The Bike That Seduced Me Into Bikepacking

Catalina and her partner Jose Pacheco are currently bikepacking through some beautiful and remote sections of the High Andes in Bolivia. They are capturing their experience on their blog monteadentro.cc. The bikepacking bug has got them constantly seeking new destinations and routes. Starting in Valdivia, Chile, they have travelled over 10,000 km since October 2023 over varied landscapes that are sometimes breathtaking in more ways than one. The blog is in Spanish, but their photography crosses any language barrier. Plus anyone can download the gpx files with key information in English. Their Instagram is also in Spanish, however they have begun including English translation on current posts.

Catalina rides one of our Soma Riff 27.5" wheel hardtail frames.
And we are very grateful she wanted to share the unusual way she came to own her bike.

This is my Soma Riff.  The only thing I love more is riding it.

Hello, I'm Catalina Melo from Colombia. Since I was a child, I have been passionate about sports; anything involving a ball, equipment, or simply being outdoors was my happy place. Soccer was my favorite sport for many years and I competed in local and national tournaments until I was 30. However, a number of injuries forced me to stop playing. 

But living without sports was impossible, so I started road cycling. I've enjoyed biking since I was young and used it as a means of transportation in a busy city like Bogotá, so the shift came naturally. Yet, I felt something was missing; the thrill wasn't the same.

A few years later, during a short mountain biking trip, my partner [Jose] experienced a life-threatening robbery. After this unfortunate incident, he made the decision to “take revenge“ by assembling his "ultimate mountain bike". That's how the SOMA Riff came into our home. However, he only used it a few times before embarking on his first extended bikepacking trip -- using another bike.

The SOMA remained in my room, and I was tasked with caring for it. Later, he admitted that he had also left it to lure me. Every night before bed, I would look at it and thought it was the most beautiful bike ever. Not only was it in my favorite color, but the color also had a connection to music history. And me having graduated from a music program, it was just a question of time and fate before this bike would become mine.

"Every night before bed, I would look at it and thought
it was the most beautiful bike ever."

One day, I decided to try riding it on a short trail, and I realized that mountain biking was what I had been missing: tackling technical descents, steep rocky climbs, singletracks, and remote and solitary routes feels like scoring a goal, making a perfect play, or winning a match. 

Desierto del Diablo (the Devil's Desert), an out of this world landscape
in Puna de Atacama, Argentina

This bike has witnessed my evolution as a cyclist and has motivated me to embark on adventurous bikepacking trips in Colombia and other parts of South America. I can without a doubt, confirm that the Riff frame offers everything I could wish for: 

1. Steel is Real

There's nowhere this bike can't go—rocks, sand, rivers. Nothing is as reliable as steel. This bike is perfect for bikepacking as it can carry loads without risking damage. Additionally, the  frame allows for easy rear rack attachment.

2. Tire Clearance

In Colombia, I regularly ride with 2.4-inch tires with a shock fork for short trips and day rides. However my bikepacking setup are 2.8" tires and a rigid fork; this is what I am using for exploring South America. Upon returning to Colombia, I plan to ride 29er skinny tires, for long distance journeys. 

3. The Head Tube

The bike's design is not fussy; its 44mm universal head tube fits both the 1-1/8" steerer of my rigid fork and tapered steerers of suspension forks.

4. Sliding Dropouts

Besides allowing wider tires, the sliding dropouts lets you adjust the rear wheel's position; you can convert the drivetrain to single-speed in case of derailleur failure. This could be a lifesaver until a proper repair is possible, especially while riding in remote areas.

5. Geometry

  

The SOMA Riff excels in downhill performance, while maintaining its capability on technical or steep climbs, embodying the essence of an authentic hardtail; its head tube angle is a happy medium between a relaxed and reactive feeling. Additionally, the frame triangle offers ample space for installing a frame bag, crucial for long bikepacking adventures.

last but not least…

6. The Perfect Color

Pelham Blue, the iconic color used by Cadillac and Gibson during the 1960’s. 

The Riff's versatility has enabled me to have several bikes with a single frame—from a mountain bike for enduring long days in Colombia's steep mountains to a bikepacking cruiser for adventures across South America's most remote routes.

Follow our cycling projects on Monteadentro's website and Instagram account. 

¡Buenas rodadas amigos!

Catalina Melo 

Riding in the dryest desert of the world: Atacama

Peinado Volcano in Ruta de los Seis Miles

Cycling through the Patagonia Beer Trail

Catalina and her partner Jose in the Bariloche Valley

[ The Riff in Pelham Blue Catalina adores is no longer available. Current colors are Aquamint and Pearl White. The Riff is now Boost compatible, too. ]

Our Riff Hardtail Frame Gets An Overdue Update

 If you've known Soma Fabrications for a while, you know we don't go by model years.
We don't want to refresh our frames every January just to say we have this new thing to plop in front of your eyeballs. We don't like being forced to adopt every trend or new standard either, some of which we feel is planned obsolescence. We think changing colors every year is basically making folks who just bought our frame a few months ago feel they have something old. We will make updates when we think they will serve our customers.

What is the Riff?
This is our hardtail frame designed for 27.5" wheels. It is a nice, steel frame for a variety of trail-riding and for bikepacking and is designed around a 120mm travel fork. It has sliding dropouts, which lets you fine-tune your chainstay length, but it is mainly for allowing single speed builds without needing a chain tensioner. You can also build it for derailleur gears and hub gears (like Rohloff or Alfine), too.

Main Update:
Boost 148mm rear hub spacing. After nine years in the market, Boost 148 has become THE MTB rear hub standard. If you are shopping for a new wheelset, almost all or your options will have Boost hubs, and some of you may already have an old Boost wheel in your spare parts collection. So the main reason for the change is to make it easier for riders who don't have the patience to shop around for their ideal 142mm or 135mm wheelset.

For those out of touch with bike standards, Boost hubs have a wider axle and wider flanges which allows the wheel build to have more dish, which reduces flexiness in the wheel. It also moves the chainline farther away from the tire, which is nice when running wide 2.8" tires.

Additions and Subtractions:
• We have shortened our seat tubes to help with dropper seatpost use and the lengths chosen attempt to match other brands, so it is easier to compare sizes when shopping.
• We changed the down tube bottle cage bosses to a three-pack mount.
• We added a set of bottle cage bosses under the downtube.
• But we removed the seat tube bosses on the smaller sizes so you can use a longer dropper post. The largest frame still has the seat tube bosses.
• We have discontinued the belt-drive option, because of policies our Taiwan factory adopted during the pandemic. (Yes, Covid is still affecting us.)

What About the "Geo"?
How slack is it? Is it shreddier? Is it as progressive as a San Francisco school board?
Sorry, nope. The biggest tweak is a 1.6° steeper seat tube to improve climbing efficiency.  The bottom bracket drops almost 10mm mainly because those riding 27.5 wheels are favoring 2.4 or wider tires. But Steve of Hardtail Party would definitely classify the Riff as "old school", which doesn't mean outdated.... just a rig more purposefully designed for rolling trails and bike packing than for bombing steeper technical downhills; and also doesn't require a "modern riding technique" to get the most out of it. The 67.6° head tube angle should make it a good climber without the wheel flop and wandering of slacker machines, but still able to descend with confidence (albeit less speed) than an enduro bike.

Because we are not optimizing for downhill speed and big drops and hits, we can use lighter tubes for a more nimble and fun ride even on smoother trails. And the frame won't beat you up on rockier terrain.

Yes, that is a cable stop for a old top pull front derailleur. We haven't abandoned 2x.
The Riff also has rear rack mounts, because hardtails are still pretty popular for
on-road loaded touring these days. They probably add less weight than
our brass headbadge

 

Soma Riff Aqua Mint Build. Size LG.

Plers Beiks!!!

Soma Valhallen. You've heard the name perhaps, spoken quietly in dimly lit speakeasies and alleyways. Who is this mythical warrior and what's with all the empty hair spray cans? We'll get to that.



The soundtrack for the video is Tape Waves and was used without permission, because it was already downloaded on my phone and it's a cool song. Maybe check out their Bandcamp and order a physical media. Now back to the story.

Eons ago, when I was just a wee lass, I wanted a downhill bike. I worked at a shop in Reno called Bicycle Bananas and we sold a crapton of Iron Horse Sundays because Sam Hill was blowing up the UCI downhill scene. That bike was way out of my budget and I thought I was too cool for full suspension anyway, so I ordered up their top of the line hardtail the Waka Gashira. The thing was a beast, with a 1.5 fork (no tapered steerer tubes in those days). It was my dream bike. I rode it all over Reno and up in Lake Tahoe at the Northstar downhill resort. But after a season I was moving to Seattle and in need of some cash, so I sold the bike and that was that. But I never forgot how fun it was to ride a hardtail with a big ass suspension fork. Before long the company hit a rough patch, Sam Hill signed with Specialized and the Waka Gashira became a forgotten relic of the Pinkbike archives.

http://reviews.mtbr.com/fox-shocks-2013/fox_float_34_ctd

Flash forward to 2011, I got a job at IRD (Soma's parent company) and I came with a mission to restore the Hooligan Hardtail to it's rightful place in the pantheon of Gnar-shredders. It took a while to convince them that we needed another mountain bike frame in the line, especially since I was all hot and bothered for those weirdo 650b DH tires Pacenti showed off at NAHBS in Sacramento. For a while it looked like it would be just a pipe dream, but finally Fox introduced some long travel 650b forks and we were back in the game.

The Pacenti tires never did make it to market, but by the time we finished the geometry for our new bike WTB had announced their 2.8" Trailblazer tires and we knew it was only a matter of time before more manufactures got on board. We asked our buds at Panaracer to pretty please make us a 650b plus tire and before long they came out with the Fat B Nimble.

The project got put on hold for a couple years while we developed the Sandworm, which is more of a do anything adventure bike, but in 2015 we revisited the idea and decided to include some new interface standards that would enable our frame to offer more tire clearance and add strength and stiffness to the rear triangle.

We decided for the first time we would use a press fit bb on one of our frames. There are a lot of opinions about why you would or wouldn't want one of these, but our reasoning is pretty simple. A PF30 bb shell will let you run just about any cranks you want. Prefer threaded Hollowtech bearings? No problem, just pop in a euro adapter. Want to run single speed? No worries, there's an EBB option. Want to use a belt drive? Ok, get a Sandworm, but still, it's pretty versatile.

We also decided to hop on the BOOOST thru axle bandwagon. Why you ask, when our other frames already fit chubby tires? Two reasons. Firstly, it allowed us to use conventional hollow chainstays, which saves weigh and saves you money. Secondly, we decided to push the envelope and build in clearance for true 3.5" tires. There aren't too many options in that size yet, but the way things are going I don't think we'll have to wait too long.

So you want to know about the name? Fine. It's kid of dumb, but it's my favorite part. Remember back in the 90s when Cartoon Network was really good? I do. There was this show called Dexter's Laboratory created by Genndy Tartakovsky and Hanna-Barbera. Seth MacFarlane worked on it. It was kind of a Rocky and Bullwinkle for kids with social anxiety. In the grand tradition of self aware cartoon series it included references to all kinds of pop culture that was mostly lost on the sober viewers at that time. One bit they had was called the Justice Friends, a parody of the JLA/Avengers which featured the characters living in a sitcom apartment with classic hi-jinx and slapstick galore. I had really wanted to do a frameset named Odin, like our handlebars, but I guess somebody already thought of that. So I checked to see whether anybody had registered the trademark for the viking god of rock, and it turns out that nobody was using it. And Van Halen is ok, I guess. We should have frames in stock this summer.

The Juice and B-Side Gets A Gates Belt-Drive Option

The Juice (29er) and B-Side (27.5er) hardtails are now available with a split Tange Sliding Dropout for compatibility with belt-drive systems. Build them SS or with Rohloff (or other internal geared) hubs. Colors are the same. The only other design difference is with the drive-side chainstay which has a flat plate to make sure there is clearance for 2.4" tires and the thick Gates front cog.

The standard models are still be available. The belt-drive ones are only available in small quantities this year.

Stock we have now have a split in the dropout for the belt.
Future 2015 production will have a split in the seatstay.

Modified chainstay: Looks different, but quite stiff.
Passes Gates/Rohloff frame stiffness test.

Aaron's B-side Build with Thru-Axle Wheelset

Evan,

Thanks for the help on sizing, I'm glad I went with the XL.  The bike rides as good as it looks, I've been on it 5 days a week since building it up.  It transitions from kid-dropper-offer, to commuter, to upper campus trail slayer as gracefully as any bike ever could.  Best money I've ever spent!  I went with a budget build and the bike is still a flat out ripping wheelie machine!

Front D:      Shimano Deore    

Rear D:       Shimano XT    

Shifters:     Shimano Deore    

Crankset:     Shimano Deore       

Cassette:     Shimano SLX        

Brakes:       Shimano Deore    

Headset:      Cane Creek 40 series    

Bars:         Raceface Evolve Flat 720mm    

Stem:         Raceface Ride 60mm       

Front Hub:    Sram MTH 716 15x100    

Rear Hub:     Sram MTH 746 142x12    

Rims:         WTB STi19 TCS    

Tires:        Maxxis Ikon 2.2      

Seat Post:    Raceface Ride    

Saddle:       WTB Volt Race

Oh ya duh, RS Recon 120 fork

Thanks again,

Aaron in Santa Cruz

26 Inch Ain't Dead Yet

A clean looking Analog single speed build.

Thanks to Tomi in Finland for the submission!

Soma Rohloff Fatbike Build

Our friends as Cycle Monkey have been testing the fatbike prototype in a few different configurations. Here's some shots of it's latest iteration, built with a Gates belt drive and Rohloff 14 speed IGH wheel and inverted suspension fork.

Andrew's 26" B-Side

Evan,

I saw your post on the 26" wheeled B-side.

I have been running 26” wheels exclusively on my B-side for over a year  In fact I purchased it with that intent.  I have the 13.5” model.

I have outfitted my bike with many of my favorite vintage components, and a few updated ones:  Rock Shox Revelation 90-135 coil spring fork.  9 speed XT drivetrain with compact 5 bolt cranks, 44/32/20 chain rings, XT rear derailleurs,  XT 12x34 cassette, Dura Ace shifters with Paul’s Thumbies mounts.  Avid BB7 brakes.  Mavic wheels with WTB Mutano-Raptor 2.5/Nano-Raptor 2.1 tires.  30 degree sweep handlebar with Ergon grips.  Cane Creek Thud Buster ST post.  

I have been riding MTBs since the late 70’s.   I have been through more bikes than I care to count. The B-side geometry is a perfect fit for me.  But even more than that, I can honestly say it is the best all around MTB I have ever ridden.  Then again, I also rather fond on my Soma Groove and ES as well.

Andrew Will