Got A New Riff to Show You! ( And the B-Side Name is Retired)

We came up with the B-Side name mainly to help Kirk Pacenti create buzz for 650B as a new mountain bike tire standard. We weren't alone on using puns: Carver Bikes had the Killer B and Haro had the Beasely. But that was over 10 years ago and we feel the name doesn't suit the times anymore. Our main reasons for thinking this?

1) MTB tire makers in their wisdom have chosen to put "27.5" on their sidewalls-- instead of using the original name 650B.

2) On a 45 record, side A had the song you bought the record for. The B-Side usually had a weaker track no one cared about. But now the 27.5" tire size is a huge hit on its own. So it hardly fits the role of the other tire size no one cares about.

We are making some significant changes to the frame this year, so it is as good a time as any to work in a new name.

So we give you the Riff (another music-themed name, a practice we started back in 2001 with the Groove).

New Features:

• IRD Broski sliding dropouts 
• New sizing and longer geometry
• 34.9mm seat tube to fit more models of dropper posts
• Dropper post internal routing on seat tube
• Paint: Pelham Blue, a classic color for electric guitars

What stays the same?

• Still is a trail-oriented hardtail frame designed for 120mm (or 100mm) travel forks and 27.5" wheels
• Fits 27.5" tires up to 2.8" without needing Boost parts 
• Belt drive option available
• Tange Prestige heat-treated CrMo steel tubing.
• Can handle 1-1/8" steerers as well as tapered steerers by using different lower headset assemblies
• Can take a front derailleur 

The Juice, our 29er hardtail, adopts the same new features and sizing scheme as well; however the Juice goes from SM to XL, while the Riff goes from XS to LG. Paint: Battleship Gray.

Geometry charts included below.

First production to arrive early June 2018.
Models will be added to the website next month

26 Inch Ain't Dead Yet

A clean looking Analog single speed build.

Thanks to Tomi in Finland for the submission!

Grant's Muddy Wolverine

Saw this build on Facebook and had to repost it.

Thanks for sharing Grant! #thislooksright

In stock now! Call your local Soma dealer or >>> store.somafab.com

Robert's Wolverine Single Speed Build

Thought you might like to see the wolverine in it's first experimental build:

What a great ride, fits me like a glove. 

Thank you! 

Wolverines have arrived!

In case you didn't know.

http://www.somafab.com/archives/product/wolverine

See more pictures here >>> http://bit.ly/1nPvVfa

Second Coming of the Soma B-Side

Only MD and LG sizes available now.

The 650b MTB platform has not taken the mountain bikedom by storm. Are we surprised? Not really. Even back in 2007, we never thought or hoped it would supplant either of the more established tire sizes. We felt it had its place as the "happy medium".... a tire size that would be ride ideal for some riders... mainly those who felt (in their opinion) 29ers were a little to unwieldy and slow and were willing to give up a little of the 29ers rolling advantage to get back some of a manuevering quickness of a 26" bike. No doubt it has done just that for some mountain bikers. Some have said they won't be going back to 29ers or 26ers.
So that is why we are continuing with the B-Side, even if it doesn't sell as well as our Juice or Analog frames.
The version 2 B-Side still features our custom spec of double butted Tange Prestige heat-treated CrMo tubing. It does boast some notable upgrades, including Tange/IRD stainless steel sliding dropouts. These offer the rider single-speed and geared set up options with fewer hassles than a track-style "dropout" and lighter weight than an eccentric bottom bracket. The dropouts include eyelets for fenders, but there are no rack mounts. We don't expect too many to run fenders on this bike, but it doesn't hurt to include them.


We also tweaked the geometry so tall riders don't have to raise the seatpost quite as much (a comment from some owners). Some riders will still need a 400mm post. Other geometry changes include a shorter chainstays overall and a longer top tube on the 16.5". Integrated seat clamp is gone (again at the request of our fans).
The bike is still designed around the length of a White Brothers 80mm travel 650b fork; however we expect most folks to fit a 100mm travel 26" fork on the B-Side, which is about the same length.
If you are looking for top shelf hardtail option for 650b that's versatile, too, look no further than the new B-Side in its stately matte Gun Metal Blue finish. Sizes medium and large available now (no ETA on the other sizes) Geometry is posted below. We will not be including on the main site, until the new page design is ready. Sorry about that.

Introducing the Soma Analog

Click on image to zoom (+)

Our new 26" wheel cross-country trail bike doesn't feature any never-thought-of-before pivot locations. It doesn't have any acronyms tacked to its name. Its tubes don't have fancy bloated shapes. BUT neither does it require a mechanical engineering degree to explain how exceptional a ride it can be. While most bikes flaunt their technology (being "digital"), we search to bring out the soul of a bike ("analog").

The Analog features our time-tested spec of Tange Prestige double butted heat-treated CrMo tubing with modern XC geometry. It has a longer top tube than our Groove frame and is optimized for 100mm travel forks. We did put fender eyelets on, but we don't feel many of the buyers of this frame will use them. This frame is more about off-road fun than utility. We do want to point out the elegant Tange stainless steel Sliding Dropouts, which greatly simplifies your ability to change the build from single speed to geared. Maybe the look isn't as clean as using an eccentric bottom bracket, but they are a few grams lighter, plus this is mountain biking... how much do we care about clean?

We gave it a classic look with the panels and the blue we picked will look really nice with a Fox fork. (We are calling it "Pacific Blue" after that award winning TV show from the 90's.... with (hubba hubba) Paula Trickey and Mario Lopez) The ride is balanced and compliant and rides lighter than it actually is. It won't have the clunky overbuilt feel of some entry to mid-level steel bikes you might have tried.

Available to our distributors and shops next week.

UPDATE 12-21-10: Geometry is up.