|   New bikes - steel hardtails | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:38 AM | | I just had to post pics of the new bikes I just built up for myself and my wife. Sorry, the picture quality isn't that good.
This one is mine - a Soma Groove steel hardtail frame with a Marzocchi Xfly80 fork, LX/XT 8-speed build, Race Face Turbine cranks, Chris King headset, & Syncros hardcore seatpost.
A lot of the parts came off of my Cannondale M400 rigid commuter/trail maintenace bike, which I rebuilt as a city bike for my brother-in-law.
I did everything myself, except for having the headtubes of the steel frames reamed & faced for the CK headsets, which the LBS also installed for us.
The 2 steel hardtails are going to be our back-up bikes - Our "regular" bikes are a 2001 Santa Cruz Superlight (mine), and a 2001 Titus Racer X (my wife's). |
| My wife's bike | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:40 AM | | This one is my wife's bike - Soma Groove steel hardtail frame with a Marzocchi Xfly80 fork, full XT 8-speed build, Race Face Turbine cranks, Chris King headset, Syncros low-rise handlebar & USE SX suspension seatpost. |
| Where the parts came from | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:42 AM | | I stripped down our old hardtails. This is what my wife had - a 1995 Specialized stumpjumper M2FS with an AMP Research F-3XC fork. |
| Here's what her old bike looks like now | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:43 AM | | Rebuilt as a city-bike... |
| Here's what our house looked like! | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:44 AM | | Seven bikes... crazy! |
| they're breeding in there.nm | phishin
Aug 12, 2002 10:08 AM | | nm |
| Somebody likes black frames! | The Weasel
Aug 12, 2002 10:14 AM | | Good luck. What is your opinion of the Soma frames. They look like a good deal. |
| The 2 new bikes together... | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:47 AM | | Yes, I'm quite a bit taller than my wife! |
| Disaster zone - my work area | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 9:51 AM | | Note the all-important rubber chicken in the upper right, and no workstand is complete without a drink holder!
JMJ |
| The scoop | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 10:23 AM | | These are both our first steel hardtails - I've owned 3 hardtails prior to this, and all were aluminum or metal matrix. When my wife & I took them out for the inaugural ride, we were very impressed with the smoothness of the ride. I had heard about the resilience & "forgiving" ride of frames, but I wasn't prepared for how smooth the ride felt for a hardtail.
We bought the 2 frames, 1 wheelset, & a smattering of parts from JensonUSA, Xfly forks came from Supergo, CK headsets from Speedgoat. The city-bikes were rebuilt with Alivio & STX-level parts from Nashbar (mostly). The only real glitch was that I bought a CPI crankset from a guy in Montana, and he stiffed me. I ended up having to buy a crankset from Universal Cycles. The guy in Montana has STILL not returned my money or sent anything (see my post on the bad trader board).
Anyway, nice frames, great price, nice ride, cool stealth look... gotta love it!
'nuff said - JMJ |
| Please post a review of the bike..... | Tommy
Aug 12, 2002 10:39 AM | | I was interested in that frame but looking at thier website it looked like it was designed as more of a casual / "railtrail" bike. Yours looks like it is singletrack-worthy. Please let us know what your thoughts are after a coupe good rides.
Good Luck,
Tom |
| Soma Groove review | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 11:07 AM | | I finished building the bikes on July 24th and I've had 5 rides on mine so far. The trails we ride are eastern singletrack, mostly narrow, lots of roots, some sand, some rocks, log crossings.
Here's my review...
Build: 2001 black 21" Soma Groove steel hardtail frame (Reynolds air-hardened 631 butted tubing on front triangle, butted cromoly on the rear), 2001 Marzocchi Xfly80 air/oil fork, XT shifters, bottom bracket, hubs, & front derailleur, LX rear derailleur & V-brakes, SRAM cassette & chain, Race Face Turbine LP crankset (22/32/44, 180mm arms), Syncros hardcore seatpost, Kore forged stem, Sun/Ringle low-rise aluminum handlebar, Mavic 221 rims, WTB Primal Raptor tires, Oury grips.
Build comments: installed custom-machined aluminum cable stops in top tube brake housing guides, applied protective film to downtube and rear section of drive-side chainstay behind neoprene protector, derailleur cables installed "cross-over-style" (housings cross in front of headtube, cables cross back under downtube), colour scheme is black & silver.
Riding: this is my first steel mountain bike, and I was favorably surprised by the ride small roots and bumps were handily absorbed by the frame, almost like a short-travel full suspension bike set-up soft (but without the bouncing). The bike did not seem whippy or squirmy on corners or during all-out climbing sprints. The ride seemed balanced and perfect for tight singletrack. No handling surprises - stable and predictable.
Likes: very good price for the frame, very good fabrication quality, very nice ride forgiving & resilient, nice looking silver graphics & gloss black paint, seat-tube is not an odd-ball size, so it fits my 27.2mm post, integrated seat-tube clamp/bolt, derailleur cable housing stops are on the headtube (not downtube) so there are no housing rub problems, weight of the frame is very good considering the price, frame was well packed by Soma (came from the retailer in the original Soma box), drain-holes on seatstays & chainstays, rack & fender mounts.
Dislikes: headtube required reaming and facing prior to headset installation, rear brake housing guides (not stops) on top tube, paint seems to chip easily (drive-side chainstay), some minor front derailleur rub (could be BB flex or just front derailleur set-up).
About Soma: I contacted them regarding BB sizing and frame weights. They responded in a reasonable amount of time, but I'm not sure if anyone technically-minded is at hand all the time. I think I spoke with a salesperson there once. Their website is a little sparse on information.
Why Soma?: I was impressed by the price, and that they used to make frames for Breezer. I was very impressed when I opened the box and checked out the frames for the first time. The frames are not ultra-light (4.2 - 4.45lb) but they are well made and nicely detailed.
Conclusion: A nice riding, singletrack-worthy frame with small-builder quality without the hefty small-builder price.
JMJ |
| Thanks! | Steve-O
Aug 12, 2002 11:11 AM | | I've been curious about these frames for a while now. The price is right, just the lack of info has been holding me back... Thanks for the feedback!
BTW... How about the overall construction - Weld quality, paint, etc. |
| Overall quality is very good. | Birdman
Aug 12, 2002 11:27 AM | | The paintwork and graphics are well done. The welds looked neat and clean. I had to touch up one or two chips (my fault, not theirs) and my SAAB gloss-black touch-up paint worked like a charm. For the price that Jenson is selling these frames, I really can't complain about anything (other than the headtube prep). The copper-coloured frames look pretty nice too.
And you probably won't see another one on your local trails!
JMJ
PS - if you order the frame & need some rear brake housing stops, let me know - I made some spares (steel though, not aluminum). |
| thot you n she was gonna SS? | red-haze
Aug 12, 2002 4:28 PM | | those steel frames'd be perfect!
even tho you had to put gears on em, nice bikes. n how much ya want for the rubber chicken?
bob |
| The rubber chicken is NOT FOR SALE! | Birdman
Aug 13, 2002 4:27 AM | | Well, we did have almost-complete drivetrains for both bikes, so building them up as gearies seemed the wisest choice. Now, if Michele happens to taco a rear wheel, I might be convinced to give her mine, maybe buy a SS rear wheel and convert mine.
But for now - gears, but only 24!
Thanks for checkin' 'em out - JMJ |
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