The new VO rad-machine: production dirt drop MTB!
 

I'm unnaturally excited about this. Please discuss:

The Velo ORANGE Blog: News, Updates, and a New Frame

Looks like some mighty wide tires.
I'm interested, and I like the color.

I like it, looks compelling. I'm curious to see the geometry numbers, though. That's a big stack of spacers under the stem.

Sure is... hope they release the geo soon.

It looks wonderful and all. But I guess a little purist in me says these belong in the realm of D.I.Y.




The raised stem is typical

Looks exactly like my 1996 Kona Lava Dome, with larger rims, discs and a tiny crank.

(That Lava Dome is a great bike, BTW, just wish it was my size.)

You mean typical of VO? I haven't looked much at their geometry in the past, but some brands definitely like a disproportionately short headtube for some reason (Surly, anyone? ). I haven't noticed bikes like the Fargo with a lot of spacers, but maybe I've overlooked it. I'm not a fan of a ton of steer tube above the headset and would prefer a longer headtube myself.

Sorry, it is typical with so many drop bar conversions to have the handle bar raised a fair amount.

Sorry but it doesn't even make me flinch. Too many hard angles...seat stays and fork just kill it for me and the massive amount of spacers just look goofy and kind of scary.

Oh yeah, for sure. The conversions I've seen do usually have that going on. It kills the aesthetics for me, unfortunately, so hopefully this VO frame doesn't require it to avoid huge saddle to bar drop.

So lots of braze ons fork, wishbone seat stay? Discs, room for fat tires, lugs and non unicrown fork. Doesn't excite me. I mean I like those features, but it doesn't make me keel over myself.

While we're complaining ;), it's weird that they don't have the top tube join the head tube higher up since they've already gone to a sloping top tube. It's one thing to need a tall stem on an MTB conversion because the geometry paints you into that corner, but...

OTOH, the massive thread in C&V indicates there is interest, and perhaps there is a rich market to be tapped. After all, it wasn't all that long ago that to get a fixed-gear bike, you either needed to find a track bike or to convert an old 60s/70s/80s road bike. Now, it's easy to just buy one anywhere.

Yeah. If it ends up being in some sort of awkward geometry middle ground where the head tube looks goofy because it's extended but at the same time it's not extended enough, then I don't think I'll be into it. It's hard to really judge the geometry from those few pictures though. Do we even know if it's 650B or 29er?

I'm guessing 29er because of the skinwall Maxxis Ardents. They make Ardents in 650b but I'm not sure they have the skinwall version.

Yup, I agree. Make the headtube longer and increase the slope on the top tube so it joins it higher. The extended headtube ala some years of the Salsa Casserole just looks odd, too.

It looks pretty darn close to a Surly Ogre to me with a slightly taller headtube.

Not a fan of the join of the seatstays - no problem with wishbone, just don't like the looks of theirs. Also rather disappointed in the sloping top tube. Guess I'm not their market.

I'm in agreement with the higher head tube camp. Riding an unsuspended dirt drop bike in the woods is punishing on the wrists. Add a copious amount of saddle to bar drop, and you are in for some pain. I see this as a step backward for sure. Riding a retro bike on the road can be a nice experience, on the mountain, not so much IMHO. I'm not sure what to make of it, other than to say it's probably not for me.

Gas and Diesel fuel is the cheapest in 5-6 years but FedEx and UPS are still raising shipping rates.

My VO Pass Hunter also has a tall stack of spacers. The geometry of the 55 cm model bike is about 53.5 cm ST and 55 cm TT, all measured CtC. For me, with short legs and long arms, this works well but I needed to use a bunch of spacers to get the rise I wanted.

I just ordered a 42cm Surly Straggler for my wife and at that size the headtube becomes a non-issue, so it works out well.

If I was going to get one, going by TT length, it would probably be a 54, which has a 56.5 ETT, 54 ST, and 107mm HT. That's close to Gaulzetti long and low geo numbers, but the Surly has a shorter HT! To avoid a giant spacer stack and get a reasonable ST and HT I'd need to move up to a 58, but that would have a too-long-for-me 59.5 ETT.

I'd buy one. If they make one tall enough that is...

SP
OC, OR

I'm less impressed than I expected to be.

I could never own a bike that has the skewers on backwards.....:)

The real key to this bike would have been sliding drop outs. You know, so you can go out with a sexy single speed.