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.

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