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| From Domahidy Designs Facebook page |
Steve Domahidy may not be a name you are familiar with, but he has been a big influence on cycling since around 2004 when he and then partner, Chris Sugai, started Niner Bikes, a 29"er only bicycle company back when 29"ers were still in their infancy.
After leaving Niner in 2011, Steve went on to design bicycles for Factor bikes, his own Domahidy Designs, and now with Viral Bikes. He has also been a part of working on several other products behind the scenes that you might be familiar with. In other words, he's had his hands in many products and ground-breaking designs over the last 20 years.
His latest creation is an adventure bike running a Pinion gearbox which is electronically shifted using TRP's Hywire shifting. One of the perceived drawbacks to gearbox and internal geared hub shifting is that you could not shift while applying pedal pressure. But now you can with this system, making it much more easily adapted to by any rider.
Beyond the image and the few details shared in the Facebook post, I don't have any more information on this bike. Stay tuned for more, hopefully soon....
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| Image courtesy of Ritchey Design |
An Unusual Fork:
The first generation Fargo had a very unusual design and a lot of that had to do with the front end geometry. One of the details that concerned me was that the fork was a very unusual beast. It was short, for a 29"er fork, and it had a LOT of offset.
Early on, this was no big deal as long as Salsa Cycles had replacements in case of a crash, but those forks have been out of production for years now. If I ever had a bad boo-boo with my Gen I Fargo and managed to screw up the fork, I figured I'd have to score a custom replacement to preserve the geometry.
Well, I came across this Ritchey Design fork the other day and taking a closer look, it would do pretty well as a Fargo Gen I replacement fork, the only thing being it is a Boost spaced fork. (110mm) Otherwise it is very close in specifications having a 435mm axle to crown height and a 52mm offset.
Yeah, you'd have to lace up a new front wheel, or buy one that is compatible with a through axle and Boost spacing, but at least THAT isn't like looking for a needle in a haystack, like the fork would be. Something to think about if you are a Fargo Gen I owner.
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| Esker's Hayduke in Saguaro/Desert Fade (Courtesy of Esker) |
New Colors And Finishes:
In these times of high inventory and low sales it sometimes takes a little "kick" in the pants to motivate a sale. This takes the form of "refreshes"for many brands. In the bicycle business, this can be as simple as changing the color or finish of a frame.
Let's face it, how your bicycle looks maters, and if you get jazzed by a new color or finish, you just might decide to dig out that plastic key to your bank account and part with some hard earned credit, or go a bit more into debt, depending on your circumstances.
Esker has spiffed up both of their hardtail models, the Japhy and the Hayduke, with three new hues for each. The Saguaro/Desert Fade is particularly stunning but the sparkly Unicorn might just be my personal favorite here.
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| Moots new "Groundswell" anodized finish (Image courtesy of Moots) |
Moots has also done up their range with a new option called "Groundswell" which is actually an anodized finish. This new scheme can be had as an option on any of Moots' bikes.
Titanium has the ability to be anodized or painted, so you can get a lot of different effects on titanium that are not choices for a steel or carbon frame. Plus, you get the durability of titanium. And of course, you can run with no finish at all which is the most utilitarian, and probably most popular, way to go with titanium.
Anodized titanium has been around, but as an option for a frame, it is more rare. remember those Union anodized titanium spokes/ I think those may have been my first notice of anything anodized in titanium which would have been in the mid-90's. These days I kind of gravitate to what Chumba Bikes is doing in the realm of anodized titanium frames myself, but maybe that's just me.
Iconic British brand Orange has asked to enter into "administration". That may be a foreign term for a lot of us outside the U.K. What it means is that Orange is asking for protection from creditors and to possibly be saved from going out of business. Kind of like "bankruptcy protection" here, but different... Anyway.
My blogging comrades from across the pond, "Muddymoles", have a great explainer story that you can read HERE. It's a sad tale because Orange Bikes has such a deep and intertwined history in mountain biking in the U.K. We really don't have anything analogous to Orange here anymore. You might say the absorption of the Fisher brand into Trek, or the buying of the Salsa Cycles brand by QBP back in the 1990's is similar. I gather that it is as if a part of mountain biking would die in the U.K. if Orange Bikes cannot see things through.
From my viewpoint it is a cautionary tale because we could be seeing mid-tier brands falling prey to a similar fate here. 2024 will mark the end of some things, I think, unless sales and the economy take a big upswing, in which case I would be wrong. But we're in an election year here, and typically that doesn't bode well for a return of a robust economy. So, we'll see.
Best of luck to Orange in the future!
That's a wrap on this week! Thanks for reading Guitar Ted Productions!
I sincerely hope Orange can find a way to keep going. They’ve been a pillar of UK mountain biking from pretty much the beginning, but you’re right, it could simply be the first of many mid-size brands dropping away as the market muddles through its post-COVID morass.
ReplyDeleteHi Mark, thanks for the name check for the Muddymoles, I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteOrange Bikes is quite an institution in MTB in the UK, very distinctive complex folded aluminium builds but remarkably simple and refined single pivot tech. Masses of mud clearance (we need mud clearance!) and cheap to service.
But, expensive to buy as they are made in the UK (apart from some of their cheaper hardtails). Even so, it's quite a shock to us to find they are struggling. I suspect many more shocks to come unfortunately.
I think partly they suffer from the problem MTB has in general, on top of the general downturn - not a lot of new riders attracted to the MTB sport, so not a lot of new customers. And their marketing is weak, relying on old word of mouth that just isn't there these days.
The MTB picture could well change; we see a lot of younger club riders (male and female) keen on our form of gravel, especially over winter - rigid bikes with lots of mud clearance on double track routes. Away from cars and getting nice and muddy!
Surely some competitive elements will morph into singletrack, then a bit of XC MTB (racing?) and on to the full fat MTB experience over time. That's different to the US perhaps which for many might be gravel-or-bust because you are spoilt for real gravel and is just a theory/hope of mine at this point.
I think that's also partly the hope of the industry and why some gravel bikes are slowly moving away from all-road to more off-road focussed designs. Whatever they are doing, gravel is not the word for it.
@MuddyMatt - Hey, anytime! And thank you for the information on Orange and their importance to MTB in the U.K.
ReplyDeleteYou stated, "Whatever they are doing, gravel is not the word for it."
Truer words have never been spoken! That's a t-shirt slogan right there. :>)