In January 2013, Honey was sort of relaunched with a new focus on building the brand. They kicked it off with a few new projects like the Final 200 Meters crit road bike and the Winterando do-it-all foul weather bike for the New England winters. All in all, they offer a whopping 22 models each for men and women, with a lot of crossover between them, and you can customize quite a bit…so the actual tally is a bit ambiguous. And irrelevant. Just assume they have something to fit your needs.
Their latest is the Rasputitsa limited edition version of the All Roads endurance bike. Built and painted to celebrate the “mud season”, the bike comes with entry to the Rasputitsa gravel road race in Vermont this April. Or, choose an entry into the D2R2, Dirty 40, or Honey One Hundred. It includes a goodie bag of lotions, potions and gear from Honey, also. Or, like their Cross is Boss bike launch, you can pick from two other prize packages…
Rob Vandermark is president/CEO of Seven Cycles and owns Ride Studio & Cafe. He started Honey Bicycles to expand their offerings with a simpler business model than full custom. All are separate companies, but Honey’s frames are contract built and painted at Seven’s factory.
“The idea of Honey is to have a stock bike brand that builds to order,” said Vandermark. “So, stock sizes, but they’re built once someone orders, which lets us add the paint and options they want. And there are a bunch of different kit options to build it the way you want.”
Each of the 22 distinct models is offered in up to 12 stock sizes, and each created with a certain type of riding in mind. And each is available in a women’s version with its own geometry and sizing patterns. Tubesets are also chosen specifically for the intended purpose. It all sounds like a lot, but Vandermark says the removal of geometry options makes it pretty simple.
While sister brand Seven works with titanium, carbon and steel, Honey only works in steel. But, Chip Baker, Honey’s product manager and brand front man, says they’re pushing the bounds of what can be done with the material. For instance, the Final 200 Meters is a crit racing road bike that they say matches a carbon bike’s stiffness and is lighter than composite frames at the same price point. It was originally only for their team to replace Cervelo carbon bikes, but is now offered to all.
2014 BIKE LAUNCH
Most of the line carries over from 2013, but there are a couple highlights. Honey showed off the Hammer and Crank and other updates at the Ride Studio Cafe last week. Here’s a little video of courtesy of DirtWire.tv:
Bet you want a coffee and/or beer now, eh? And one of those sweet bikes…
Technically, the standard All Roads came out last year, but this was its coming out party. The timing’s good with the increased interest in gravel road racing. It gets a low-mount rear disc brake position (inside the rear triangle), which required a re-route of the cable runs compared to their other bikes. Most of the other models use the outside-on-the-seatstay mount as standard.
About that Hammer and Cycle edition: It’ll come spec’d with Ultegra Di2 and hydraulic disc brakes with HED wheels. If you can’t make it to one of the events, you can opt for either painted-to-match metal fenders or three sets of Clement tires, one for each type of riding you’re likely to do aboard the bike. Retail is $6,552, and it can run 700c or 650B wheels. All three bonus packages carry a $350 value.
There’s also a new SSCX (singlespeed cyclocross) bike that was built to contest the Philly SSCXWC last year. It comes with options for EBB, Paragon sliders or track-style dropouts. Canti or disc brake versions available. (pics of this coming, we hope)
Overall, the entire ‘cross bike gets more tire clearance (up to 33 plus lots of mud for the race bikes, and 38 with room for mud on the others) and a slightly stiffer drivetrain. The mountain bikes also get improved frame stiffness, better tire clearance and a new 27.5″ wheel size option. Need some proof they have a massive amount of options? They offer “east coast” and “west coast” geometry.
