Almost two weeks ago, Mason Cycles debuted their newest, most off-the-beaten-track adventure bike – the dynamo 29er-equipped ISO. Now that bike already has another, more off-road bikepacking build, including a prototype front rack. Plus the new titanium Aspect delivers all of the performance of their most popular steel Resolution endurance road bike, now with a ‘silky smooth’ custom shaped ti frameset for ultra-distance cruising.
Mason Aspect titanium disc brake ultra-endurance road bike
Alongside the off-road ISO comes the totally on-road Aspect. Sharing fit & geometry with Mason’s popular steel Resolution endurance road bike which got updated earlier this year, the new Aspect steps it up a notch in titanium.
Developed to be a “super-smooth, fast, ultra-distance rocket ship” for your longest road rides, it still has the signature Mason feel to occasionally venture off the smoothest of tarmac too. Like the Resolution it is a ‘mostly’ hard surface road bike that will still fit 30mm tires and fenders, and even up to 33mm slick rubber without mud guards.
Mason Aspect titanium road – Tech Details
The heart of the new Aspect though is the new titanium tubeset that Mason developed working with both Dedacciai and Reynolds.
The result is custom-shaped main tubing from the Italian supplier, then UK-made Reynolds chainstays & Reynolds 3D printed ti dropouts, all of which are expertly welded together in a frame shop in Tuscany.
The disc brake frame features 12x142mm thru-axle spacing and flat mount brakes. It shares the same new Aperture2 fork, Hunt tubeless wheelset options, and customizable complete bike builds as the other Mason endurance road bikes.
Mason Aspect titanium road – Pricing & Availability
The ti Aspect is a made-to-order bike, so you will need to put down a 50% deposit on the £3250 frameset to set yours in motion. But that also means that the six stock sizes (50-60cm) are also mostly a starting point. Mason is able to make small tweaks to things like the fully internal cable routing and its full rack & fender mounts, even towards custom geometry if needed.
Complete bikes start at £4845 with Rival or 105 groups. Or a rolling chassis is available from £3574 with the ti frame, carbon fork, seatpost and choice of one of five possible Hunt tubeless wheelsets.
Mason ISO 29/27.5+ steel bikepacking mountain bike, alt off-road build
We fully detailed the Mason Cycles In Search Of steel adventure bikepacking mountain bike two weeks ago with its dropbar fit, full carbon fork, dynamo front wheel, dropper seatpost, tons of accessory mounts, and even a load-bearing Shutter front fender. But Mason has more tricks up their sleeve for the ISO, including a new prototype rack designed to help haul a bit more, further off-road.
While the Shutter fender is made to just carry 500-1000g, this prototype mini front rack is intended to haul up to around 5kg. That’s still meant to be a light load, but paired with a bikepacking handlebar bar it could secure quite a large front load while offering much needed security to keep your gear strapped and secure for adventure riding across the roughest terrain.
The ‘Condenser’ rack still attaches to the same unique three-bolt mounting points on the crown of the carbon HotShoe fork. The small rack will include mounting points and internal wire routing for a light like this Supernova Triple2, plus extra pegs and holes to attach straps and bungees. It is still in development, but the rack itself should sell for about £95, being specific to this HotShoe fork on the ISO.
Mason ISO adventure bikepacking MTB – Pricing & Availability
If you are wondering what this complete bike setup will cost you, Mason suggested £3500 with a Force 1x build, Hunt ‘The Search’ dynamo wheels and WTB Ranger 2.4″ tires. That price does not include the Supernova front Triple2 & rear Pro2 lights which will add about another £375 if factory installed with internal wiring.
The complete bike still doesn’t yet have USB charging capabilities to power other accessories, but Mason is working on finding a reasonably-priced solution to integrate it all, so we’ll keep an eye out for that in the future.
Pricing is mostly a guideline now, with concrete figures available closer to the ISO’s late Dec 2018/early Jan 2019 availability.
