Introducing Rufus: Our New BMX Wheeled Mini Velo

We at Soma Fabrications made an attempt to introduce North America to the mini velo style of bicycle way back in 2010. Back then very few people here (except Mark V from Bike Hugger) were interested in mini velos or even knew what they were. 

Fast forward to 2024 and there is a mini velo Reddit group with 3500 members and Velo Orange as well as other designers have continued to push what mini velos look like and what they can be built up as. The Radavist just broke the story that Crust is working on a travel mini velo just this week. The wildly popular Tern GSD cargo bike has small wheels, but interestingly no one calls it a "mini velo".  It is just a nice e-cargo bike. And that should remind us that a bike should be defined by what it was designed for and how it can improve the owner's life, not by a wheel size. And we think our newest addition should be looked upon by how fun and functional it is, not as a "mini" version of something else.

But a more appropriate marketing term won't materialize in this post, so without further ado, we would like to present to you --- Rufus, a "mini velo" frameset designed around 20" BMX wheels. It intentionally doesn't have as many bells and whistles as similar designs out there, because we wanted to keep the price down in order to entice more enthusiasts to consider a small wheeler as their n+1. So the Rufus is not designed to take a dropper post, run internal geared hubs or even a front derailleur. Current price is $599.99 USD.

It does have a plethora of rack, pack, and fender mounts as well as longish chainstay length (endurance road bike length) to help it ride more steady with a load or without. The frame is compact with a low standover, but still offers lots of space for a half frame bag. The Rufus is a bike built with utility in mind first and foremost, but is just a breeze to ride around. 

You can call it a "mini velo", a "small wheeler", or just "a bike".

This is a size SM Rufus with 530mm effective top tube.
As set up here, its a comfortable sporty ride for someone 5'6"
It is running a 44t crankset and 11-32t 8-speed cassette.

Sold frame and fork together. Seat collar, too.
Smooth riding CrMo steel. Stiff hooded dropouts. BSA bottom bracket shell.
IS disc tabs. 27.2mm seatpost. Tried and true standards.

This is built with BMX vibes using a high rise bar, but you can build
this with city bars, low rise bar, or drop bars, too.

Specifications:

• 4130 double-butted chromoly steel frame and chromoly steel fork

• Rear rack & fender mounts, cargo cage/mini rack bosses on fork (with one set of thru-bosses)

• Three sets of water bottle bosses

• Cafe lock mount

• Kickstand plate

• International Standard disc brake tabs (140/160mm rotors suggested)

• Wheel size: 20" (ISO 406) BMX size. Easy to find quality street or knobby tread tires. Tire clearance for 20 x 2.3" (20 x 2.0" w/fenders) 

• Hub spacing: 135mm, rear; 100mm, fork

• Headset Fit: 1-1/8" threadless (EC34/28.6|EC34/30 headsets)

• Bottom Bracket Shell: 68mm English threaded

• Seatpost size: 27.2mm x 350/400mm

• Sizes: Small and Large (Depending what type of handlebars are used, the Small can fit 4' 11" to 5'7". The Large can fit 5'6" to 6'3")

• Paint: Purple