Black Mountain Cycles Road, Soon…
Whenever I find something I want, I always think to myself, “I’ll get it someday”.
I’m not the type of person who would talk about it to everybody around, but I believe that if I keep that wish on my mind, I could achieve it
And well, one of my wishes came true recently. A big one that is.
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This Black Mountain Cycles bike that unfortunately discontinued in 2020, the Road model is back!
Judging by the comments in the post, I can say that there are some like minded comrades who are excited about this reissue out there.
The story goes back to 2023…
Two years ago, we visited the Black Mountain Cycles shop in Point Reyes. (Thank you Mike-san for having us) There, I asked Mike if he would ever bring back the Road frames.
He shared about the changes in the manufacturing background, post pandemic and the reality of the demands in “that type of bike”, so the conversation for the Road frame didn’t go much far back then.
However, this genre of bikes were what got me into the bike culture and my passion for this specific bike was still living in my head, so I asked Mike again to bring back the Road frames.
When Black Mountain Cycles started as a bike brand, the Monstercross and the Road were the two main models they produced. The Road was one of the two bikes that symbolized the brand.
Disc brakes are known to have more functionality and has become the standard for bicycles today. There are many reasons that I wanted Black Mountain to bring this type of bike that most people may consider “old-fashion”.
The majority of road bikes today are about wireless this, hydraulic that, aero this…all that mumbo jumbo. I feel like they are high tech electronic devices, rather than a bicycle.
Although everything is becoming so complicated, I do get impressed with the evolution of technology whenever I try out the recent road bikes or components, but then again, I would always think that “simple good looking road bikes” are disappearing from the market.
Yes, there are a few companies who still makes a classic rim brake road bike, but most of them do not click to me, due to the small tire clearance, brand background, etc…
However, the Black Mountain Cycles Road had everything I needed for a road bike. (The bike in the picture is founder Mike’s first gen. Road)
Generally, a road bike that we imagine could fit up to 28mm tires and usually designed to ride very fast. The Black Mountain Road is different. It is designed to fit a maximum of 35mm tires and designed with “comfort” as the main focus, rather than speed.
Fun fact; The “mama-chari” which are the most common types of bikes in the Japanese cycling culture, are mostly designed around 38mm.
The classic road bikes with small tire clearance are what we imagine when we hear the term “road bike”, but they are just bikes that are meant to ride fast on pavement, which is far from how we ride on daily basis.
I’m pretty sure every bike shop person has worked on those classic road bikes, that someone abandoned due to the lack of comfort and was gifted to another person.
We should not blame “road bikes”. I believe that all of this caused by the fact that the bikes can only fit skinny tires.
Now, let’s look at the modern road bikes. (The bike in the image is our staff Daichi’s ENVE Melee, an ultimate modern road bike)
Wider tires were proven to be faster in the road racing scene. The variety of road tires have increased rapidly for the past few years.
This means that the tire size that fit nicely on “medium reach road bikes” have become the new standard, despite the fact that mid reach bikes being a genre that really never stood out.
Medium reach road bikes had existed for quite a while, but we did not have many options for tires for a long time, but we now have so many options that are perfect for them. Funny how life works.
A medium reach road bike that the living legend who I truly respect had designed, was just something that I had to get my hands on…
While I was nerding out about medium reach road bikes, Ultraromance had also wrote an interesting article about the same topic. He had order made a medium reach road bike with 38mm clearance, which was considered to be physically impossible. (3mm makes a huge difference in bike design)
I honestly though that this beyond a road bike and is rather a gravel bike, but I was dumb to classify his creations into a genre.
The logo design on this frame is a tribute to Eddie Merckx, who is a legendary road racer who left a huge impact on the road racing scene.
The Molteni Orange is an iconic color in the history of road racing. I believe that using this color is a way of Mike paying respect to the road bike scene.
(Mike’s personal bike)
The frames have arrived at Blue Lug and we are currently preparing for the release.
Some of our staffs, including myself built the bike, and are currently testing the bike out,.
BlackMountainCycles ROAD (50)
Cho, from our product designing team used most of the parts from his old Bianchi to build up the Molteni Orange frame.
The great thing about this bike is that it can take all the old road parts and build a road bike that feels comfortable to ride daily.
Old road bikes are limited to fit skinny tires, which causes stress for riders, due to the stiffness and from constantly minding the small bumps on the road. This unconscious stress leads to people abandoning the bike.
Cho had felt this stress with his old Bianchi, so when this frame arrived, it was time for a change for him.
Wheels and drive train were transferred to the Black Mountain smoothly. I chose the Velo Orange calipers, which is one of my favorite parts. These brakes enables the bike to have larger tire clearance.
The build was complete after the tracing of the riding position and installing a few parts needed from the new brake calipers.
I was able to finish the frame swap within a few hours, which is definitely a strong point for these simple rim brake road bikes, compared to a modern road bike filled with complicated technology.
The simple style of a caliper brake road bike, is one of the big reasons that I love this genre so much, but I also love that I am able to move my hands and build up the bike by myself, without getting bothered by technology. This is what a bike is supposed to be.
A simple looking bike still grabs my heart, rather than the “convenience” of technology. I believe that this form of bike is the answer to all cyclists who enjoy cycling on a daily basis.
Mike who designed this frame, 20 years ago and a few other people in the industry who had the similar idea, had already discovered this answer, but I believe that they did not become widely known, due to some kind of conditions.
That said, those bikes were necessary and sufficient for many people. High quality tires for the mid reach road bikes, the final piece of the puzzle that was lacking back then are being largely produced.
It is finally time for this frame to shine.
The “黒山自行車” (Black Mountain Cycles in Mandarin) is a decal that we made with Mike’s permission. It doesn’t come with the frame, but we’ll hand them if you have a Black Mountain Cycles bike.
The logo was a default for older generations of the bikes, which was there to pay respect to Taiwan, a country where most of bicycle manufacturers are located.
Rear brake requires full cable housing for the tunnel cable guides.
A wide tire clearance of 35c.
Ultradynamico 33.3C Cava Race Tires
Many people may think about gravel tires and off road tires for UD, but they also cover the pavement riding. They both have a road racing background, so it perfectly makes sense.
Some people may not know that these tires were designed for riding pavement. I also love how well it looks with the Molteni Orange.
Brooks Swallow Saddle, matching Microfiber Bartape and Nitto All Road Bar Plus.
They also made another color of the frame.
BlackMountainCycles ROAD (53)
Navy blue. A nice color that blends in with the urban environment. I think it’s a nice contrast to the orange.
Some like minded people as Mike have often felt that this bike would be better if “riding fast” was not the first priority, even on paved roads, and it has continued to take shape to the extent that it is now recognized as a niche genre.
The versatility that is given to the bike due to it being free from the concept of speed, also makes the bike a “vague concept”, but this “vagueness” is the bike’s number one charm.
Gravel bikes originally had the same type of “vagueness” in the past, it’s just that the industry had picked it up and became a trend, whereas the mid reach road bikes didn’t.
Samba from the Yoyogi-Park store had built up his Road with a flat bar. A nice build to ride casually in Tokyo.
Sure, the model name of the bike is “Road”. The important thing is that it is a “road bike”, not a “road racer”.
According to Mike, a road bike and a road racer had pretty much the same meaning back then, but they became two different things over time.
I selfishly feel that the “racer’s mindset” that pervades not only road bikes but also other types of bikes has distorted and changed many things, and thin tires are the embodiment of this.
We don’t care about the time it took us to cross the finish line. We care more about the food we eat and checking out some fun spots in the place we rode to and this bike is the ideal for people like that.
I of course got this bike for myself, but this post is getting long, so I will write a separate post about the build.
Lastly, go check out this video if you like nerdy bike stuff. It’s got English subtitles too!
Thank you for reading.
