Poly Bike Builders booth when I saw this small-tubed downhill rig chilling front and center. We at Element.ly don’t cover much downhill but a downhill bike is also not a common sight at NAHBS, either. So I decided to take a look.
Hello.
Cal Poly Bike Builders is a mechanical engineering club out of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, an uber-competitive public university known for its excellent engineering program that happens to be surrounded with plenty of good riding. I know this well because I really wanted to attend that school.
Besides the main show that is the frame, the student-run club manufactures much of the bike including the brakes’ master cylinders, levers, as well as this very nice sounding bell. Plenty of safety wire was used from tying down cables
According to Chris Fedor, the club’s vice president and a 4th year mechanical engineering major, this downhill rig, named D.A.V.E for Downhill Assault Vehicle Extraordinaire, was conceived one week after the 2018 NAHBS.
… to the main suspension pivot
With about 3,000 man-hours of work done by as many as 25 members of the club to manufacture much of the bike from scratch including the use of 3D modeling, FEA, running the CNC machines, and brazing the steel frame together at the fabrication facilities on campus that would make some full-time builders very jealous.
Suspension is handled by a Öhlins coil shock and DH fork..
Needless to say, D.A.V.E is one hell of a student project. The bike has yet to see any trail action, per the members’ agreement of not riding the show bike before NAHBS, but perhaps the lead welder will get first dibs? There’s also rumored to be a long waiting list.
Member-made direct mount stem and a CP (Cal Poly) headset stem cap Yup, they CNC’d their own platform pedals too.
I met Bice Bicycles’ founder (and only employee) Dario Colombo a few years back, on a bike-packing trip from Venice to Turin. He showed up with a big smile and an old Pedersen, a peculiar Scandinavian rig with a cantilevered frame and a hammock-style saddle, complete with a set of modern pannier bags. It made a good first impression.
As we rode along the banks of the Po river, he talked enthusiastically about his business building steel frames, getting away from the homogeneity of the modern bike market by making products that would last and that could be tailored to each rider’s ability and needs. This also made a positive impression. When we got home, I promised, we’d talk some more. So this chat is long overdue.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Like a dating profile? My name’s Dario, I’m a nice guy, handsome, hard-working, a generous lover [laughing] … Before becoming a frame-builder, I worked as an electronic engineer for Siemens, and as an environmental engineer, working on the development of cycling in the city of Milan. I also worked at a biomechanics lab specialising in sports, and as a teacher on sustainability and smart cities, when I opened four cycling workshops around Milan to help young people repair their own bikes, have some fun, and maybe discover a future career.
Aside from the work, I suppose people would call me a Xennial, I’m still young, but old enough to remember rewinding my cassette tapes with a pen. I’ll happily drink beer but I prefer wine, in my part of Italy we say “La birra fa pisciar, il vino fa cantar,” – Beer makes you piss and wine makes you sing. I prefer mountain climbing to sunbathing and beaches, and I love music and cycling, obviously. If you made me choose between a concert and a bike, I’d tell you that I was riding to the gig. I actually did it last year when Dub FX played in Sestri Levante, on the Ligurian coast, I think it was more than 2,000 metres of climbing over about 220 kilometres.
When did you get into bikes?
Let’s say that before 2007, I wasn’t a cyclist. I went for a ride every so often, but nothing special. That June I went on a cycling trip to Provence with eight people and it changed my way of seeing the bicycle. From then on I started to bike-pack and to use it constantly for commuting and fun. I never had any grand delusions – if you saw my Strava you’d know what I mean – and I’ve always just seen the bike as something to have fun with and as a means of transport. I’m a committed singlespeeder, but at the same time, I don’t dislike innovations like e-bikes, especially not when you’re talking about something like a cargobike.
Why did you start making frames?
It was a gradual thing. Aside from my professional experiences, it began as an experiment, I just wanted to be a part of the bike world. My previous jobs were all positive experiences, but none of them really felt right for me. And I’ve always enjoyed creating things from scratch – but never to assemble them – and I liked bikes. It seemed like an obvious fit.
I started out modifying an old Leri frame, turning it from road to pursuit, changing the geometry and the rear end. The funny thing was that, even if it was a game to me then, before beginning that frame, I built a rig that I continued to use for three years. That first one was finished on Christmas eve, 2011, it was snowing and as is the tradition around my home town, there was a guy dressed as Santa doing the rounds, handing out presents. Meanwhile, I was flying around on my homemade track bike, it was such a weird beginning that I felt like it could only be a good omen!
What was the hardest thing about starting out?
Learning everything from scratch, self-taught, and above all, learning from my (many) mistakes, without letting them discourage me. In Italy, old frame-builders don’t have the money or the time to invest in young people, to pass on their skills and knowledge – even though a lot of them want to. So I wasn’t able to learn as a proper apprentice, and I could only get the knowledge by asking questions, listening, and watching. I came home several times after a day spent by with a frame-builder, only to completely change the whole workshop and machinery – as well as my mental modus operandi.
Another big difficulty is knowing the value of a firm “NO”. Involving the customer in the building process is an great experience for both parties, but it needs well-defined limitations if I’m to enjoy my work and they’re to get the best possible end product. But it’s a work in progress – I’m always learning!
Have you changed a lot?
So much. Every encounter with a frame-builder corresponded to a lesson in technique and in life. How to point a chassis, what type of welding alloys to use, how to TIG weld, how to set up the workshop to optimise my space, how to approach customers.
Not to mention the type of frames: at the beginning I didn’t even have a real price list, but now I’ve got a series of models that I’ve developed based on my experiences. I started with 29er frames and then moved on to touring, CX and most recently to the gravel and bike-packing scenes. Roughly, that corresponds to my personal cycling life.
One thing hasn’t changed: my desire to adapt and improve. Experimenting with new techniques and new tubing, for example, is an everyday thing for me, but it has nothing to do with market demand or programmed obsolescence. It just reflects my desire to keep moving and getting better.
Who buys a Bice?
The average customer is somewhere between 30 and 45, they generally have a lot of cycling experience, and are fed up with the modern “disposable” world. They don’t mind waiting four months for a truly custom frame. What’s the difference between that and one off the shelf? Well, you know who made it. You know it’s real.
Cycling has changed so much in recent years. Where do you see it going from here?
The modern bike industry is a child of our times: there is such a huge supply of products and a lot of the history, emotions, and memories, are being annihilated by increasingly heavy marketing campaigns. A year or two on from the presentation of a new model and it’s already “old.” Just one financial mistake, a speculative move made on the other side of the world, and a historic brand disappears. But I think a lot of people want to distance themselves from all that. I certainly do.
