I'd heard this was coming.

They've just realeased a picture.

I thought that was the 'Trail' bike and the 'bikepacking' bike would be along shortly?

I thought that was the 'Trail' bike and the 'bikepacking' bike would be along shortly?

Their words

All Mountain 650b+ test frame out. Fully rigid bikepacking frame

Fully rigid bikepacking frame

Arse and elbow from someone over there then Is it just the picture or does that chain look a couple of links too short?

This is what I was told this morning.

The rigid titanium bikepacking frame will be here in a week or so and we will get it ready to ride and post some more pictures.

Is it just the picture or does that chain look a couple of links too short?

Sure does.

Am I being daft, that has front suspension so is not fully rigid?

Am I being daft, that has front suspension so is not fully rigid?

Arse and elbow from someone over there then

Presume this is from Brant's new PACT bikes business??

Am I being daft, that has front suspension so is not fully rigid?

<guessing>

maybe the forks are on their way.

</guessing>

I have to say if I was designing a bike for bikepacking then massively hydroformed tubing would not be on my list of construction materials as frame bags will never sit well on them :(

Personally, I wouldn't have chosen Ti either. Surely the cost implications must limit your potential customer base ... it would certainly prevent me from buying one, no matter how good the product

oh dear.

Who's the designer?

Arse and elbow from someone over there then Is it just the picture or does that chain look a couple of links too short?

This is what I was told this morning.

The rigid titanium bikepacking frame will be here in a week or so and we will get it ready to ride and post some more pictures.

Update.

the 650b+ all mountain- fully rigid setup to arrive soon

I can ease the uncertainty and confusion, by all accounts there will be 3 models.

A 650b+ rigid Ti forked bikepacking type bike ... samples are due to arrive mid-Feb
A Fargo / Vaya type bike
An 'All Mountain' type bike ... THIS IS THE ONE IN THE PICTURES

All Ti to begin with but hopefully steel variants will also appear.

As you were.

Oh god a new genre - the bike packing bike. I thought the whole point of bikepacking (and all the weird shaped bags) was that you could use any mountainbike, even a full bouncer. People may choose to use rigids for simplicity's sake but you don't need to tag them as 'bikepacking' its just a fecking bike for christ sake

htrider wrote:Oh god a new genre - the bike packing bike. I thought the whole point of bikepacking (and all the weird shaped bags) was that you could use any mountainbike, even a full bouncer. People may choose to use rigids for simplicity's sake but you don't need to tag them as 'bikepacking' its just a fecking bike for christ sake

It's the nature of the beast that is business: an opportunity comes along and you exploit it. Just look at the genres of mountain bike: Downhill; XC; Enduro; Trail; etc ... at the end of the day they are just two wheels joined together by a frame and with a pair of pedals to connect the rider to the drive system.

In all fairness to Alpkit, it was me that described it as a 'bikepacking' bike in an attempt to limit confusion.

Alpkit described the 3 models like this;

A bike to traverse the mountains on.
A bike to ride to the mountains on.
A bike to ride down the mountains on.

How about a bike to ride to the mountains, ride around and up the mountains and then down them. All while carrying luggage.

Or is that not allowed?

ir_bandito, I agree, one and the same ideally but people love all that N+1 stuff and specialisation.

Good luck to AK here, pretty sure they've wanted to dabble in frames for a while so this doesn't seem anything out of the blue. And it's about time Nick and Kenny got off those shonky old iOs

How about a bike to ride to the mountains, ride around and up the mountains and then down them. All while carrying luggage.

Or is that not allowed?

Obviously that's pretty much what we all do now and on a very wide range of bikes but I suppose the world in general needs labels, boxes and pigeon holes ... I believe the difference between 'Duro and All Mountain can be as much as 15mm

Hey
That shonky old io has twice won the lightest bike, at wrt, I have you now.

Admittedly with some key players out on other rides.

Nick

Hi Nick : ) It has, and you're a braver man than me taking a SS to mid Wales!
Good to see them getting so well used over the years.

s8tannorm wrote: Alpkit described the 3 models like this;

A bike to traverse the mountains on.
A bike to ride to the mountains on.
A bike to ride down the mountains on.

So are Alpkit going to produce a 2 bike trailer to tow behind your "ride to the mountains on" bike while carrying your bike backing luggage of the "ride" bike?
Then at the botton of the hill you swap your bike and luggage over, then at the top your swap over again?

Surely they are missing a trick, what about "A bike to ride up the mountain on" and another bike "to ride back from the mountain on"? Or wouldn't they fit on the trailer?

More details on the Alpkit bikes over on OutdoorsMagic, which seems a strange place to find it

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/gear-news/ ... 14249.html

Rear stays remind me of the new Ti Stooge and the idea of oval top tube to stabilise frame bag / top tube bags seems a good idea. I can't quite put my finger on it but whole bike looks a bit wrong to me.

Any idea who makes the rear light?
Nick did show me it but I promptly forgot.