Finnish bike, component, and bag maker Pelago has a lot of new gear this year into next… from a new steel Thórsmörk adventure mountain bike and updated gravel bike, to versatile new commuter bags that fit in their racks & raskets. Plus, they’ve also teased us with several other cool projects in the works, like these next-gen prototype WTB wheels… for a skateboard!
Pelago Thórsmörk steel bikepacking MTB
The biggest bit of news at Eurobike was this new adventure-ready steel hardtail – the Pelago Thórsmörk. Built to take your “microadventures” to the next level on giant knobby tires, this rigid steel bikepacking mountain bike gets a name meaning Thor’s forest, after a rough mountain ridge in Iceland.
The Thorsmork is built around modern trail geometry with a 66.5° headtube, 76° effective seattube & 432mm chainstays so you can tame backcountry exploration or some killer local singletrack. And with room for up to 29 x 2.6” or 27.5 x 3.0” tires, any limits of where you take this bike will ultimately come down to the rider.
It gets a 44mm headtube for straight or tapered steerer forks, and a couple of gussets behind the headtube to handle some pretty big impacts.
The 4130 chromoly frameset comes with a 58mm offset, 505mm a-c suspension-corrected bikepacking fork, so you can also build it up with a 120mm, 51mm offset suspension fork to take on even tougher terrain. A suspension fork slackens the bike a bit more, but gets the same effective ride at standard 20% sag.
It’s a proper adventure bike, so there are plenty of mounts for a full bikepacking setup including a regular pair & a 3-pack of mounts inside the main triangle, anything cage mounts under the down tube, full-coverage fender tabs front & rear, regular & low-rider rear rack mounts, and a 4-pack set of cage mounts on the fork plus doubled-up rack/fender dropout tabs & fork bridge mounts.
The adventure mountain bike has modular full-length external cable routing but includes internal routing to make it dropper post compatible. It is 1x only with a chunky chainstay yoke to clear pretty big chainrings, and gets a classic BSA threaded bottom bracket & Boost spacing.
Pelago says that Thorsmork will be an off-road jack-of-all-trails when it becomes available from mid 2023 as a 1295€ frameset with the rigid fork, or from 2024 in a complete bike build like this one.
Thórsmörk also gives us another look at the unreleased Pelago tubular alloy cargo cage. Built much like their burly front racks, their cargo features two sets of 3-bolt mounting holes to let you fine-tune how low you can go, a 90° base to support any load, plus a pair of loops to thread straps through to secure it all.
Pelago Stavanger steel adventure bike
We already shared the full low-down on Pelago’s totally revamped gen 3 Stavanger steel gravel, travel & bikepacking bike last fall. But now the framesets are already available for a little while, and complete bike builds with a Shimano GRX 1×11 groupset will be available in a few months (autumn 2022) for 2395€.
The classy double-butted CrMo bike mixes old proven tech and new. A lugged fork crown & curved, tapered fork blades, yet a tapered headtube so you could run a modern carbon one if you want. A threaded BSA BB, but 12mm thru-axles and flat mount disc brakes. A 27.2mm seatpost and external cables, but routing for a dropper post.
It looks like a pretty killer adventure-ready modern bike that remembers its classic roots, with 8 stock sizes available (42-63cm). Plus, now having passed MTB testing standards, you can build it with up to 700c x 50mm or 650b x 57mm tires to get pretty wild far off the beaten path.
Pelago Commuter front racks & Raskets
The most personal experience I have with Pelago is their light but tough oversized tubular alloy porteur-style Commuter racks. I have the medium-sized Commuter Front Rack on an all-road/gravel Bombtrack Audax, and it’s served me well from hauling groceries to pizza boxes to a frame box in one precarious incident.
Three sizes are available – 79€ Small, 89€ Medium & 99€ Large – each in polished silver or painted black. There’s also tubular stainless steel versions of the two bigger that only add thirty bucks. All come with all the attachments you could need to fit most axles and rack mounts, plus a front light bracket.
But Pelago also does Raskets, too. That’s a rack, plus a basket.
Because honestly, most of the time you are carrying something on a porteur-style front rack, it probably would be more secure in a Rasket. At 129€ it only comes in one size and is pretty much the same footprint as the Large Commuter, but with a 15cm deep stainless steel basket – available in polished stainless or black.
Relatively new to the front racks & raskets is the 69€ add-on option for low-rider pannier supports. So how do you add welded-on lowriders to an existing rack? Well, all the Pelago racks are modular, so just swap in these stainless steel rack supports (in polished or painted black) with the new pannier support loops and you are good to go.
Pelago Rackbags & Totepacks
Another debut this year are Pelago’s new commuter bags, designed to seamlessly fit and attach to their Commute Front Racks & Raskets.
Designed for everyday bike commuters the light, durable & water-repellent cargo bags will haul your groceries, workout gear, or laptop as you ride back-and-forth around town. Their style is simple and understated so they look normal off the bike – available in black or dark green – but include helpful on-bike details like accessible outer side pockets and large velcro straps & metal clips to quickly secure them to the rack on your bike.
Two versions are available, each in Medium & Large sizes designed to perfectly fit the Medium & Large Commute Front Racks or Raskets.
The Pelago Rackbag is the boxier of the two , the exact same shape as the porteur-style front racks (and also able to fit inside the Raskets), selling for 79€ in Medium or 89€ in Large. The padded-bottom Rackbags attach with 4 velcro straps at the corners, and feature large roll-top openings that clip shut to secure your gear inside.
The Pelago Totepack is more of a conventional carry-all shape. Because of the smaller footprint to fit the mid-sized rack, the 79€ Totepack Medium looks more like a small backpack with top carry handles. And the larger base 89€ Totepack Large looks more like a big tote bag.
Both feature two side straps to function like a backpack, two top straps to act like a tote bag, and a removable shoulder strap that attaches across the top to serve as a shoulder bag. Inside there’s a dedicated pocket to keep your laptop safe while riding. The Totepacks are more designed to fit inside the Raskets (so no velcro securing straps) and can be clipped onto the rack baskets with the integrated metal carabiners on the side of the main zip, just like the Rackbags.
Both sizes of Rackbag & Totepack also include a small zippered Pelago Pouch inside (also available separately for 9€). They are all available now direct from Pelago and their European dealers.
Pelago x Element upcoming collaboration…
Now, what about those prototype 55mm x 86a WTB Radler tires? They are apparently not entirely real… just really cool.
It seems there are long-suffering skateboarders at Pelago AND at WTB…
Details remain completely vague for the time being, but it seems that Pelago has a crossover collaboration with Element skateboards in the works for next spring 2023 that will include a bike to cruise around town hunting the best skateparks, a board itself, and even some throwback style clothing. And some fun stories. At first glance though, it looks like a fun project, and we hear those WTB skate wheels are already in high demand even though only a few sets actually exist (or ever will!)
That’s not all that’s new. Pelago let slip that they were working on a new bike designed for Transcontinental racing and a better way for families to get around town with kids & groceries in tow. But both of those are maybe even further away towards 2024.
We’ll keep checking in with them to stay on top of what’s new!
