Soma Rufus Mini Velo Bike Check

Just a quick dive into our first build up of a production Rufus frame set.
This is just one way to do it. You can build yours up anyway you want.


Bars: Nitto Higher Level 5" rise BMX'ish but aluminum
Stem: Soma Shotwell 90mm
Brake Levers: Dia-compe SS6 short pull
Brakes: Yokozuna Motoko Hybrid Hydraulic Cable Disc Brake, 160mm rotors. These are probably nicer brakes than you really need on this type of  bike. With the smaller wheels, you don't need big stopping power as larger wheels. Cheaper brakes and smaller rotors should work fine.
Grips: IRD Gordo
Pedals: Odyssey
Shifter: S-Ride M300 8-speed push-push trigger shifter
Rear Derailleur: S-Ride M300 short cage rear derailleur, no clutch
Tires: Vee Speedster 20 x 1.95" w/tubes
Wheels: Blacksnow 32h, w/cartridge bearing hubs
Cranket: New Albion XDS 44t, square taper
Cassette: S-Ride 8-speed, 11-32t
Saddle: Steve Potts Chinook, 150mm wide
Rear rack: Soma Rakku, aluminum

Pretty good heel clearance with bags when using the Soma 
Rakku rack. The Rakku fits perfect on the M5 rack eyelet.
The other eyelet is actually M6.

The frame is a size Small and Stan, who has been riding it around is about 5'6" and has the 350mm seatpost just about at the limit. A taller or more long legged person should opt for a 400mm post. Saddle and bar height match his 52cm Fog Cutter build.

So far, he has taken it so far on a grocery run, a ride down to Ocean Beach, and a visit to Japantown for the Nihonmachi street fair, which cut through Golden Gate Park and the panhandle and coming back he took a route took up past the Painted Ladies.

It fits in a Fit

Some of Stan's remarks:

- Feels punchier on short climbs than with bigger wheels. While the bike is not necessarily lighter than his Fog Cutter, it just feels easier to get the pedals to start turning. Probably because the smaller wheels take less torque to get going. This is a real world benefit if your routes has tons of stop signs or if you aren't a very fit rider.

- With the Soma Rakku Rack installed even the largest pannier he had resulted in no heel clip. This is with 165mm cranks and size 8 shoes. Easier to mount and dismount with dual panniers than on a road bike.

- Didn't feel twitchy, felt pretty normal riding through traffic, which was expected since the wheelbase is fairly close to the Fog Cutter. Pretty composed hitting speed bumps which are all over the city these days. He did get surprised by a hard-to-see mini-sink hole, but those can be scary on most wheel sizes. You definitely have to me more careful of road depressions with smaller wheels.

- Fits in the back of a Honda Fit with the Magic Seats folded up with out needing to twist the bars in a weird way. Just take off front wheel and roll it in.

Fender clearance and kickstand plate.

You might think that with the rack sitting this much lower, that bags would
be dragging the ground. Actually the bag height was more ideal for this 5'6" rider.
Easier to swing a leg over double grocery panniers when mounting. He could also mount and dismount by stepping over the top tube.

Your ride experience with Rufus may be different from Stan's.
Stan is over 50 and mostly does short rides. He describes himself as out of shape, but not as bad as a few years ago. He is still someone that hates any climbing. Besides the version 1 Fog Cutter, he also has a 1997 Breezer Storm. 

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

Bringing Back the Mini Velo and the rim-brake Buena Vista

The original Soma Mini Velo complete bike.
It was a challenge back then to find a rear rack to fit it.
But it is 2018, so can you imagine
how big a frame bag could fit on this?

The Mini Velo project we embarked on almost 8 years ago was not a smashing success in terms of sales. The majority of American bike enthusiasts just didn't see the logic or inspiration for a bike with smaller wheels.

Is America ready now? We don't know. Based on our embrace for huge cell phones, large pick up trucks, and fat bikes, probably not. BUT we do know that even after retiring it, our original post about it still continued to get a significant number of visits. And we will get a desperate e-mail every blue moon from someone telling us we need to bring it back.

So we have decided to produce a few framesets -- not complete bikes as before -- and will be marketing it under our sister brand -  New Albion Cycles. So you crazy kids can build it up with drop bars, pursuit bars or townie/riser bars.

No photos for you yet, but it will be matte red and have the same component needs of the Soma Mini Velo ---- cantilever brakes, recumbent type 20" wheels (not BMX), and quill stem. Same Tange tubing. Almost the same geometry.
Probably ready to sell before December.    UPDATE: Check out the New Albion Microbrew now.
#newalbionmicrobrew

What is a Mini Velo?
The Mini Velo for the uninitiated is a small wheel (usually 20") bike with a rigid non-folding frame. It has been a common category of bike in Japan for years now. Mainly they are specced as affordable city cruisers.  Some big brands that have released urban style mini velos in the US include Cannodale and Orbea. Respect is a small company that sells fixed gear mini velos.
But mini velos have only reached critical mass in Japan and Southeast Asia, where they can take a number of forms -- upright urban bikes, fixies, light touring, mini-cargo, and even straight-up road race bikes.

Why would you need a Mini Velo?
Mini velos are super compact which makes a whole lot of sense if you live in a small apartment or one of those cute tiny houses. They are also easier to maneuver onto the subway or elevators if you are a bike commuter.


Why would you want a Mini Velo?
Most of us aren't that hard up on space. And some of us could care less if a co-worker doesn't like us dragging our full sized bike into as elevator with them.

So what else would attract someone into getting one?

1) Quicker acceleration off the line: 20" wheels spin up faster and easier. A semi-racey mini velo will get a jump on a 700c carbon wonder bike every time.
So with a mini velo might have you not minding slowing down at intersections -- you know -- because you don't want to lose your momentum.

2) For the thrills: Short wheelbase and small tires mean most are more responsive than criterium track bike. Perfect for dodging potholes that are always a threat at ruining your day on a 20" wheel bike whether it is a mini-velo, folding bike or BMX. They have a smaller tire patch too.

If you are riding one at speed, you will want to be extra alert and that might make you a better rider.

3) Show off that big ring: With small wheels you need a full size crank to give you the right gearing.
So you can be in 53t big ring all the time, even when your buddies shift down to their 34t a couple of miles ago.

4) All bicycles have their charm and you believe in the n + 1 Rule.


Other News:

We added disc brake compatibility and sliding drop-outs to our mixte frame and we thinks it hella dope. And most of you did, too. But we also started fielding calls asking "Is the rim brake one really gone?" So we are considering bringing the rim brake version back in a limited sizes and quantities.