The spiel:
So we here at Bantam Bicycle Works are officially announcing that we are going to be doing another run of adventurebikes. The first round took a little longer than we had expected, but things are all but wrapped up now and we are ready to start taking deposits for the next batch.
Round two will be slightly different than round one. The options will be slightly limited. While you will still be getting a frameset that is custom sized to fit your person (no stock anything at BBW!!!), and the tubing selection will again be tailored to each individual customer (of course), we are going to keep it to one wheel size (well two, but more on that later) and aesthetically they will all look very similar to the first batch.
The details:
Geometry and handling optimized for bikepacking, off-road touring, weekend rambles through National Forest lands, and other such pursuits. In other words, if you want to carry some stuff on your bike, not a whole lot of stuff, but enough to go do some light camping, wilderness exploration, and the like, this is the bike you want to own. (The geometry of a Bantam adventurebike is actually quite different than your typical MTB. Send us an email, we'd be happy to discuss it with you).
Each frameset will be custom sized to the customer.
TIG welded construction.
Clearance for 27.5x3.00" tires (will also handily fit 29x2.30" tires as well, see below)
Disc brakes, ISO mounts, front and rear. Lowmount disc dropouts in the back. Cable stops and guides for mechanical disc brakes as standard (see options, down below).
Spacing for a 100mm front hub and 135mm rear hub, standard quick releases.
Head tube and fork for a 1.125" threadless headset (straight steerer).
73mm threaded bottom bracket shell.
Segmented fork with Anything Cage mounts on both sides.
Shift cables run along the top tube, rear brake cable along the top of the down tube.
Bosses for three water bottle cages on the frame (two inside the main triangle, one under the down tube).
Will take a 30mm seat post clamp.
Single color powder coat (any color you'd like), with sprayed on decals and clear coat.
The options:
Housing guides for hydraulic brake lines (no extra charge).
Additional rack mounts, front and/or rear (no extra charge).
Metal head badge (+$50).
We can also do custom racks and stems (additional charge, depending on design).
Parts for your new bike. We are happy to provide you with a partial or full build kit for your bike at a reasonable cost (definitely an additional charge).
The tire size:
So for batch two we are going to limit the tire size for the entire run to one size, 27.5x3.00" (also know as 650b+, B+, or 27.5+). Why is this you may ask? For a couple of reasons:
1. This size tire seems to work well with both short and tall folks. And even all the sized folks in between tall and short. It's wide enough to provide good float and traction on all but loose sand and snow. Super smooth and comfortable riding on gravel and rough terrain.
2. It is interchangeable with the 29x2.30" wheel size. The outer diameter of the tires for the two sizes are nearly identical. If you want to run a different wheel size than either of these two, you are welcome to try it. But we are not going to take any responsibility for anything that might happen. 27.5+ tires and rims are increasing in popularity, and the availability is currently pretty good. The availability of 29x2.30" tires and rims is well more than adequate. In other words, you won't have a difficult time finding shoes for your new horse.
The how to buy one:
So the price of one of these framesets will put you back $1350. This is a little over the price of the last batch, but we've had a few increases in the costs of doing business and we've had to raise our prices to reflect that. If you want to get on board, we are taking deposits of $650 to get you into the batch. We'll be taking deposits until the end of March 2016 for this run of frames. We are currently looking at delivery by January 2017. Space is limited, due to our production capacity, so there are only going to be ten available spots in this batch.
Thanks, and we are looking forward to hearing from you.
Pics from the first batch here.
