The Drake was originally released in 2018. It was our drop bar, disc brake off-road touring frame fitting 27.5 x 2.1 tires and offering more bottom bracket to ground clearance than a traditional touring bike and most gravel bikes too. It was well received except for the Press Fit BB shell. Steel frame fans seem a little more unaccepting of Press Fit than carbon super bike fans. For a variety of reasons we did not feel the need to revisit this model until the middle of Covid.
With the supply chain issues causing double digit percentage jumps in frame costs, we decided to maintain similar functionality and features, but avoid getting fancy and chasing trends to keep the model affordable.
• We equipped it with just 3 sets of bottle bosses and standard rack and fender eyelets and skipped the ubiquitous 3-pack mounts. If people want to use a frame bags, they can figure out how to use the straps most bags come with.
• The previous dropouts looked cool, but were heavy and pricey, so we went with Breezer style dropouts and a laser cut disc mounts. IS mounts, because flat mounts come with their own design issues when it comes to steel fabrication.
• Making a 650b/27.5 wheel only frame seemed to limit the interest. So we adjusted the design to work well with both 700c and 650b. Bottom bracket to ground clearance is still between a 26" MTB (a super popular touring platform in its heyday) and a modern gravel bike. Will handle tires up to 27.5 x 2.1" tires (27.5 x 42mm wide tires if using fenders) (Will also fit 700c tires up to 42mm)
• We kept the tried and true standards like compatibility with QR hubs, 1-1/8" headsets, IS brakes and of course the English threaded BB shell. We want it easy for folks to use parts sitting in the garage. And make it easy to also to flat bar builds. And even though 1x is the rage now, the Drake will fit 2x and 3x and chainrings up to 50-34t
• We are offering a good looking lugged crown steel fork as an option. It works with pannier rack and a mini rack. But since the axle-to-crown is a common 400mm, you can use a variety of CX/adventure/gravel forks.
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| Drake in Dark Teal colorway, size 58cm, with 700c wheels |
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| Drake in Champagne colorway, size 54cm, with 27.5" wheels |
• Tubing spec hasn't changed, because we didn't want ride quality to change or weight to go up. Tange Champion butted main tube is what we use. (Tange has stopped using the "Infinity" name on their tubes)
