Introducing the Pinecone // Our Retro Inspired All-Terrain Frame
I guess the best way to introduce a totally new product is to give an insight into the design process, where did those first seeds of thought and excitement come from that led to us developing the Pinecone. In this case, it started in almost the exact way our first ever track frame came about 15 years ago. Our desire to make something that we personally wanted to own and use, that wasn’t readily available at the time.
We have been looking at vintage (80s, 90s and 00s) mountain bikes for some time now – we love the aesthetic, the component tech from that era and how versatile they are. They make perfect trail bikes, tourers, pub bikes – or all of the above. However, the really good ones are hard to find now and/or pretty expensive. We also found plenty of bikes out there which had really nice components, which deserved saving, but the frame wasn’t quite right – they were either damaged, the wrong size or just not very nice!
That’s not to say they’re not out there and that it’s not worth looking for them. Giving a new lease of life to a secondhand frame is always a great option; but it did get us thinking about what a modern version of these bikes might look like? So we went about designing one.
From the start there were some important features we wanted for the Pinecone; to not just give the ride we were after but also as an aesthetic nod to this bygone era of mountain biking.
At 440mm the chainstays are longer than what you might find on a modern frame, it’s nimble enough to get loose on the trails whilst still being nice and planted for longer rides. This pairs perfectly with a 70 degree head angle, just the right amount of slack for varied riding. We’ve constructed the Pinecone out of skinny chromo steel tubing which we’ve heat treated for extra strength – this gives the frame a super fun and forgiving feel on rough surfaces. Finally, a 1 1/8 headtube and relatively level top tube add to the Pinecone’s retro aesthetic. And, of course, the tubing is ED coated to protect against corrosion.
To make the Pinecone as versatile and useful as possible there are also some modern touches – features that we miss when riding a 30 year old mtb. Most notably it’s designed to run 650b wheels with tyre clearance up to 2.6″ (potentially more at a squeeze) and can take both rim and disc brake. The thinking behind this is simple, we think v-brakes are great and there are plenty of really good second hand options out there. The Avid Arch Rivals, fitted to our demo bike, were picked up for a bargain off ebay, provide all the stopping power you could ever need and look amazing! That being said, you can’t argue with the strength and reliability of disc brakes; so the Pinecone has attachment points for both. Also, another benefit of disc brakes, is that you can technically run whatever wheel size you want – 700c or 26″, no problem.
At the rear we’ve used horizontal dropouts to allow easy single-speed setup, or use our derailleur hanger insert which comes with the frame if you want to run gears. Up front there’s a tough segmented fork with triple mounts on each fork blade for extra carrying capacity if you want to pack the Pinecone up for a longer trip.
We’ve had a prototype built up since last year and all I can say is this bike is SO much fun, it’s exactly what we had in mind when we started designing it. The geometry feels super comfortable yet nice and playful when you want it. It’s not really a mountain bike, but more of an all-terrain bike; happily switching from tarmac to gravel tracks and a few bits of flowy single-track. We built ours into a woodland ripper, a kind of modern day clunker and it feels like exactly that. This first ride (pictured) was probably only 20km but full of childish fun; skidding round every corner, hopping over logs and failing (still at 40 years old) at being able to wheelie…
We’re excited to say that the Pinecone is now in production and we aim to release them in the summer – more details coming soon including a more in-depth look at our own demo bike and how we decided to build it.