Designed in Statesville, NC, and made in Portland, OR, from US-sourced tubing, ELEVEN launched in December 2015. The brand and bikes had been in development for a year prior to that, and the frames are all ISO tested for safety (done in Boulder, CO, by Microbac Laboratories, Inc., to meet mountain bike specifications). If that’s not enough to set them apart, you can customize your build just about any way you want…
The company was started by Thomas German, who runs it out of NC with his wife. He’s working on another mountain bike design for the future, but the current focus is on this fat bike. The design of the frame came about because he liked the “dirt jump” frame aesthetic, where the top tube is in line with the seatstays all the way back to the dropout. The tubes are oversized and straight to make it stiff, letting the tires and wheels provide the compliance. It’s made of 6061 rather than a 7000-series because they could heat treat it after welding, an important step to give the frames a stronger, more consistent finished product.
They offer three sizes of their frame with an online bike builder that gives you about three options for each general component category as well as different paint colors. All of the drivetrain groups offered as stock are SRAM, but they’ll build with Shimano if you prefer. Cranks are Race Face, from Ride to Turbine to Next SL.
Prices range from $2,950 up to $6,500 for a complete bike. They don’t typically offer framesets alone, but they can build up with a few of your own components if you really want. There’s even different tire options to match your terrain, whether that’s sand, snow or sweet, sweet dirt.
They won’t quote a raw frame weight, but their bike builder does show a finished bike weight. The lightest build comes in at 23.0lbs with a carbon Whisky rigid fork and full carbon cockpit, SRAM XX1 and I9/HED Big Rig wheelset. That build (shown above) would run $5,816. Stay tuned for first ride impressions.
