Fancy a slice of French frame fun but don’t know if you’ll run 29in, 27.5+ or 27.5in wheels? Not to worry LONE Bicycles Parabellum has you covered with its clever party trick.
Cast your mind back to Eurobike 2018 and you may recollect French brand LONE Bicycles and the Beretta frameset. The Beretta looked like your standard 160mm travel Enduro full-suspension frame, but as it was designed by the same people who brought us the HXR Easy Shift chainset it was far from normal.
The Beretta’s party trick is that it can run the 3 most popular wheel size combinations without affecting the geometry of the bike and without the need to buy any additional frame components, such as dropouts. The system relies on an eccentric bottom bracket mechanism that has a ‘high’ setting for smaller 27.5in wheels and a ‘low’ setting for larger 29er wheels. Making this change is simply a matter of undoing two bolts moving the BB by hand and tightening it all back up. Simples!
Since our first sighting of the adjustable Enduro frame back in July 2018, LONE Bicycles has continued to develop the frame, teamed up with Taiwanese factories and given it a name change.
The Beretta is now named the Parabellum, and other than that single change the production frame appears to offer the exact same features as the prototypes we saw last year. Those features include the above mentioned eccentric bottom bracket, the ability to run either a coil or air shock, imperial or metric shock sizes with a slight change in rear wheel travel (159mm – 163mm), 20mm of chainstay adjustment and the option to either run your cables and hoses internally or externally.
LONE Bicycles Parabellum frame features;
- Frame: Alloy hydroformed frame with 7075 T6 shock links.
- Wheelsize: Runs 29in, 27.5in or 27.5+ wheels without changes to the geometry.
- Rear shock: Compatible with air or coil shocks.
- Rear wheel travel: 159mm – 163mm of rear wheel travel.
- Chainstay adjustment: 20mm of chainstay adjustment 439-459mm.
- Cable routing: Internally or externally routed cables/hoses.
- Drivetrain: Can be built with gears or as a single speed.
- Bottom Bracket: Threaded bottom bracket.
- Sizes: S,M,L,XL
LONE Bicycles has announced that the Parabellum framesets are now in production in Taiwan and that customers will have the option to purchase the bike as a frame only, a frame with rear shock, or as a complete bike. Prices start at €,1749 for the frame only, a Parabellum with DVO Topaz rear shock will cost €1,999 while complete bikes range from €3,499 – €4,899 (bike specs below).
LONE Bicycles Parabellum Bike V.1
- Frame: Lone Parabellum
- Fork: DVO BERYL 160mm
- Rear shock: DVO TOPAZ 230x60mm
- Wheelsets: MAVIC XA BOOST in either 27.5in or 29in.
- Tyres: SCHWALBE MAGIC MARY ET HANS DAMPF Evo SnakeSkin
- Brakes: MAGURA trail 203/180mm
- Shifters: BOX two
- Rear Mech: BOX two
- Chainset: HXR
- Chainring: 30t
- Cassette: BOX TWO 11/46
- Chain: BOX two
- Stem: Funnduro
- Handle Bar: HXR 780 mm
- Headset and spacer: HXR
- Seat post: Funn Updown internal
- Saddle: San Marco
- Grips: Funn
- Price: €3499
LONE Bicycles Parabellum Bike V.2
- Frame: Lone Parabellum
- Fork: DVO DIAMOND 160mm
- Rear Shock: DVO TOPAZ 230x60mm
- Wheelsets: MAVIC DEEMAX PRO BOOST in either 27.5in or 29in
- Tyres: SCHWALBE MAGIC MARY ET HANS DAMPF Evo SuperGravity
- Brakes: MAGURA MT7 203/180mm
- Shifters: BOX ONE
- Rear Mech: BOX ONE
- Chainguide: HXR
- Chainset: EASY SHIFT
- Chainring: 30t
- Cassette: BOX TWO 11/46
- Chain: BOX ONE
- Stem: HXR 50mm
- Handle Bar: HXR 780mm
- Headset and spacer: HXR
- Seatpost: Funn Updown internal
- Saddle: San Marco dirty ED
- Grips: HXR
- Price: €4899
LONE is offering the first 25 customers to order their Parabellum a free HXR headset and LONE mudguard as a little incentive, for anyone looking at this bike and feeling the pull to order one, head on over to the LONE Bicycles website where they have full specification details, pricing and how to buy one.
