Soma Triple Cross Brake Reach

If you're not a serious bike nerd you may want to take a pass on this one. If you are, then listen up.

Now that we have the new Triple Cross stainless frames in stock we pulled one out and threw an IRD B76 caliper on it and voila! It works.

The pads are at the very bottom of the slot, so other brakes like the Tektro R559 which have a shorter reach probably won't work for this trick. Now before the disc brake mafia get's up in arms about stopping power, we know okay! You'll get better stopping with a disc brake than a super long caliper. But somtimes there are situations where you have all the parts from another non disc build and you want to get it finished and this trick will make it all come together. IRD sell this brake singly so no need to buy an extra if you only need the rear.

The brake bridge even takes a recessed brake bolt, so no need to worry about using a nutted caliper.

FYI, if you like this setup, but you want a little more stopping power the new Dia Compe 750 recessed centerpull brake should also work if you use a cable hanger mounted to the seatpost binder.

Prototype Big Boi Fat Fork

In light of all the Fat Bike frenzy coming out of this years NAHBS show we thought we would share something we've been working on.

This is a 135mm O.L.D. version of our venerable Juice 29er fork made by Tange. It features low rider and fender eyelets and a copious amount of tire clearance.

To illustrate our point, here a picture of it with three tires inside. As you can see there's room to spare. Now before you ask, no we aren't making a fat bike. No yet anyway. This is a 29er fat front fork. The axle to crown is identical to our standard 29er fork, so you can run a single speed rear wheel on the front for regular trail riding, and back country touring. Then when you're ready to get gnar you can swap it out for a fattly shod 26" wheel and hit the big stuff.

Since this is just a sample we'll need to put some miles on it before we offer them up to y'all, but don't worry, we'll keep you in the loop. Respect to Jeff Jones for pioneering this kind of nonsense.

Stolen Bike Alert

One of our employee had three bikes stolen from his backyard in San Bruno yesterday. Among the bikes stolen was the one of a kind V.1 Pick Up Artist prototype. We haven't shipped any of these yet so as of right now it's the only one anywhere outside of our warehouse.

The other two bikes were a custom built Schwinn Voyager with a Cardiff Saddle, bar end shifters and Soma Terracotta tires.

The other is a custom built handmade Celmins road frame also sporting some Soma Terra Cotta New Xpress tires, Rivendell Downtube Shifters and Soma Highway 1 Bars with an IRD stem.

If you see any of these bikes, or you have any information that could help of track them down, hit us up at somainfo (at) somafab.com or call our toll free number 1 800-245-9959 and dial 1 and ask for Evan. We will hook you up with some Soma schwag for your troubles. These are all very unique bikes so keep your eye open and pass the word along.

Please share on Twitter, Facebook, Google + and anywhere else you can think of!

Eleanor Moseman Interview on goingsoloadventure.blogspot.com

A great interview here with Eleanor who traveled across Asia on a Soma Saga.

More info can be found on her website http://www.wandercyclist.com/