Eurobike 2017: Pipedream Cycles’ Enduro Hardtail

It’s admittedly been a little quiet on the Pipedream front in recent years. It was a good five years ago when we last tested a Pipedream, which came in the form of that lovely raw Reynolds 931 stainless steel R931 hardtail. Around the same time, Pipedream released the 29er Skookum in both steel and Ti versions, along with a hardcore hardtail called the Moxie, both of which received loads of attention for their on-point geometry and no-nonsense approach.

The brand itself was accidentally launched back in 2005 by owner Alan Finlay; an engineer who was designing his own titanium hardtail frames and getting them built by a fabricator in Taiwan. After selling some of his prototype frames on the Singletrack forum to shift them on, Alan experienced a whole lot more interest than he had anticipated – all of the frames sold within 24 hours of them being listed online, and he received further messages from other riders asking if he was building more.

And so (as you do), he decided to start a bike company and called it Pipedream Cycles.

Despite the brand’s popularity for its trail-oriented hardtails, things quietened down a couple of years ago when Alan’s original business partner parted ways from the company, which is why we hadn’t heard a lot from Pipedream for a while. A new partner has since jumped on board, and things are cranking up again. Pipedream Cycles has a new trail hardtail called the Sirius 4G, along with a gravel bike called the A.L.I.C.E.

And then there’s this: a prototype long travel hardtail that Alan brought with him to Eurobike this year.

Pipedream Moxie Prototype Features

• Long travel aggro hardtail
• Custom butted & heat treated 4130 cromoly steel frame
• Accommodates 27.5+ or 29in wheels
• Designed for 160mm travel forks
• Head angle: 65.5°
• Seat tube angle: 76.5°
• Reach: 470mm (Long), 510mm (Longer)
• Stack: 641mm (both sizes)
• Seat tube length: 420mm (both sizes)
• Chainstay length: 415-431mm
• Horizontal sliding dropouts for chainstay length adjustment
• 73mm threaded BSA bottom bracket
• ISCG 05 chainguide tabs
• Boost 148x12mm rear axle spacing
• External cable routing for rear brake and derailleur
• Internal or external dropper post routing options

In homage to his original hardcore hardtail, Alan is running with the Moxie name for this prototype, though that’s yet to be set in stone. It’s built from 4130 cromoly steel, with the main frame featuring triple-butted tubes, and the rear stays using straight gauge tubing. The frame is heat treated, and Alan decided to give it a shit-hot pink paint job to catch the eyes of journo-magpies like us.

It worked.

There will be two sizes available in the Moxie frame: Long, and Longer. Alan has fully embraced the short-rear-long-front concept with this hardtail, and so the reach stretches up to a positively enormous 510mm length for the Longer frame size. Both frames feature the same stack height and the same 420mm seat tube length, freeing up space to run a long travel dropper post.

The Moxie will accept 27.5+ wheels, with clearance for rubber up to 2.8in wide. It’ll also accommodate 29in wheels with clearance for 2.5in tyres, and the sliding modular dropouts allow for the chainstay length to be adjusted between 415-431mm.

Needless to say, Alan is very pleased with the current prototype Moxie frame. There’s some small details that will change, including the port for the stealth dropper post that will change to a bolt-on style rather than the current hole-drilled-through-the-frame.

We’ll wait to hear more from Pipedream Cycles about the upcoming release of the Moxie long-travel hardtail, but in the meantime you can source all of the infos straight from the Pipedream website.

---