The FARWELL—Ready and waiting for mud season to pass.
Most that might read our blog likely don’t live in Steamboat. They live in other areas that don’t have a long drawn-out winter like we do. Town is just over 6700′ with the continental divide hovering just just above us at a little over 10,000′. Steamboat can be one of the snowiest places you may ever visit. Average snow fall is right around the 350 inch mark. All of this can lead to a long drawn out wait until the trails open up. What to do with that time in-between known as MUD SEASON? Build a new bike? OKAY…..sounds good.
Enter the FARWELL—-
When we introduced the FARWELL (late summer of ’16) we wanted a bike that could rail flowy berms, steep and rocky trails and be a go-to cross country adventure machine that could also take a set of 29” x 2.25 wheels & tires when you want to mix it up a bit……Are hardtails dead? Not even close…..
This FARWELL is finished off with our Root Beer Brown anodized finish option.
The modern day hardtail has benefited from several advancements and industry “standards” and we have adopted many of them to build a stand out bike that can be as versatile as it is durable. At first this bike looks like a normal frame. But let’s go just a bit deeper and see what went into the frame and why…..
Tube set —-We pull from the best ti we can get our hands on and that means high-quality seamless tubing in a variety of wall thicknesses and diameters. What does this mean and why does it matter?
For each size of bike we make, we select a combination of tubing that will address the use of the frame and the rider that will go on it. This means we can go with thicker wall tubing for heavier riders and make the frame more durable for its use. In this case a mountain bike that will see more abuse than say a road bike or gravel bike. Bigger/heavier rider, beef up the wall thickness and diameter. Smaller/lighter rider, slim down the tube set with thinner wall and smaller diameter. Over the years we have refered to this as “size specific tubing”. This happens in each and every model we make in the full size run of that model. Yes, we make a large number of stock sizes, so how do we know that the tubeset we use will be correct? For example; if a rider that is looking at our size medium frame is 250 pounds, we’d find that out during the conversations we have with our dealer and customer and would pick a stouter tube set for that rider, even if on a stock size. During the conversations this is always covered off on. Big rider= Big tube set. Small rider=Small tube set. Size specific with the goal of giving the rider the best possible ride quality and ride experience.
New standards—-Yep, I can hear your eyeballs rolling in your head right now. As much as it’s over used, there are some great new standards in cycling that make things BETTER.
148 x 12 rear spacing paired to our in-house made modified breezer style drop outs.
REAR 148 x 12 rear thru-axle. Yep, wider IS better. This newer standard has allowed even us hand crafted frame builders eke out more clearance in the rear end of your bike. It also allows for a stronger/stiffer wheel build. ….and that’s all good stuff. Big PLUS 2.8” size tires and wider rims, make for great grip and helps in absorbing more trail shock. Lower tire pressures are also a bonus of larger volume….more cush.
FRONT —When we set out to design the Farwell we wanted more….more travel. a 120mm travel fork does not sound like a lot, but when paired to a 68.5 head tube angle it feels right at home on everything and keeps the bike feeling lively when tossing it into corners. Slack enough, but not too slack. The front end also goes boost with a 110mm spaced fork….wider is better and wider is solid.
Each Moots mountain bike frame takes a 30.9 diameter post for a seamless dropper fit. Magura Vyron eLECT dropper.
DROP IT, DROPPER—Each one of our mountain bikes now sports a 30.9 seat post diameter to handle the never ending need for a dropper seat post. In addtion to the seat post being a nice standard size, the frame comes ready with our stealth dropper routing, which routes the hose or cable down the outside of the downtube and enters the seat tube just above the bb shell. Clean, functional and easy to work on.
Wireless dropper control of the Magura Vyron post.
PLUS SIZED—The new go to trail bike tire “standard”. The FARWELL fits 2.8 inch tires on wide rims with ease. At 2.8 inches you get more than enough low pressure-traction-trail-eating-goodness you could want with room so spare. Yes, used that word “standard” again.
2.8” tires with room so spare. Looking down at the 73mm English threaded shell. You can see the small black rubber cap for the stealth routing entry point that went unused with the Magura post.
THE SMALL BITS—Take a close look at this bike. Moots all the way right? Made here in Steamboat Springs and nowhere else right? Yep. Dig a little deeper and put your eyes on the small bits that go into building a frame. Those “weld-ons” as we refer to them are made in-house as well. We house our own CNC machine department at Moots and they are pressed with designing and machining those weld-ons in house for each frame we build. Raw materials come in, finished parts come out and get welded into your Moots frame…..in the same building. This helps keep our lead times down, quality up and fresh designs just a sketch away from reality. Those parts include (and this is just on frames):
Head Tubes
Bottom Brackets
Dropouts
Water bottle bosses
Seat Collars
Seat tube inserts
Disc mounts
Cable guides
Derailleur hangers
Our signature head badge leads the way on each one of our bikes. Two screws, no glue hold it in place.
Check out the FARWELL model page here:
