A new Rose Hobo Dropbar reimagines the consumer-direct bike brand’s affordable steel urban gravel bike as a proper bikepacking and adventure rig. Featuring the same tough chromoly steel frame upgraded to a mechanical GRX 1x groupset, a wide flared VentureMax dropbar, and an updated frame-mounted mini porteur front rack… this is an affordable adventure gravel bike for riders looking to venture further off the beaten track.
2025 Rose Hobo Dropbar steel gravel & adventure bike
When Rose debuted their steel flat bar urban Hobo a couple of years ago, it looked like a great reboot of the classic hybrid bike. Fueled by the recent boom in gravel bikes, it was a flat bar commuter – ready for mixed-surface riding and outfitted with a nice modular front rack that bolted directly to the sides of its headtube.
Well, it seems the Hobo’s simple on- & off-road capability and built-in rack versatility were a hit for Rose. And they decided to give it a refresh with dropbars for riders looking for longer-distance adventures.
What’s new?
The name says it all. The big update is the swap to an alloy Ritchey VentureMax Comp handlebar, measuring 44cm at the hoods and a full 56.7cm outside at the ends of its ergo compact bend 24° flared drops. Plus, the Rose Hobo Dropbar adds a 2cm longer Ergotec Piranha stem to give a more forward position on the 4.6° backswept dropbars.
The other change is a newly reinforced tubular aluminum Hobo Rack that comes on the dropbar bike, including a Hobo strap to attach your bikepacking gear. This is just the narrower ~7x20cm main rack platform of the optional modular rack launched with the original Hobo. That bigger rack is still available separately, and now includes the updated reinforcing ribs you can see on the dropbar builds.
Interestingly, the frame and its geometry are unchanged, but the Dropbar Hobo will only be offered in S-L sizes, not including the biggest XL of the flat bar Hobo.
Tech details
- versatile chromoly steel gravel and/or commuter frame
- claimed 2900g frame weight
- tapered steerer carbon fork with 3-pack anything cage mounts on each leg (530g claimed)
- 44mm headtube
- classic internal cable routing through the front triangle
- 68mm BSA threaded bottom bracket
- flat mount disc brakes & 12mm thru-axles
- direct headtube mount for modular front rack
- narrow Hobo main rack and strap included
- 4 sets of bottle cage mounts (no toptube bag mount, though)
- full-coverage fender mounts
- UDH
- 27.2mm round seatpost & external seatpost clamp
- mid-bike kickstand mount
- max 650b x 2.1″ / 55mm tire clearance (comparable to 700c x 37mm tire)
Rose Hobo Dropbar – Pricing, options & availability
The new Rose Hobo Dropbar is available in just one complete build for 1900€, fitted out with an adventure-ready gravel spec. For that, you get the chromoly frame and full carbon fork with the updated small main front rack & strap, plus a Shimano GRX 1x11sp setup (40T x 11-42T) drivetrain, the flared WTB VentureMax bar & a Silverado saddle, 25mm internal tubeless alloy 650b wheels with 47mm WTB Venture tires – at a claimed 11.9kg complete with the rack installed.
You do get to pick the same pine green or mali blue (turquoise) frame as the original Hobo. And the Hobo Dropbar comes in three stock sizes (S-L). Complete Hobo Dropbar bike builds are available to order now, with delivery time slated for about 3 weeks. And Rose suggests that more Hobo Dropbar build specs will likely be offered in the future.
