shit, I’m still not seeing them. I might have picked a bad tool Could you drop them in a google doc or something? I don’t want to give you a ton of extra work to do
I love sharezone, they got the zeitgeist happening imo
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Bikes are meant to be ridden so it is important that a bike rides well. Bikes that ride well need to be comfortable and efficient. Marketing plays a big roll in how folks perceive a bike will perform for them when it comes to choosing what brand or frame material or components or what-have-yous. I think it’s important to be very objective when it comes to these choices. These are some of the things that are common to Monē Bikes.
Steel. All frame materials have strengths and weaknesses and all are hyped in some way or another. Steel is argued by many to be the king of comfort in the arena of frame materials. The high-end butted tubing used in Monē Bikes has been developed over many many years to be extremely strong and light. It is repairable, joined by a flame and easy to work with. I also personally think steel bikes are the prettiest out there, subjective, but if you don’t think so, I think you’re wrong.
Tires. Big tires. Pneumatic suspension. 3.0, 5.0, 44c…the fatties. On the road, dirt or in between, riding a bike with bigger tires is more comfortable. There is a fair amount of science behind the superior speed and handling of bigger tires at lower pressures but they simply feel and look good. After a few thousand miles of on and off road touring, big tires are key to my happiness on the bike. Not all stock bike frames fit larger sized tires, road or mountain. The bikes that will fit them are few and far between and often not exactly what you were looking for…enter Monē Bikes.
SS. Or not to Single Speed? Makes no difference. I will build a bike that best suits your needs. SS is a style choice. Durability? Get a rohloff. Cheap? Find some 8 speed XT stuff. Concerned about style. Better go SS. I do have to concede to clearer mind arguments, ‘my mind is clearest when riding SS’… and it isn’t thinking about how stylie my SS is. But seriously, it is the most fun I can have on a bike, albeit at a slight speed disadvantage to the geared folk but then I have en excuse for sucking and a reason to gloat when crushing.
Parts. I love building bikes around period component sets while mixing old and new. Lugs and thru axles? Yep. Downtube shifters and fat tires? Yes. Canti brakes on a 29er? Done deal. The things that used to work really well on bikes…still do.
oh, its got a 31.6 seattube as well.
Slaack and tukt…(w/respecatble F-C) HIgh BB plays nice with long forks and B+ or even 27.5 x 2.4’s. Get a long fork with big offset and you’ll be leaving your new super $7k squisher at home.
A tune-able short tukt rear end lets you employ a fairly wide range of chainstay lengths depending on your wheel choice. 27.5 x 2.5 minions will tuk right up to 413 mm if you run gears and slam it. Bump that number to a 420mm for your plussiest 29 plus tires. Mmmm plus.
Also offered with a 120 correct version of the El’s fork. Biplane, 2x anthing cages (4 total), fenders, low riders…bolt on the dream. Go bikepacking. LIVE!
All custom butted hardened 4130 tubing varying by size results in a frame weight of just over 5.5#. Science refers to it as…‘the sweet spot’.
Dive deep into that Geo table below…
Slack ST exit angles provide perfect tweener sizing…expanding top tube lengths with higher seat heights (a-la Jeff Jones one-size concept, except now with 4 sizes)
High BB and neutral ST angle allow for a massive number of fork choices. I want a Fox 49er bad…or maybe even that crazy short boost fork on the El w/ a setback seatpost. Dream Dreamer.
Raw brass fillets. Bi-plane, curved offset fork. Custom butted tubes. Short telescoping chainstays. This frame is a neo classic.
A drop bar, plus, dirt tourer, born on the Tour Divide… El Continente.
2 x anything cage mounts on the fork and 2 more on the frame, fender, low rider racks, discs…every mount you need with so few you don’t. It’s non-suspension corrected, with clearance to party. A true dirt drop miracle designed to take on a grocery run, or a run down the continental divide.
Imagination & Creation of your life quality
Human beings have lost a lot of things so far which cannot be regained completely. Nature and society remind us how much we still don’t know about this world we exist and we’ve noticed that the same issue is happening in our bicycle world.
In former days, there was a time when bicycles were locally built by hands and welded with carefully selected tubings and probably those bikes went to our own grandparents. After that, over the decades, Japan eventually became the most important place for bike manufacturing especially when people around the world started using bikes more recreationally.
Times are different now. A center of manufacturing is located in other countries while companies in Japan receive their ideas and products massively without any hesitation. Has the Japanese bicycle industry lost not only their production power but imagination as well?
We’ve realized that the reason is based on a lack of understanding through consumption. Radically, a quite different market could be seen here in Japan if we tapped into our roots: we should’ve made products by our own hands, increased lines on communication, used the knowledge that we did have, and accepted what we had too much and not.
Simworks has started taking an action to change the system against the trend of mass production. Our goal is to give our clients the highest quality of product! We think it is necessary in order to guide the next generation. This is what we stand for and this is our passion we’d like to share with you.
The Doppo mountain bike frame, developed as the third and latest in the Doppo series, was thoughtfully created with the intention of “going alone”.
SimWorks believes that the most important consideration of “going alone” is above all- trust. There’s the trust that your equipment will carry you as far as you wish to go and then back again. And there’s the trust that the details were ironed out to produce a machine that you can feel playful with and connected to.
How did we want the Doppo mountain bike to be used? What kind of people will trust Doppo to be a worthy companion? The conclusions drawn from these critical questions gave rise to a timeless design infused with some modern versatility and flare. First and foremost, the durability and reliability of the frame should provide ease of mind. Furthermore, the overall performance of the machine is a blend of characteristics meant to lend themselves to versatility in riding styles and environments. Simworks believes that by placing an equal emphasis on dependability and versatility, a more reliable and enjoyable Doppo bike would be created.
The main tubing of the Doppo MTB uses the world-famous Tange high-quality chromoly steel tube set-similar to our Doppo ATB. Emphasizing front end rigidity, the 44mm head tube provides a modern MTB standard for equipping the bike with either the included rigid Tange fork, or your favorite suspension fork. Doppo MTB frame is equipped with an original disc mounting system with a unique shape providing for easy adjustments for owners and service people.
Specified with a 73mm JIS threaded bottom bracket shell and 148x12 rear Boost TA spacing, in addition to a 110mm Boost-spaced fork provide the bike with a stable pedaling platform and an axle spacing that lends itself to strong wheels accommodating wider footprint tires. In addition, 2 standard bottle cage mounts on the frame and an additional 3-hole on the underside of the down tube allow installation of an oversized bottle or cargo cage, etc. A port for an internally routed dropper post adds to the trail-ready credentials.
The original fork produced by Tange is especially designed in concert with current bikepacking/trail standards. Drilled for a diving-board plate and with dual 3-pack bottle boss mounts that you could piggy-back rack struts to, the fork will accommodate a compact front rack with ease. The Chromoly fork is at home with the on/off roads that inevitably occur during your usual exploration ride. No one is going to tell you not to mount a basket to the front end and aimlessly wander from town to the forest.
When you want to enjoy a more enjoyable trail ride in Satoyama, or Coyote Wall, Simworks believes that most cyclists will prefer the use of a suspension fork. Of course, the Doppo MTB is designed with the option to equip the front end with moderate suspension.
By installing a fork with approximately 120mm of travel, you can use it as a plush trail bike. In conjunction with a slightly longer wheelbase and capacity for 27.5 tires up to 2.8”- the Doppo MTB oozes stability and mild trail manners. Swapping between rigid and suspension minimally impacts the bike’s geometry.
As with the beloved Doppo ATB frame, the new MTB frames are produced by Shin Hattori, an accomplished builder based in Aichi prefecture. Shin has demonstrated his skill and care in each of these frames.
Built in small batch runs- each frame is mitered, milled and welded methodically, and then hand-finished to tight tolerances.
A well-designed frame crafted by an experienced and thoughtful frame builder can be the greatest companion when facing the task of “going alone”- whether in the mountains or on forgotten roads.
Born as a trail bike, the Doppo MTB is not a bike that pursues outstanding speed and intense action, but as a spirited mountain bike- to embody the concept of the Doppo series, “to go alone”, the Doppo MTB is a tool for exploration- both within yourself and in the natural world.
The concepts inherent to the original mountain bikes still provide the foundation for a bike that can go anywhere with your own will and courage, whether or not there is a road, and it makes us always dream of the next adventure.
The experiences that we seek- facing nature at our own pace, pushing over the rut, setting a cadence to match our breath. To hear the sounds and voices of plants and creatures, to bathe in the forest and mountains and the river valley. This Doppo mountain bike was born as your favorite trusted companion
Meaning of Doppo
Going alone.
Working on something independently.
Nothing equal and superior to everything.
This All Terrain Bike frame called “Doppo” was produced and designed to specialize durability of ‘exploring alone’. A basic structure which is optimized in modern tourer style allows large loading capacity and stable ride. Its amazing tire clearance will satisfy your playful demands in any situations regardless of being on and off-road.
This frame is produced by Shin Hattori, a young and energetic frame builder living in Aichi prefecture. Each pipe is welded with the best heat and finished.
Moreover, in order to respond to a variety of options, multipurpose chromoly fork with enough eyelets is coming together. The eyelets hidden underneath of crowns enable to equip a fender perfectly and much easier. This incredible multipurpose fork is produced by world famous TANGE.
We believe in that Doppo will be your best partner who allows you to play and go alone to the nature to seek great joy.
The R-Buckle is a fat bike that rather sadly never made it to production but is still worthy of being shown. The idea was to build an aggressive trail shredder that utilised the benefits of fat rubber for their increased capability rather than build yet another snow chugging slowcoach. It’s a heavy bike, but set up with a 120mm Bluto and 4" tyres, this thing rips like no other. The steering is super-quick, you can place it anywhere on the trail and the big rubber, plush forks and progressive geometry means it’ll carry you through and over and down anything, its like a ruddy great ‘Get out of Jail Free’ card in bicycle form and is completely rad.
I make no apologies for this build. It happened in the winter when I wanted a bike to ride the roads on, dreaming also of the Mythical World Tour I’m adamant I’ll do one day. The Stooge has a tall front end that’s well suited to drop bars and it just begged to built, it was either that or buy a road bike! A 17 degree rise stem with 46cm Salsa Woodchipper bars, bar-end shifters (9 speed for extended durability) and my trusted Brooks saddle make this bike. The rear rack overcomes the lack of frame eyelets by mounting to the rear axle and is a work of genius for anyone thinking of racking up their MTB. Tyres are Schwalbe Big Apples in 29 x 2.3. The finished build ended up being supremely comfortable and genuinely fast, a bike that I can ride mile after without ever getting fatigued. The multiple hand positions of the drop bars are a godsend on longer rides and big climbs, and also incredibly capable off-road. The DDT is an experiment that ended up exceeding all expectations, all I need now is the time for the Mythical World Tour.
Here’s the Speedball Ti. Borne of a fevered dream about Klunkers and general madness, this beast rides like a dream, and rides light too, the full build weighing in a 26lbs, not bad for a 29+ bike. Featuring a Shimano XT 1x11 groupset, WTB Scraper rims and hope hubs, this, for me, is the ultimate adventure bike; the handling is completely neutral, think about where you want to head on the trail and it’ll read your thoughts and take you there, and boy is it comfortable too.
I built this bike to a really low budget, the idea being to build a simple woodland hack with one eye on the single-speed champs at the end of the summer. I also decided to give B+ a try as it was still in its infancy, settling on a 2.8 tyre out back and a 3.25 up front to preserve the Stooge geometry. Interestingly, the rims were only 28mm wide and yet they worked a treat with the big tyres. The chainset was an old Bontrager single-speed unit with 180 arms, just like in my old BMX days. It’s amazing what you can find in the bargain bin! The bars here are Motocross bars clamped to a Thomson BMX stem, 810 wide with a 20 degree sweep they’re pure rock and roll. Turns out expensive isn’t always best, this bike was an absolute maniac and the one I ended up using the most in the summer of 2015. Overall weight was 26lbs, not bad for a bruiser.
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26 lbs really isn’t that bad at all.
i read a few paragraphs in and just started speed scrolling and noticed how long i had left and how this was the last post. well done.
wait is that real copy? i thought you used banjo’s neural network to write that
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It’s stuff from Mone, Simworks, and Stooge with paragraph spacing removed but otherwise not scrambled or anything.
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fuck.
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This is going to result in some interesting Google search results
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Yeah turns out bsnyc has some wack views. Don’t miss his “open up America COVID is a hoax” pieces.
@EndpointBraden as much as we dunk on this it is still people having fun with bikes and not whatever specialized designed 24 months ago for this spring.
@jimmythefly tldr
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TIL bsnyc still exists
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Exactly. I don’t REALLY care what you ride. Just have fun doing it. But your bike probably sucks and we have a team of experts working round the clock to prove it.
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yeah, I dropped BSNYC from my rss reader. He went from “bleh covid parenting is a LOT!” to “reopen now!” and then topped it off with some “has cancel culture gone too far?!?” stuff, and honestly, there are a lot of places to get right wing crank opinion pieces already, I don’t need them from a bike blogger.
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bsnyc was never as good once he was a real person and not a persona.
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I had dinner with BSNYC AMA
(In 2012 I think?)
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I produced the Rip Torn APPROVE graphic.
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Everyone with a blog is probably a sociopath.
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I think it’s unavoidable that discussions like these are going to mean that some people have takes like this while they write out their thoughts in real time. I’m not going to lie and say I haven’t considered these things in my brain when I am so sick of covid lockdown and I read it’s going to be another year. Or questioning “cancel culture”. Luckily I’m working it out and deciding in private in my own brain and not on a highly public blog.
Some people have more exposure than discretion. I stopped reading bike snob because he’s a broken record. So boring.
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big brain shit right here
How does the bull thistle cost 3800 for frame and fork, especially when the others shown here cost less??? Might as well just get a custom frame at that point?
The Bull Thistle is made in the US in a one man workshop, one at a time, not on a production run. It features lugs, brazing, custom CNC short run fork crown, custom post mounts for the brakes, custom bent seat tube, and stays, and a paint job from Hot Tubes, custom to the customer spec, that runs about 1k just for the paint. The other bikes are made on production lines with custom made jigs in a factory designed to make quality frames as efficiently as possible. It should be 4800, if we wanted to make any money. At 3800 we just barely break even.
lol at calling your one-off frame a “model”
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I’m always a little amused when people use “custom” in this sense. Like, it’s not custom for me, is it?