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well first off, because it’s my latest obsession turned passioné. much like a good olive oil — its the flavor that makes the dish. the flavor I am talking about is the much overlooked modulating maven of a stopper, the mid reach road caliper. if you’d like a run down of the options of said calipers out there, I would highly recommend checking out this helpful blog post from Black Mountain Cycles from 2016. I am running the ultegra BR-R600 on this bike, but Shimano sells those now under the badge of R451. they state they will only clear a 32mm tire, but they do up to 38mm all day long if the bridges are in the right place. on this bike, the bridges are indeed perfectly placed for mid reach maximization.

I think I had this bike once before — I believe these were grand bois cypress 700×30 tires. I was in LA to do the rapha team race thing in 2013. I was looking into the sun so thats the look im giving

if you are reading this, then you have likely been through the several filters put in place by Big Bike, and maybe even a brainwashed shop employee or “friend”. blah blah blah, discs this discs that. well there are plenty of options out there for the brainwashed shop employee and “friend” — but for you … the connoisseur … there is no production bike where future proof maximum performance meets low/no BS. drum roll …UNTIL NOW!

the mid reach caliper allows for some of the best/simplest set up and modulation, whilst clearing practical modern tires. we all know by now that higher volume tires are faster, even on the pro’s race bikes. what was once a 20-23mm 130psi game is now a 30-35mm 60-80 psi new world! this is not BS tech (well not all of it), and is generally what’s missing from pre disc road bikes, and why disc road bikes get to have all the fun and attention these days.

in my frenzy to bolster and defend the lowly mid reach caliper, I nearly forgot about my typical fork rant

when you ride a bike you are really riding the fork. it is the 2nd line of defense after the front tire does it’s job. carbon forks are not only as unsightly as a bulky battery operated electronic groupset, their shaping and safety checks often times translate to a jittery stiffened ride (the exception being the round bladed Wound Up fork). look at how carbon forks, spec’d on carbon and steel bikes, have shapes optimized for aerodynamics over comfort.

I would also argue that any fork braced for the forces a disc brake creates at the bottom of the blades will ride significantly worse than a steel fork made with the near zero leverage created by the brake mount at the crown. this allows for a much lighter and better riding blade to be used. sometimes saving upwards of 400g in the fork alone when compared to a disc steel fork. again not to mention the ride quality increase. sure carbon forks are light, but they are homogenous, unsightly and lazy IMO — IMO –thats what you are here for right?? when it comes to a round tubed bicycle, the fork should not look so out of place.

it should be round. it should be skinny. it should be steel!

i had been running the UD cava 700×33 since building this bike up, but just switched to the 700×39.? which measure 38 on these velocity quills. they fit great as you can see from the photos above, but you do have to squeeze them a little to pass through the calipers when putting the wheels on. still takes less time than a thru-axle though.

where do disc brakes practically belong?

my mind thinks disc brakes belong on suspended bikes (where the fork flex is nil and handled by other technology), or bikes ridden in harsh climates where discs certainly stop better. the majority of you aren’t riding in those kinds of climates the majority of the time you ride. what are you giving up? well cashé for one thing. comfort, simplicity, weight, and most of all aesthetics. if you don’t agree, then look at what a high end road bike looks like these days ….

granted a lot of this is aerodynamic optimization, but dang. maybe I should erase this photo … no I will leave it in for impact. don’t make me post a photo of Bianchi’s high end offerings!

now that there are so many fast options in plump tires out there for road bikes, I have gotten way back into them. of course we at UD make a 33 and a 38, and yes, those are considered road tires these days. the 38 is near as fast as a 30, if not faster in many cases, and also handles any kind of rough road connector/exploratory decision that you might encounter whilst out on your “road ride”. road bikes with mid reach clearances are not one dimensional like the road bikes of the past few decades.

so this is a production bike??

yes it is, but not yet! Darren Larkin of Larkin Cycles in Deep River CT tig’d this frame up for me right before I drove west last month. it is very much a sample, hence the no paint. I wanted something with similar geo to my Beach Club (Darren also built), but with my more granular notes. a light steel fork, sloping top tube, mid reach brakes with the bosses in the right spots to maximize clearances. We plan on offering this as a pre order early summer —

high performance rim brake all metal bikes made in the USA built around modern tire sizes with room for a full sized frame pump. seems silly that has to be a thing… but in 2024, thats a fringe biz model!

sloping geo??

yes, it works. it not only looks best with a straight blade fork — but it is extremely comfortable, as the majority of the road/trail shock is absorbed by the cantilevering seat post. think of it as a low tech solution to a thud buster or cobble cobbler seat post. I will say it again, FRAMES DO NOT FLEX HORIZONTALLY, only seat posts can do that. so sloping it is! the next round of Alumaliths will also feature more slope to take advantage of this. if your bike is lugged or has a curve in the fork blades, then keep that TT level or less than 7 percent slope… there are rules here folks!

so thats the report on this bike for now. wonder what color we should go with? I was thinking some shade of lavender. okay, enough opinionated jibber jabber, I’m taking this bike out for a ride!

XO R.R.