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Pine Cycles Partners with Lunchtime Bike Co. for USA-Made 3-in-1 RASA Dropbar Bike

Pine Cycles Rasa completePhoto c. Pine Cycles
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News from Salt Lake City, Utah, Pine Cycles, the bike company behind the Rasa, “the world’s most versatile bike frame”, is now partnering with Portland, Oregon’s Lunchtime Bike Co. a USA-Made, BIPOC-femme-welded steel bicycle frame batch production company to start taking orders and start production.

Pine Cycles Rasa front side
Photo c. Pine Cycles

Pine Cycles, whom we wrote about back in 2021, debuted their uber-versatile Rasa. The brand is committed to US manufacturing and the partnership with Lunchtime Bike Co. illustrates this.

The two founders of Lunchtime Bike Co, B Vivit and Sean Eagleton have taken up shop in the old Cielo factory within the Chris King Precision Components facility. Both B and Sean have vast experience in the industry prior to starting Lunchtime Bike Co.

In fact, you may remember my article about the unique and beautiful bikes of the Philly Bike Expo, mentioning B Vivit and her company Hot Salad Bicyles. B was one of the winners of PBE/SRAM Inclusivity Scholarship Winner and I talked with her a bit at the Expo about the beautiful titanium klunker that she built.

The Pine Cycles Rasa Pe-Order, Now Open

Partnering with Lunchtime Cycles means that the Rasa is available for pre-order right now, with expected delivery in March 2023.

Kevin McClelland, co-founder of Pine Cycles had this to say, “We are very excited about our opportunities this coming year. 2022 has been a year of growth, learning, and lessons that we will take into 2023 to continue to push the boundaries of the bike industry with Pine Cycles. Thank you all for your support up to this point, and keep an eye out for what is in store for 2023!”

Pine Cycles Rasa framesets with carbon fork

The Rasa is an extremely versatile frame concept, providing one frame that can run tire sizes like 700cx35mm, 650bx48mm, or even 26″x2.3″.

Pine Cycles has also brought back the 1 1/4 headtube that “allows for a slim, elegant, and lightweight headtube that maintains a clean aesthetic with our traditional steel fork, but still allows us to use a tapered carbon fork as well”.

They’ve collaborated and worked with White Industries to provide a premium headset to pair with Rasa’s headtube.

The Rasa’s dropouts are the center of the bike’s ability to be so customizable. They were designed in collaboration with Lichen Precision. The dropouts allow Pine Cycles to offer 12×142 flat mount for disc brakes, 130×10 quick-release inserts for road rim brakes, and 135×10 horizontal track inserts. These dropouts will help make the Rasa almost any bike you want it to be.

Pine Cycles RASA Geometry

Pine Cycles Rasa Geometry

RASA Pricing and Availability

Pre-sale is open now, all below framesets are estimated to ship in early March 2023

RASA Frame + Steel Disc/Rim Fork: $2100 (50% down of $1050 collected now to secure production spot) **Note: headset not included – frame includes adapters for standard 1 1/8 (EC34/28.6 — EC34/30) headsets

RASA Frame + Headset + Steel Carbon Disc Fork: $2400 (50% down of $1200 collected now to secure production spot)

Order yours by clicking the link below!

PineCycles.Com

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Nathan Gant
Nathan Gant
1 year ago

I didn’t see if chainstay can be split for a belt drive. I would think that it was probably put into the mix somewhere.

mud
mud
1 year ago

Steel frame sets over 2 grand is a thing now

Pine Cycles
1 year ago
Reply to  mud

Correct, $2400 for the US Made Columbus Steel Frame, US Made Allied Allroad Fork & US Made White Ind Headset or $2100 for the US Made Columbus Steel Frame & US Made Reynolds 853 Steel Fork.

We would love to bring costs down and hope to in the future as we scale but this is what it costs to produce frames in the US with the high quality materials and craftsmanship.

If quality tubing or US Manufacturing are not things you value then there are lots of great options out there!

Korey
Korey
1 year ago
Reply to  mud

Made in the US? Yes? Where have you been?

pinecycles
1 year ago
Reply to  mud

Correct, $2400 for the US Made Columbus Steel Frame, US Made Allied Allroad Fork & US Made White Ind Headset or $2100 for the US Made Columbus Steel Frame & US Made Reynolds 853 Steel Fork.

We would love to bring costs down and hope to in the future as we scale but this is what it costs to produce frames in the US with the high quality materials and craftsmanship.

If quality tubing or US Manufacturing are not things you value then there are lots of great options out there!

Korey
Korey
1 year ago

700×35 is the minimum for “all road” bikes, much less gravel or other terrain. I’d say these bike brands, such as Crust, where the Evasion, an endurance road bike frame gel, can fit up to 29×2.6 but many ride 26” on is vastly more capable and versatile.

jonathan
jonathan
1 year ago
Reply to  Korey

to be pedantic, the Evasion only runs 29×2, but can go up to 2.8 in in 27.5.

I have seen these frames in person, and they are certainly nice, and the solid state interchangeable dropouts is pretty neat. Nice to have the option to run as a rim brake bike, though that probably limits you to 32mm without canti posts.

That said, being able to run 3 wheel sizes is not exactly revolutionary. Anything with discs, wide clearances, and a highish bottom bracket could also do that, if you want. A Surly Straggler for instance.

pinecycles
1 year ago
Reply to  jonathan

Thanks for the kind words! You can run any and all 35c tires with rim brakes on the RASA!

While I agree you can run 3 wheel sizes on any disc bike, this one of the few designed for it and the only one that can accept rim or disc brakes in all sizes.

700×32, 650×48 and 26×2.3 all have relatively the same outer diameter so the RASA geometry is not altered or compromised with wheel swaps. In contrast, the Straggler for example has a max 26×1.9 which would drop the bb a whopping 23.5mm (from the designed 700×40 configurations) and decrease the trail significantly.

pinecycles
1 year ago
Reply to  Korey

Totally appreciate your perspective. The 700x35c configuration is amazing on road and smooth gravel but we recommend the 650×48 or 26×2.3″ configurations for gravel and singletrack.

I swap between all three depending on the ride I’m doing. I commute on my RASA every day, will do a long road or gravel/singletrack ride on weekends and have done two 350mi+ bikepacking races on it with lots more scheduled this year.

The Crust Evasion is an amazing bike and for customers seeking a gravel bike catered toward offroad touring I would highly recommend it! The geo and tire capability (700×50/27.5×2.8/26×3.0) suits those disciplines well. The RASA is for a customer who prefers a bike equally as capable on the road as it is on gravel with the ability to handle singletrack. Is the RASA more capable as a road bike? Yes. Is the Evasion more capable on singletrack? Yes.

Versatility is certainly in the eye of the beholder but if you’re after a bike that excels at Road, Gravel and Bikepacking I’d argue the RASA is best suited to handle all of those tasks depending on the wheel size. The fact that it can can be built with rim brakes in any tire size really adds to the versatility.

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