Interbike 2011: All City’s Space Horse gallops in, Mr. Pink is Finalized

Written by Nick Burklow and Bikerumor Staff Sep 20, 2011 1:18 p.m. ET

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All City Cycles is known for making sweet fixed gear freestyle bikes. As of late however, they have been putting out more drop bar bikes like their sing speed cyclocross bike the Nature Boy, and the Mr. Pink road bike. At Interbike this year, they debuted their newest steed, the Space Horse. This touring style bike is in line with others such as a Surly Long Haul Trucker, but has a shorter wheel base and a trick or two up its sleeve.

Head on over to the other side for all the details on both this and the Mr. Pink.

Anna over at All City designed one of the coolest things I saw during the entire show. She put a lawyer tab on the rear drive side dropout! (correction: the lawyer tab is on both sides) No more futzing with the rear wheel position when using their horizontal drop out. It is designed to slam the wheel all the way forward, and the tab will hold it in place while you tighten things up. The frame is optimized so that shifting performance is best with the wheel in this position. Simplifying rear wheel installation makes me happy.

The frame is done up in the standard 4130 CroMo and is ED coated from the factory. All City used internal cable routing for a nice clean look.

With eyelets for anything you would want to mount, and room for fat tires, the Space Horse is ready to take you on a serious adventure.

Nick Burklow

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Bikerumor Staff

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Gillis

13 years ago

Those dropouts don’t make any sense. IF:
1. they’re designed for optimal shifting with the wheel all the way forward
2. they’re threaded for adjustment screws (which should do what the lawyer tabs are trying to do, but better)
3. and there’s a “lawyer tab” (which by the way just means you’ll have to unthread your QR more than necessary)
Then why bother making it a adjustable dropout in the first place if the design optimized for the wheel in one position? Am I missing something?

dave

13 years ago

That dropout is a terrible design…in addition to the QR hassles, having a tab on only one side means that if you depend on it for wheel placement your alignment will likely be off.

My guess is they figure some customers will be too stupid to tighten a QR correctly and are concerned about liability from the wheel getting pulled forward and causing a crash. They are selling the lawyer tab as a ‘feature’.

Jeff Frane

13 years ago

A couple of points,

A. The tab is on both sides not just on the drive side, yes it requires you to loosen your QR a bit more to pull the wheel out. But it also allows you to run lightweight skewers and hubs in your bicycle with the confidence that you won’t pull the wheel out and land on your face. Which is a concern with semi-horizontals especially stainless ones.

This is a different job than the adjustment screws which allow you to set a placement for the axle, pull the wheel out and shove it right back to where you like it.

B. While the dropout does give clear positioning for optimal shifting, you can also run it wherever you like. It is simply optimized for that position. This is the same as on all semi-horizontals

C. It’s single speed capable, which if you live in the snow, is a very nice feature.

Adam

13 years ago

Who cares about lightweight wheels, hubs, skewers on a frame like this anyways?

Gillis

13 years ago

I’m sorry Mr. Frane but I find your reasoning weak:

A. Why run a particular (lightweight) skewer if it can’t hold your wheel in place on its own? And then to compensate for it with a heavier dropout? ridiculous.

-Set a place for the axel or for the skewer…what’s the difference? It’s putting the wheel/hub in a specific location. And the adjustment screws do it more accurately and consistently

B. Of course the shifting will work with the wheel set at any point in the dropout. But to design it to be optimal at one point, or rather to claim it as a feature is cheap. Why optimize it for one position but use a semi-horizontal? That’s like having adjustable reach brake levers but claiming they work best set one way. Again, why have them adjustable at all then?

C. Single Speed? Snow? Why do you think all those 70’s and 80’s frames are/were so popular with the fixie crowd? Because they have that style of dropout. Snow or not that’s not a much of a valid point to make.

To clarify I think the dropout is beautiful. I just think the “lawyer tab” is pointless.

PDXFixed.com

13 years ago

OMG that lawyer tab “feature” is hilarious. Seriously guys, set screws and closed-cam skewers work fine. Nobody needs a lawyer tab to help them “simplify” wheel installation.

Gillis is way right on point B.

ShopMechanic

13 years ago

Beautiful bikes. I really like your ‘cross bike too despite that it is a bit on the heavy side. But I have to say that I wanted to cry when I read that you put a press fit 30bb on the Mr. Pink. Why? BB30 just plain sucks. Plus, this is an old school style frame, why put a new school bb on it, and a bad standard at that?

chuff

13 years ago

I am completely stoked about the dropouts on the Space Horse. #1 snow #2 I love horizontal drop outs, but use a B.O.B trailer a lot and this solves the issue of worrying about it pulling my wheel around. #3 I’m a big torque Clydesdale and I always pull my wheel forward in this type of dropout, so the lawyer tab will save me this hassle. #4 Yeah you can use a heavy, ugly steel skewer to get more force, but they are heavy and ugly. #5 Shot peened for more grip.
Once you ride a Mr. Pink you will be a convert. It’s a rippin stiff steel giggle fest.

Bmark

13 years ago

It may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly the right one for someone. Don’t like it? Don’t buy it.

Pants and Jacket

13 years ago

Bmark, that makes too much sense!

All these keyboard warriors would rather sit around get their hate on, than actually create anything on their own.

Eric

13 years ago

I personally am so excited to see these cool American offerings. I am a big, strong cyclist who is underwhelmed by the current Alum / Carbon offerings, so I have been re-building old steel racers. These two bikes, a hotrod and a mule give me something to drool over again. I pretty damned excited to see these on the market, and will be working my tail off to convince the wife that I need a Mr. Pink after taxes come in.