A bike review! That’s great! Steel, steel fork, disc brakes, external cable routing, fender mounts, rack mounts; a bike as it should be! Looks great! Good color too! Thanks, Russ!
This is not only my kind of bike, but as a mechanic, an absolute dream to work on! External routing, steel frame, plenty of adjustment for customer sizing, space for mudguards - excellent!!!
I've been riding a Soma Pescadaro all year, I built it up with many parts I already had on hand. 2x8 with downtube shifters, drop bars, 700x42 tires. It's my favorite bike ever.
As a Bay Area native, I considered this for my road bike build - ended up going with the VO Pass Hunter after a frame sale earlier this year & absolutely love it. Would love to see a comparison
Finally a review on the Fog Cutter. Thanks Russ! It was a bike I always considered, but was impossible to get during COVID. I finally ended with it's rim cousin, the Pescadero. Which I just love to ride. I also ride it on Rene Herse.
All the way through this vid until you stated it - my intention was to ask for a comparison with the Surly MS. That was reaching a ways back in the channel history! You read my mind on this effort. Great revieww. 👍
25 lb for full steel without trying too hard seems pretty good honestly. I think 26 is where you start to feel it, although if you ride alone you can adapt to anything lol.
I’m a big fan of Soma and Merry Sales. Great products (I’m really digging my 11-speed friction bar-end shifter.) A great collaboration with Path Less Pedaled!
Lets go! Good to see the Fog Cutter getting some love. Its worth noting this is a great 650b bike as well. With 165mm and lower cranks the BB drop works very well with 650x48 Rene Herse knobbies for everything but singletrack, but its not really meant for that anyway. Its fitting that you mention its similarity to the Midnight Special, the geo numbers are very very close except for the BB drop since the Midnight Special is 650b dedicated.
Soma is the best. I've got a pescadero with rim brakes. I use it in gravel races and on the road. I set it up on my own. Nice handling and nice looking.
I have had a Fogcutter since 2016 with the carbon fork. Just a brilliant do anything bike. I ride mainly sealed surfaces but it goes fine on general gravel. I use 38mm tyres and the best tyre I have used interestingly are the Soma Sikoro. I will never part with my fogcutter, I get people asking me if it is for sale quite often.
I like seeing silver components making a comeback. I’ve been saying for a while now I think there’s a market for an all mech silver groupset using “peak mechanical “ designs, classic dimension standards like 27.2 Seatpost, threaded BB (square taper?) along with mech brakes like the Paul’s. Plus 2x with normal people gearing, plus shorter crank options.
I just finished building my soma smoothie hp. So far it’s a great ride. I did have to run some sheathing for the front derailleur cable to avoid rubbing brake housing but besides that small snag it’s been perfect.
@@jasonvian1206 Soma advertises a 700 x 32 max clearance, with fenders. As always, actual size varies depending on rim and tire combinations so there's a good chance you can fit bigger if desired.
I recently built up a Fog Cutter with an Ltwoo R9 hydraulic 2x11 groupset and Hunt 4 season gravel wheels, and I love it. Now that I've got it set up with a rear rack, it's a perfect do everything bike. I use it for everything from running errands to social rides, to centuries
Looks nice! My go to steel road bike is the older all city Mr Pink with the rim brakes, it's my perfect road bike with one exception, it doesn't have rack mounts like this fog cutter has. Wish it did.
Same. I love the Mr pink. Mine is currently just a frame on the wall, but it’s one of those frames that I know I will build up again soon and could never ever sell.
Love my Fog Cutter! Had it for 2 1/2 years now. Running the Ltwoo GR9 hydraulic gravel group, with 650x47b American Classic Aggregate tires, although clearance is tight. I have some 38mm Soma/Panaracer B-Roads that I'll switch to when the AmCls wear out, and then I'll mount fenders. I initially built it up with a red Soma Wolverine fork, which the seller offered me a great deal on, but eventually switched to the Soma FC Carbon fork, with 60mm spacers. To reinforce the steerer, I have an expander plug that goes all the way down into the headset, so there's zero chance of the steerer snapping off. To get the bars even higher, I'm using Soma's Condor 2 riser drop bars. Super comfy ride.
When I was looking for a forever bike four years ago, I was torn between this bike and the Ritchey Road Logic. I ended up going with the Ritchey so I could just do a straight components transfer. My previous bike had been a rim brake, and I didn't want to fork over the money to have new wheels and brakes as well. I love the Ritchey, but I still look at the Fog Cutter with a bit of lust.
Almost built a Soma Wolverine up for a friend, beautiful bikes! He opted surly disc trucker instead for max weight reasons etc. Really nice wiz on the shifting setup!
I have its "performance" cousin, the original rim brake Smoothie frame in pearl white with a ENVE Road 1.0 carbon fork and Campagnolo Zonda C17 Alu' weelset. I fell in love in the first 10km, beautiful ride, and it isn't the all the fork and wheels either they are relatively recent upgrades. I don't see myself ever parting with it to be honest. It's ever fails to draw attention, at Café stops. I love my carbon bikes, they are faster, lighter and better in many respects (for the type of riding I enjoy), but they don't make me smile like my Soma does. I've even caught myself talking to her (yes, HER) on occasion, LOL.
Those 700x38 Barlow Pass tires are really nice. Just today I removed them from a bike that I need to recycle (I broke the frame in a non-repairable way…).
I've put about 15k miles on my Soma ES over the years. It's quite good as a road bike, being able to handle a bit more tire (I run 28mm comfortably with fenders) and I set mine up with a DT front shifter so that I could easily trim the derailleur. I'll never go back to racing style road bikes.
Was gonna say it looks a lot like my Space Horse, but the shorter trail would make it great on roads and worse on occasional single track. I feel validated. A lot to like about this kind of road bike!
Oh, man! If I already didn't have too many bikes and I wanted a modern steel bike, this looks sssssooooooo nice. Tange goodness and fork options. Soma is really a go-to for alt-cycling stuff. Way to go Russ, packing all the spec and review details succinctly. Wish I were there :-|
I have a 58cm soma double cross in purple really nice bike. Today on my lunch time ride had a bit of road, gravel and single track. Handled it all well. Long live qr wheels and IS break mounts….. I think the new black double cross might have 12mm through axel on the front now
Shimano derailers are almost always happy a bit outside their rated specs. Also, 700x35 is a real nice sweet spot for a endurance or comfy road bike with good enough volume for rough roads or light gravel and great cheap tire selection.
Thanks for the video! I'd love see a Sour on this channel. They have a relaxed geometry and offer steel as well as a newly released endurance road bike, called "Space Cake". Another intersting candidate from Germany would be the 8bar Mitte Steel v3. The frameset can be bought for under 1000€.
My 27.5er I have been rebuilding has geometry similar to this. I am running 700x45 maxxis tyres 1(36)x10(11-45) cues. Cro-mo rigid fork with a stack that site quite high. Really fun, I am selling my 29er in preference to this bike. I am about the same height as you and this geometry is a real sweet spot for me too. although I am flat bar :)
I was VERY seriously considering this bike as a replacement for my old road bike but ultimately I ended up getting a Lynskey GR300. Partly because I am a sucker for Titanium, partly because I got a crazy deal on the GR300, but I was also worried this Fog Cutter would be too "road" and not enough offroad to be my second bike (next to my 90s MTB commuter). It may have been a pointless worry but I felt that the smaller max tire size might limit where I was able to take the bike. Also, not sure if you're done (or plan to do) any videos on this, but I setup my new GR300 with a Sword 48/31 crankset and a GRX 11s rear (11-40 and rx810 rd) and its an absolute beast. Huge range, still plenty of gears so the spacing isn't annoying for longer flat rides. The range is something bananas like 560% and from what I can tell the Sword crankset shifts fine with a GRX front derailleur and 11s shimano chain. (I mean its not quite as perfect as it shifted with the 105 50/34 crankset but the range is way better).
I've really been waiting for this review. After my recent purchase of a Salsa Cutthroat (plastic), I'd love a Fog Cutter (steel) with the GRX components on the Cutthroat. The Soma looks more like my old Trek Reynolds lugged steel bike. I like the Cutthroat but I do miss the feel of steel frames and forks And I'm missing a double chain ring and rear rack braze ons. What was I thinking?. I've always ridden 28c tires. The Salsa is around 55c which are fun some times but not so much on hard surfaces. A tire in the 35-40c range seems optimal for daily rides. Hope to hear how the 38c tires work for you after an extended period of riding. Will they be supple enough?
Nice review and while it does have the same sort of tyre clearance as a Midnight Special in 700c I can’t see you getting a 2.2 x 27.5 raceking in there 😂
That MS FD works excellent with my 40/24 chain set and SRAM Force shifter. Works much better than a Force 22 FD or a Shimano DA FD. Very pleased with MS.
An interesting and an even-handed review. I would question your observations on weight, however. 25lbs for a fully kitted out steel road bike (mudguards, etc) is NOT heavy. Significantly lighter parts would compromise the integrity of the bike. A carbon fork with an alloy steerer will only save 100 - 150 grammes. To hit the 20lb mark you’d have to ditch the disc brakes and ‘guards and gears, and turn it into a single speed. My point is that this bike needs to weigh 25lbs to do its job. After all, the concours bikes of Herse and Singer, et al, nudged up against the 22lb mark, and they had everything fettled and drilled out with much lighter frame tubing than the Soma. Anyway, another thought provoking review, and, as always, enjoyable. Cheers!
Tanks a lot for your videos. I’m attempting to build a bike with a similar philosophy regarding the transmission. 42-28 in the front, 11-42 (10s) in the back, Tiagra 10s shifter. For the rear derailleur, Grx 810 seems to work fine for you, but would a Grx 812 be a safer pick ?
I can't get enough of brifters and wide-low gearing. It should be the highest selling groupset of all time - yet it's made up of parts from four different groups.
Pretty sure they are SKS Bluemels CABLE LINE 55's, I run them on my all-road bike and can recommend up to at least 40c tyre but when I put my chunker true to size 45s in (limit is stated 47), the single stay at the front allowed a little too much "wobble" resulting in tyre contact on the harsher gravel even when I backed them off from the tyre to the point of looking a bit silly, doesn't bother me really. But a buddy has STYLE 56's, and they are rock solid (and honestly very cool looking....for fenders)
What’s your opinion about 26” vintage bikes? (590/37 or aka 26 1 3/8). I really like mine it’s a bit small but I imagine it would be perfect for you Russ.
@PathLessPedaledTV 590/37 aka 26 1 3/8 seems to model a touring frame for road . Really just shows that many things have been done before . The old 26” really resembles the 650b tire size more than the 560mm mtb bikes .
@PathLessPedaledTV well vintage 590/37 is obsolete and 650b is very close modern replacement. It’s also something that I only recently discovered for myself and really like the 590/37 vintage bikes
Question: does grx 400 brifter (Tiagra level/10 spd) also use 11-speed pull ratio? (Did I understand correctly that you can use the Tiagra shifter with 11 speed rear cassette? or are Tiagra and grx400 brifters indexed to only make 10 shifts?)
They only work with a 10 speed cassette, but you can use these brifters with a 11 speed specific derailleur. So you can use a 10 speed cassette + Tiagra shifters + 105 11 speed rear derailleur or grx 11 speed rear derailleur.
1) Tiagra/GRX is peak mechanical and I'm sad that Shimano is phasing out tiagra. 2) If I was in the market for a new road bike, this would be it. I recently picked up new Albion privateer, which is the fog cutter's post-mount rim brake step-brother, and it is such a good bike.
Peak mechanical really depends on your use case. In my case I really find R7K with rim brakes and 50/34 with 11-34 cassette to do everything I could ever expect on a road bike.
I don’t think it’s necessarily innovative to have an alloy steerer on a carbon fork, it’s just cheaper and heavier. Most people who want a carbon fork want to lighten a bike up by a pound+ Personally I’d prefer the carbon steerer and a set of surly truck stop bars if I still had a stack deficit. But that’s just me.
"Fully committed to TA. None of this half TA, half QR." - I know, like seriously Surly?! When are you going to fix this? All-road/gravel/ATB/etc is everywhere but I won't touch a Surly because that TA design is asking for all kinds of trouble.
In my country there are no such "simple" bikes and it is stuppid. I got that we don't have nice roads, like, AT ALL, but it is doable to ride with comfort on 40+ mil tires... Problem are in fact that more or less similar bicycle will be cost like rotten used car which You actually can restore to adequate level. And crappy as hell pseudo MTB are dirt cheap... This just pissing me off. I'm with pleasure buy something with similar undurance road(more like allroad IMHO) bike with single speed which able to it at least 40+fenders... But it cost redicilous amount of money even before war. Only option for founding some like this is actively search with money on ready on secondary market and even than bike I using now cost me TWICE more than pseudo MTB whch standed near.
A bike review! That’s great! Steel, steel fork, disc brakes, external cable routing, fender mounts, rack mounts; a bike as it should be! Looks great! Good color too! Thanks, Russ!
This is not only my kind of bike, but as a mechanic, an absolute dream to work on! External routing, steel frame, plenty of adjustment for customer sizing, space for mudguards - excellent!!!
I've been riding a Soma Pescadaro all year, I built it up with many parts I already had on hand. 2x8 with downtube shifters, drop bars, 700x42 tires. It's my favorite bike ever.
It sounds wonderful, I use a 2x8 with a 12-32 cassette, great combo.
Love Soma frames. Ended up building up a Soma Pescadero just because I wanted rim brakes.
I’ve had a Fog Cutter for 7+ years and it’s been amazing!
Fog Cutter, is that made in Humboldt?
As a Bay Area native, I considered this for my road bike build - ended up going with the VO Pass Hunter after a frame sale earlier this year & absolutely love it. Would love to see a comparison
Finally a review on the Fog Cutter. Thanks Russ! It was a bike I always considered, but was impossible to get during COVID. I finally ended with it's rim cousin, the Pescadero. Which I just love to ride. I also ride it on Rene Herse.
All the way through this vid until you stated it - my intention was to ask for a comparison with the Surly MS.
That was reaching a ways back in the channel history! You read my mind on this effort. Great revieww. 👍
I love what Soma does! The fab shop is awesome. 💯
25 lb for full steel without trying too hard seems pretty good honestly. I think 26 is where you start to feel it, although if you ride alone you can adapt to anything lol.
I’m a big fan of Soma and Merry Sales. Great products (I’m really digging my 11-speed friction bar-end shifter.) A great collaboration with Path Less Pedaled!
Love how practical and classy this bike is!
Lets go! Good to see the Fog Cutter getting some love. Its worth noting this is a great 650b bike as well. With 165mm and lower cranks the BB drop works very well with 650x48 Rene Herse knobbies for everything but singletrack, but its not really meant for that anyway. Its fitting that you mention its similarity to the Midnight Special, the geo numbers are very very close except for the BB drop since the Midnight Special is 650b dedicated.
Soma is the best. I've got a pescadero with rim brakes. I use it in gravel races and on the road. I set it up on my own. Nice handling and nice looking.
Looks nice. I can see someone wanting an old school vibe with disk brakes going this route. Lots of tire clearance compared to something old school.
I have had a Fogcutter since 2016 with the carbon fork. Just a brilliant do anything bike. I ride mainly sealed surfaces but it goes fine on general gravel. I use 38mm tyres and the best tyre I have used interestingly are the Soma Sikoro. I will never part with my fogcutter, I get people asking me if it is for sale quite often.
If I were to buy a new bike, it would definitely be the fog cutter, very sensible, good geo and goo tire clearance. What else to ask for!
Great gearing setup for almost all puposes. Didn't know tiagra 10sp can pull a derailleur for 11sp.
Great info!! Thanks.
External routing, and a road-y, gravel-y feel? Tell Jim I'd LOVE this bike. Thanks, Russ. I wish there were more of 'em.
I like seeing silver components making a comeback. I’ve been saying for a while now I think there’s a market for an all mech silver groupset using “peak mechanical “ designs, classic dimension standards like 27.2 Seatpost, threaded BB (square taper?) along with mech brakes like the Paul’s. Plus 2x with normal people gearing, plus shorter crank options.
I just finished building my soma smoothie hp. So far it’s a great ride. I did have to run some sheathing for the front derailleur cable to avoid rubbing brake housing but besides that small snag it’s been perfect.
I’ve been thinking about the smoothie! How wide of a tire can it handle?
@@jasonvian1206 Soma advertises a 700 x 32 max clearance, with fenders. As always, actual size varies depending on rim and tire combinations so there's a good chance you can fit bigger if desired.
Super simple, classically styled; love it :-).
Dude I can't wait for your cranks to come out! Thank you for leading the low-gearing charge!
"Sensitive being spanked around on Grav Grav" -- ok Russ, new t-shirt line. Great review as well. =]
I recently built up a Fog Cutter with an Ltwoo R9 hydraulic 2x11 groupset and Hunt 4 season gravel wheels, and I love it. Now that I've got it set up with a rear rack, it's a perfect do everything bike. I use it for everything from running errands to social rides, to centuries
Soma is so cool. If I had to buy a new bike, it'd be one of these.
Looks nice! My go to steel road bike is the older all city Mr Pink with the rim brakes, it's my perfect road bike with one exception, it doesn't have rack mounts like this fog cutter has. Wish it did.
Same. I love the Mr pink.
Mine is currently just a frame on the wall, but it’s one of those frames that I know I will build up again soon and could never ever sell.
Love my Fog Cutter! Had it for 2 1/2 years now. Running the Ltwoo GR9 hydraulic gravel group, with 650x47b American Classic Aggregate tires, although clearance is tight. I have some 38mm Soma/Panaracer B-Roads that I'll switch to when the AmCls wear out, and then I'll mount fenders. I initially built it up with a red Soma Wolverine fork, which the seller offered me a great deal on, but eventually switched to the Soma FC Carbon fork, with 60mm spacers. To reinforce the steerer, I have an expander plug that goes all the way down into the headset, so there's zero chance of the steerer snapping off. To get the bars even higher, I'm using Soma's Condor 2 riser drop bars. Super comfy ride.
When I was looking for a forever bike four years ago, I was torn between this bike and the Ritchey Road Logic. I ended up going with the Ritchey so I could just do a straight components transfer. My previous bike had been a rim brake, and I didn't want to fork over the money to have new wheels and brakes as well. I love the Ritchey, but I still look at the Fog Cutter with a bit of lust.
Haven't ridden the bike but seen it in a shop window, so I'll add: the blue color maybe looks boring on the screen but is striking irl.
What’s the poor man’s fair light secan?
Almost built a Soma Wolverine up for a friend, beautiful bikes! He opted surly disc trucker instead for max weight reasons etc.
Really nice wiz on the shifting setup!
I have its "performance" cousin, the original rim brake Smoothie frame in pearl white with a ENVE Road 1.0 carbon fork and Campagnolo Zonda C17 Alu' weelset. I fell in love in the first 10km, beautiful ride, and it isn't the all the fork and wheels either they are relatively recent upgrades. I don't see myself ever parting with it to be honest. It's ever fails to draw attention, at Café stops. I love my carbon bikes, they are faster, lighter and better in many respects (for the type of riding I enjoy), but they don't make me smile like my Soma does. I've even caught myself talking to her (yes, HER) on occasion, LOL.
Those 700x38 Barlow Pass tires are really nice. Just today I removed them from a bike that I need to recycle (I broke the frame in a non-repairable way…).
I've put about 15k miles on my Soma ES over the years. It's quite good as a road bike, being able to handle a bit more tire (I run 28mm comfortably with fenders) and I set mine up with a DT front shifter so that I could easily trim the derailleur. I'll never go back to racing style road bikes.
Closer to the end where you comparing this frame with other ones it would be nice to see the frames what you talked about, maybe with geometry charts.
This is so cool, mine is almost built up so I appreciate the review, thanks!
My soma wolverine has been my go to bike since I got it last year. Soma is great.
I have a v1 fog cutter with carbon fork running 650b x 47. Super supple and stable 😉
Really beautiful bicycle.
I'm really looking forward to that new alt crank 🤩
Was gonna say it looks a lot like my Space Horse, but the shorter trail would make it great on roads and worse on occasional single track. I feel validated. A lot to like about this kind of road bike!
Rogue Panda frame bag! Love their stuff.
very similar geo to my Kona Roadhouse, which is my favorite
Amazing video
Didn't know rear 810 can do 42 I max mine at 40
Happy riding
beauty bike
Oh, man! If I already didn't have too many bikes and I wanted a modern steel bike, this looks sssssooooooo nice. Tange goodness and fork options. Soma is really a go-to for alt-cycling stuff. Way to go Russ, packing all the spec and review details succinctly. Wish I were there :-|
I have a 58cm soma double cross in purple really nice bike. Today on my lunch time ride had a bit of road, gravel and single track. Handled it all well. Long live qr wheels and IS break mounts….. I think the new black double cross might have 12mm through axel on the front now
Just looked it up 2024 double cross still has qr but it now has flat mount on the frame. I prefer the is mount on my version
Great review, Russ. Looks like a great bike.
My non weight weenie 58cm Fog Cutter build is 23.5 pounds with bottle cages and toe clips (platform pedals and Mt. Zefal plastic cages). For science.
This has become my main bike. 4,000 miles on it.
Shimano derailers are almost always happy a bit outside their rated specs. Also, 700x35 is a real nice sweet spot for a endurance or comfy road bike with good enough volume for rough roads or light gravel and great cheap tire selection.
Good looking bike
Would be cool if they also made a split chain stay version.
Luv my SOMA , although I built up their Wolverine model, Somas steel quality and functionality are awesome !!
Rus, I think you forgot to mention one of the best attributes of the Fog Cutter - that ridiculously hot head tube badge
I need an Alt Cycling Cycling Club patch and shirt and hat please! Another great review
Great vid, Russ
great content as always
is there a chance of the parts being listed here so it is easier to be certain just what you fitted as I love the bike.
Thanks for the video! I'd love see a Sour on this channel. They have a relaxed geometry and offer steel as well as a newly released endurance road bike, called "Space Cake". Another intersting candidate from Germany would be the 8bar Mitte Steel v3. The frameset can be bought for under 1000€.
My 27.5er I have been rebuilding has geometry similar to this. I am running 700x45 maxxis tyres 1(36)x10(11-45) cues. Cro-mo rigid fork with a stack that site quite high. Really fun, I am selling my 29er in preference to this bike. I am about the same height as you and this geometry is a real sweet spot for me too. although I am flat bar :)
I love your bike! ❤ So classic and functional! Also, if you were into it I bet you could race it.
Onya Russ looking forward to your review on the Panorama boreal 2x it's a bike that ticks a lot of boxes
Wish it comes with brake mount adaptor, I prefer alt bar while using hydraulics brakes just for safety reasons
I was VERY seriously considering this bike as a replacement for my old road bike but ultimately I ended up getting a Lynskey GR300. Partly because I am a sucker for Titanium, partly because I got a crazy deal on the GR300, but I was also worried this Fog Cutter would be too "road" and not enough offroad to be my second bike (next to my 90s MTB commuter). It may have been a pointless worry but I felt that the smaller max tire size might limit where I was able to take the bike.
Also, not sure if you're done (or plan to do) any videos on this, but I setup my new GR300 with a Sword 48/31 crankset and a GRX 11s rear (11-40 and rx810 rd) and its an absolute beast. Huge range, still plenty of gears so the spacing isn't annoying for longer flat rides. The range is something bananas like 560% and from what I can tell the Sword crankset shifts fine with a GRX front derailleur and 11s shimano chain. (I mean its not quite as perfect as it shifted with the 105 50/34 crankset but the range is way better).
"Plastic" bikes = posh fibreglass = carbon fibre horribleness.
Concur, well said.
Soma ES is my favorite bike and yes I have downtube shifters
I've really been waiting for this review. After my recent purchase of a Salsa Cutthroat (plastic), I'd love a Fog Cutter (steel) with the GRX components on the Cutthroat. The Soma looks more like my old Trek Reynolds lugged steel bike. I like the Cutthroat but I do miss the feel of steel frames and forks And I'm missing a double chain ring and rear rack braze ons. What was I thinking?. I've always ridden 28c tires. The Salsa is around 55c which are fun some times but not so much on hard surfaces. A tire in the 35-40c range seems optimal for daily rides.
Hope to hear how the 38c tires work for you after an extended period of riding. Will they be supple enough?
@@jeffandersen6233 those are definitely supple tires plus running tpu tubes
I recently put Pirelli P-Zero tires in 700x40 on my gravel bike, and it flies on the road.
Those look very interesting. Hard to find where I'm from, though.
I hope you do a review of the gramm bag. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Coming soon!
Nice review and while it does have the same sort of tyre clearance as a Midnight Special in 700c I can’t see you getting a 2.2 x 27.5 raceking in there 😂
Now this is a great bike, and you can always put skinnier tires on if you want.
Add some silver cranks and bars that thing would be pure art.
Hopefully there will be a movement back toward this type of bike. Rivendell is headed toward simpler, more rational components.
That MS FD works excellent with my 40/24 chain set and SRAM Force shifter. Works much better than a Force 22 FD or a Shimano DA FD. Very pleased with MS.
What’s not to love about this frame and build?
An interesting and an even-handed review. I would question your observations on weight, however. 25lbs for a fully kitted out steel road bike (mudguards, etc) is NOT heavy. Significantly lighter parts would compromise the integrity of the bike. A carbon fork with an alloy steerer will only save 100 - 150 grammes. To hit the 20lb mark you’d have to ditch the disc brakes and ‘guards and gears, and turn it into a single speed. My point is that this bike needs to weigh 25lbs to do its job. After all, the concours bikes of Herse and Singer, et al, nudged up against the 22lb mark, and they had everything fettled and drilled out with much lighter frame tubing than the Soma. Anyway, another thought provoking review, and, as always, enjoyable. Cheers!
Very nice!!! xxx not going to tell my husband! Stay Safe xxx
How's the top overlap with 700c wheels?
Tanks a lot for your videos. I’m attempting to build a bike with a similar philosophy regarding the transmission. 42-28 in the front, 11-42 (10s) in the back, Tiagra 10s shifter. For the rear derailleur, Grx 810 seems to work fine for you, but would a Grx 812 be a safer pick ?
No. GRX 812 is a 1x only design.
Ok thanks. Out of curiosity, do you know how the design differs to make a rd 2x or 1x ?
@@thomasa5979the shape of the knuckle and position of the G pulley. GRX 812 is very similar to the SLX M7000/XT M8000
What happens to the bicycle taste wheel? 😅
A basic bike is all that I want in life.
I can't get enough of brifters and wide-low gearing. It should be the highest selling groupset of all time - yet it's made up of parts from four different groups.
Have you tried the redshift topshelf bar for higher stack?
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Unfortunately not this year
Nice dude.. which sks fenders are you using ? Cheers Pete 🚴🏻🚴🏻👍😊
Pretty sure they are SKS Bluemels CABLE LINE 55's, I run them on my all-road bike and can recommend up to at least 40c tyre but when I put my chunker true to size 45s in (limit is stated 47), the single stay at the front allowed a little too much "wobble" resulting in tyre contact on the harsher gravel even when I backed them off from the tyre to the point of looking a bit silly, doesn't bother me really. But a buddy has STYLE 56's, and they are rock solid (and honestly very cool looking....for fenders)
@ thanks for the info dude 🚴🏻👍👍😊 Pete
Nice review thanks, Im not sure if it was mentioned in your discussion, but do you know what is the weight as built ?
@@j.k.cascade2057 mentioned 26 pounds with pedals
What’s your opinion about 26” vintage bikes? (590/37 or aka 26 1 3/8). I really like mine it’s a bit small but I imagine it would be perfect for you Russ.
I´m actually not a fan of old mtb geometry.
@PathLessPedaledTV 590/37 aka 26 1 3/8 seems to model a touring frame for road . Really just shows that many things have been done before . The old 26” really resembles the 650b tire size more than the 560mm mtb bikes .
@PathLessPedaledTV well vintage 590/37 is obsolete and 650b is very close modern replacement. It’s also something that I only recently discovered for myself and really like the 590/37 vintage bikes
Where's the panorama boreal review?
Question: does grx 400 brifter (Tiagra level/10 spd) also use 11-speed pull ratio? (Did I understand correctly that you can use the Tiagra shifter with 11 speed rear cassette? or are Tiagra and grx400 brifters indexed to only make 10 shifts?)
Yes
They only work with a 10 speed cassette, but you can use these brifters with a 11 speed specific derailleur. So you can use a 10 speed cassette + Tiagra shifters + 105 11 speed rear derailleur or grx 11 speed rear derailleur.
@@PathLessPedaledTVCan you shift to all 11 cogs on the cassette with those Tiagra shifters? I thought they only had 10 “clicks”?
@@SimonHBS They have 10 clicks but use the newer cable pull.
What is that awesome pink front rack?! I need it.
1) Tiagra/GRX is peak mechanical and I'm sad that Shimano is phasing out tiagra. 2) If I was in the market for a new road bike, this would be it. I recently picked up new Albion privateer, which is the fog cutter's post-mount rim brake step-brother, and it is such a good bike.
Peak mechanical really depends on your use case. In my case I really find R7K with rim brakes and 50/34 with 11-34 cassette to do everything I could ever expect on a road bike.
The cues road shifters should be turning up soon. 11spd with a shadow xt or xtr rd sounds pretty good to me.
what makes a fast bike is the tider!! and not at party paced!!!
It'd be nice to embrace the kg since you live in Europe
lol it reminds me of my Fuji sport 10
Not trolling just trying to say the old designs are good and relevant under certain circumstances
I don’t think it’s necessarily innovative to have an alloy steerer on a carbon fork, it’s just cheaper and heavier. Most people who want a carbon fork want to lighten a bike up by a pound+
Personally I’d prefer the carbon steerer and a set of surly truck stop bars if I still had a stack deficit.
But that’s just me.
"Fully committed to TA. None of this half TA, half QR." - I know, like seriously Surly?! When are you going to fix this? All-road/gravel/ATB/etc is everywhere but I won't touch a Surly because that TA design is asking for all kinds of trouble.
In my country there are no such "simple" bikes and it is stuppid. I got that we don't have nice roads, like, AT ALL, but it is doable to ride with comfort on 40+ mil tires... Problem are in fact that more or less similar bicycle will be cost like rotten used car which You actually can restore to adequate level. And crappy as hell pseudo MTB are dirt cheap... This just pissing me off. I'm with pleasure buy something with similar undurance road(more like allroad IMHO) bike with single speed which able to it at least 40+fenders... But it cost redicilous amount of money even before war. Only option for founding some like this is actively search with money on ready on secondary market and even than bike I using now cost me TWICE more than pseudo MTB whch standed near.
Since you are on Europe why not speak in metrics instead?
Our viewership is vastly US and Google exists.
@@PathLessPedaledTVI’m as uk as fish chips and peas (lol) but I visualise bikes in American measurement descriptors . Always have .
Other bike channels also exists