Sandworm Marin Test Ride

We had a little break from the rain this week, so I took the B+ Sandworm out to Marin to play in the mountains before it started up again. Here's some photos from the ride.

Fort Point SF

San Francisco Marina 

Wave Organ

Alcatraz 

Tennessee Valley 

Mt. Tamalpais 

Panaracer Fat B Nimble

Marin Headlands 

IRD Sylvan Brake Lever 

Soma Clarence Bars 

Muir Beach

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco Bay 

Crissy Field Marsh

Palace of Fine Arts 

Soma Sandworm

Librarian Quits Her Job to Ride Her Soma Saga Across America

Laurie Chipps says her goal for the trip was: "to encourage others to do what inspires them most, whether the smallest change or a similarly big adventure, not just to be envious. If you put your mind to something and follow through, you can make anything happen."

"I do want a career change, possibly empowering people to go on trips of their own or race bikes," Chipps said. "I'm hoping there are a lot of jobs in the outdoor adventure or tourism industry there. And if I can't find a job, Chicago will always be here."

Chipps has saved money for a year and gave away almost all of her furniture. Her last day of librarian duties was April 10, and this week she turned in her apartment keys.
She is currently on Day 53 of her ride near Pueblo, CO (where the sunset below was captured). We wish her the best.

She is  riding along the Adventure Cycling Association's Transamerica route, 
She is blogging about her experiences here.
The full interview with Laurie can be found on DNAInfo

Photos: Laurie Chipps

The Gator Bar Can Swallow the Junebug Bar!

We are introducing a fun new dirt drop/alt bar called the Gator. It's wide. It's alternative. Offer extra leverage. Lots of room in the grip area. And the 190mm grip area tapers from 23.8mm to 22.2mm, so it can take mountain grips and flat bar levers. Will take aero levers, too.

Specifications:

- 6061 butted aluminum
- Width: 655mm at ends, center-to-center
- Width: 505mm at front of drops, center-to-center
- Width of flats on top: 340mm
- Center: 31.8mm
- Drops flare out at 20° angle
- Weight: 400g
- No cable grooves
- Shotpeen finish
- Black or silver

The Gator's reach and bends are similar to the Junebug bar (and its 26.0mm cousin, the Portola). There is a a little more flare in the drops.
Not sure how to convey its exact "drop", since we usually run these bars with the drops angled, so it depends on where you position your hands and what angle you set the drops in. We expect some folks would maybe trim the drops down if they don't need all that space, but if you wanna run grip shifters, this is your ticket.

Soma Smoothie in Black

Here's our first build photos of the Slick Black version of the Smoothie road race frame. It features American Classic Victory wheels, Vredestein Freccia 23c tires, Foss tubes, Selle San Marco Ponza saddle and Ritchey Carbon post. The carbon fork is our own (This is the first time we've decided to do matching carbon forks for the Smoothie - not a big deal for the black we know, but the Smoothie also comes in white). Matching lugged steel fork is also available. Rounding out the build is SRAM Apex and Yokozuna Reaction cables.

Build courtesy of Citizen Chain

Soma Fabrications Marks 10th Anniversary

Soma Fabrications began with a discussion between Jim Porter of Merry Sales and Bradley Woehl of American Cyclery back in early 2000. Bradley observed that there were almost no more steel bikes out in the market, especially bikes that could be adapted easily for urban use. He had spoken with big brand bicycle sales reps about bringing back steel, but his requests fell on deaf ears.  Eventually Brad approached Jim about the idea. Jim saw the potential. And thus Soma was born.

The first Soma frames were unveiled at Interbike on September 29, 2001. It was an exciting but somber week. 9/11 had the country in a cautious daze.  We were afraid of low turn-out at the show and I’m sure the thought of having our flight hijacked flitted through each of our minds at least once when we were getting ready to leave for the show. Hotel rates in Vegas were at bargain basement rates, so instead of staying at the Vagabond Inn, we treated ourselves to the posh Venetian Hotel which is conveniently connected to the convention center. The four frame line (Double Cross, Smoothie, Groove and Rush) enjoyed a decent if subdued introduction to the world, but we did have a number of industry folks including  Kona dropping by to wish us well – which was very encouraging.

One of the first Smoothies ever built.
Photo taken front of American Cyclery

So this month we are officially marking Soma Fabrications’ 10^th anniversary.  Ten years of producing frames, parts and accessories for the “everyday cyclist” To help commemorate this occasion, we commissioned illustrator and muralist, Mona Caron, to produce a poster for us. We think the piece turned out beautiful and it will definitely help inspire us to keep producing practical gear for everyday cycling.

Look for offset printed posters as well as art quality giclee’ prints available in a month or so. Also look for celebratory contests, special deals and raffles on the SOMAfeed blog and Facebook fan page for the rest of the year. (UPDATE 11/26/11: Poster is available for purchase here and bike shops can stock them too.)

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.