Bassi Hog's Back Frameset
Steel all-road world touring frame, a modern Montreal design
The Hog's Back is our true all-road loaded touring frame, and we do mean all the roads. This bike has ridden all over, from Montréal's streets to Vermont's highways to Peru's dirt roads, as loaded-down with baggage as you please.For the curious, if you want to bring your Hog's Back to visit its namesake mountain, it lives in Gaspésie National Park. You can hike up it, but you'd best ask the park rangers before you ride up it, too.
FEATURES
Columbus Cromor tubing (frame and fork)
Geometry optimized for balanced front-rear load, or front-biased load.
Ideally used with swept-back "alt-bars" rather than road drops. If using drops, you'll need a short stem and/or a frame one size smaller, this bike has a long front to it.
27.2mm seatpost, cast seat collar
EC34 headset (1-1/8" standard)
28.6mm theadless steerer
Disc brake ISO mounts, 160mm rotor recommended
Downtube mounts for shift levers or housing stops
135mm rear spacing, quick-release vertical dropout
BSC threaded bottom bracket (1.37" x 24TPI), 68mm shell width
Higher BB than many touring bikes, so you don't do what Julian always does and break teeth off your chainrings hitting rocks.
Includes cable guide for shift cables under the BB shell and bolts are installed in the eyelets.
Kickstand plate (please don't overload the kickstand, we stand by Soma's recommendations for touring bikes and kickstands)
Pretty darned rugged weight limits, as far as luggage on a properly installed rack goes. We tested with 26kg of weights in panniers, up and down steep hills, and handling didn't change much, so you're probably good. But be reasonable.
So many eyelets, I haven't even counted them. Put racks, cages, fenders, whatever you want on this bike. Keep putting 'em on. No, more than that.
Eyelets for a Bassi Strap, too. It's for helping you handle the bike when you've taken the luggage off. Don't try hauling it onto that train with the bike's weight and the luggage's weight all on the strap, please. You'll hurt the bike, the strap, and probably yourself.
Metal headbadge. It doesn't change anything but boy is it pretty and really classes up the place.
We weighed a 51cm frame with its fork steerer uncut, with no parts on, at 3.8kg. We don't really worry about frame weights, but some people like to know that kind of thing, so a year into this frame's existence we finally put one on the scale. Turns out it weighs pretty much what you'd expect for a touring frame. A Montréal frame is about 600g lighter FYI, which is the same as a mostly-full water bottle.