Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Soma Double Cross Gets More Awesome



We aren't the brand that tweaks our designs and colors every year just because we are afraid of losing people's attention or market share (which we've never had anyway), but this year the Double Cross gets its first design change since adding to disc brake compatibility.
The Double Cross is our original do-all frame. It's capable for light touring, cyclo-cross, commuting, gravel and even some trail riding.

What are the changes?
1) We are using a lighter, stiffer Breezer style webbed dropout. The curved chainstay fits more types of calipers. The old design at certain sizes made it hard to get to the hardware of certain calipers. (Not all disc brakes are designed for placement on the chainstay.).

2) We also increased tire clearance slightly. The old Double Crosses always had more than enough clearance for cyclo-cross tires and most hybrid/commuter tires, but with new interest in gravel events we decided to make the DC more friendly to 700 x 40 gravel tires. You can squeeze in a 700 x 45 Panaracer Fire Cross if you don't use one of those Shimano long-arm front derailleurs. If you must use one of those long arm FD's, you will be limited to a tire like our 700x42 Shikoro tires (see photo below). Fortunately there are alternatives out there and even Shimano is redesigning.

3) We also tweaked the geometry on the middle to smaller sizes --- mainly shortening the top tubes slightly. This tweak allowed us to remove a size.