Bassi ATB Prototype

Well, here it is! The yet-to-be-named off-road oriented fun-mobile we’ve been working on lately. We had one of each size made (S, M, L) as prototypes to test, and test we did!

What is it?

A dedicated off-road exploration and fun-having steel-tubed machine. If the Hog’s Back is our true all-road tourer, this is our all-terrain explorer! Run it rigid or squishy up front, single-speed or with a cake plate-sized cassette, load it up with all your camping gear and accessories and get lost for weeks on end or get shreddy on the home trails you know like the back of your hand.

It’s built around 27.5 x 3” tires across all sizes, BOOST spacing front and rear, rocking dropouts, 73mm threaded bottom bracket, internal dropper-post routing, rigid fork or up to 130mm suspension.

We designed it for our favourite off-road activities: exploring trails, paths and “roads” for days on end, and navigating rocky, rooty, mossy singletrack.

Eyelets on the fork and the main and rear triangles, on top of plenty of room for a frame bag, mean you can pack it with just about anything you’d ever need for that remote escapade you’ve been day-dreaming about.

As lifelong fans of steel XC mountain bikes, we couldn’t overlook giving a nod to Chris Igleheart and the classic East Coast aesthetic he inspired with his iconic segmented forks.

R&D, and what’s to come

We purposely left one of the frames raw so our in-house torch heads could have some fun! One key element we absolutely want for this frame is single speed compatibility. You might notice that the dropouts originally don’t come with set screws or with any other sort of slip-proof mechanism. Even with all 6 dropout bolts set real tight, there was some slipping on the single speed prototype. After lots of discussing and sketching and some cutting and welding, we found a solution we’re able to test out. Beefing up part of the dropout in order to add a set screw might just be the way to go. Definitely stay tuned for further developments!

How will it be available?

On top of being available as a frameset, we might offer two stock build options:

1. Bikepacking: Rigid, no dropper post, 3” tires to maximize floatation and comfort, and a touring-friendly handlebar (we’re currently working on that too!).
2. Trail: suspension fork, dropper post, knobby trail tires and riser bars.

There would obviously be a bit of a price difference between the two options, but both these builds showcase what the frame was designed to do, and do well.

A lot of details still need to be ironed out, but we’ll hopefully have a better idea of the specifics sometime soon.

When will it be available?

Well…if the last two years have taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t make any timeline-related promises. Production is currently very backed up, so we probably won’t be seeing these until late 2023.

Indoor shots by Troy

Outdoor shots by Roberto and Fabien