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Shand Ioma Hardtail has a 60° head angle, multiple configurations

shand ioma super slack hardtail 58 degree head angle
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Last weekend at the Tweedlove Festival, Shand Cycles showed their latest creation; the Shand Ioma. It’s a steel hardtail with an ultra-slack 60° head tube angle, complete with a Works Components 2° angleset that can take it as slack at 58°, or simply offset the geometry changes that come with a longer or shorter travel fork. Hardcore hardtail, or what? Do correct me if you know otherwise, but we think that could be the slackest hardtail available on the market.

Ioma is Scottish-Gaelic for the word “multi” or “poly”, indicative of the Ioma’s many possible configurations. Designer, Brad Howe, gave us the low down.

Shand Ioma

shand ioma headtube badge

The Ioma is the latest steel creation to emerge from Shand’s workshop in Livingston, Scotland. Constructed from a cold-drawn plain gauge Reynolds 631 tubeset complete with Paragon Machine Works head tube and drop outs, the Ioma may just be one of the slackest hard tails we’ve ever laid eyes on. It is pictured here with a 150mm travel Rockshox Domain fork with an axle-to-crown measurement of 578mm. That gives it a super slack head angle of 60°, but thanks to the Works Components 2° angleset it comes with, that can slacken off further to an incredible 58°.

shand ioma top tube seat tube weld

Speaking reasonably, the main function of that angleset is to allow the rider to correct the bike’s geometry back to 60° if they choose to run a shorter travel fork. That said, designer Brad Howe tells us they would approve use of the frame with longer travel forks too, stating that the 58°, or even a 57° head angle, are still well within the structural parameters of the frame.

shand ioma super slack hardtail 58 degree head angle
If you’re unsure as to which of the 12 sizing options would suit you best, Shand will work with each customer individually to fit them to the best sizing option for them, based on their height, torso length, inside leg length, shoulder width, arm length… you get the idea.

Shand take a semi-custom approach to sizing. The Ioma is available in S, M, L and XL, each with a seat tube length of 415mm, 430mm, 445mm and 455mm, respectively. For each frame size, however, there are three choices of top tube length and thus three choices of reach. Thus, there are actually 12 frame sizes to choose from. The top tube length options are 620mm, 630mm and 640mm. Reach comes in at 458mm for the 630mm top tube, increasing to around 466mm with the 640mm top tube.

shand ioma chainstay contouring columbus zona tubing

Meanwhile, the head tube length is consistent and short at 105mm for all 12 frame sizes. The seat tube angle is kept at 76° across frame sizes, too, as is the chainstay length at 440mm. Brad tells us it “climbs like a goat”. Wheelbase on the XL with the 640mm top tube length is 1293mm. 

Besides the wildly slack head angle, the Shand Ioma has another point of interest. The bike shown at Tweedlove had an eccentric press fit bottom bracket. The Ioma will be sold a a frame only, but also available will the the “adjustable pack”, which includes the aforementioned Works Components angleset, but also an eccentric 47mm Press Fit bottom bracket from Ride Works.

shand ioma gusset eccentric bb
Though a Gusset eccentric BB is shown, the Ioma will be sold with a 47mm eccentric Press Fit BB from Ride Works.

The eccentric bottom bracket with an elliptical orbit was custom designed for the Ioma with the aim of correcting the effective bottom bracket height for different wheel sizes. For a 27.5″ rear wheel, the recommendation is to run the BB in its highest position; for a 29er, the recommendation is to run it at its lowest point, compensating for the height difference in the wheels.

shand ioma seat stay bridge silver brazed
The seat stays are bridged laterally, brazed in with silver.

The other benefit of an eccentric BB is that it allows the frame to be set up as a single speed bike, allowing for the adjustment of chain tension. A 24mm version is available for Shimano axles, and a 30mm is available for DUB. Of course, the fore-aft adjustment of the eccentric BB will also impact on the bike’s effective seat tube angle. The range of adjustment at the BB depends on whether you are running the 24mm or 30mm option.

shand ioma paragon machine works dropouts is mount

Rear-end dimensions on the Ioma are 148mm x 12mm. That, and the curvature of the Columbus Zona stays give clearance for a 27.5″ x 2.8″ tire, or a 29″ x 2.4″ tire. An internal IS mount is used to mount the rear brake caliper allowing for a maximum rear rotor size of 200mm on all frame sizes.

shand ioma seat tube dropper routing stealth
The port for the dropper post cable has a built-in aluminum insert with a sheath on the inside to prevent water ingress from the vertical direction

The Ioma has an internal cable routing option for a dropper seat post but, other than that, all cables are routed externally. However, as each frame is built to order, customers can choose to run those external cables and hoses however they please. The other advantage there is that you can have as many bottle bosses as you want, wherever you want (within reason of course). Living up to its name, the Ioma could therefore be your singletrack slaying machine one day, then a fully kitted out bike packing rig the next.

shand ioma downtube

Pricing & Availability

Shand Cycles are taking orders for the Ioma now. Buy it as a raw frame with rear axle and dropout for £1195. The “adjustable pack” fetches you the frame along with the 2° angleset from Works Components and eccentric bottom bracket from Ride Works for £1295.

On top of that, Shand offer customers a one hour consultation for a custom paint job. For more information on the Shand Ioma, head to the Shand Cycles website.

ShandCycles.com

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Dinger
Dinger
1 year ago

This is silly. What does that slack a head angle on a slow bike accomplish?

Jo.
Jo.
1 year ago
Reply to  Dinger

If 63-64 degrees is ok for an enduro FS bike, doesn’t it make sense to go a bit slacker on a bike that doesn’t sag at the back? So at full compression the HTA isn’t getting too steep. It’s not what I’d want from a hardtail but I’ve seen hardtails ridden way faster and bigger than I can handle.

Tim
Tim
1 year ago
Reply to  Dinger

If you like riding down unbelievably steep stuff and don’t want/ can’t get an FS bike, this would be a good choice.
Also, we learn what the most extreme acceptable head angle/ bb height/ whatever is by going beyond that value and then retreating. Experiments = Good

Dinger
Dinger
1 year ago
Reply to  Tim

I don’t get why anyone wants 150mm of travel in the front and none in the back, either. Front tire floating through the big stuff, rear wheel (and possibly pilot’s teeth..). getting destroyed by it. Never mind the whacky steering geometry/wheel flop that results from this.

Must work for somebody..

Soaklord
Soaklord
1 year ago
Reply to  Dinger

Slow bike is a strange take. What specifically makes it slow? The long wheelbase and steep HTA are going to make it quite fast in the straights and it’s going to outclimb most full suspension bikes on all but the most technical or tightest switchbacks of climbs.

As for the travel, I have 160mm of travel on my hardtail and don’t want anything shorter. One of the things that you learn riding a hardtail is to stay out of the saddle on the descents and to unweight the back when needed. No teeth chatter here. And the rear wheel is still true though I do run CushCore so… YMMV.

Orr
Orr
1 year ago

Someone should put a 190 on this frame. This will be insane

Speshy
Speshy
1 year ago

Because not everyone wants to deal with the complications and maintenance of a full suspension bike and because you can set this bike up as a niche focused rig. Like a rigid single-speed hardtail that descends and pedals out of corners well.

It’s not my cup of tea either.

Bob
Bob
1 year ago

Cobby looking chopper

Garrett
1 year ago

My mullet taival w/ 160 fork measured 60* hta. It was not what I would call slow or lacking capability, pedaled well and kept me alive at the bike park. I only upgraded because I started racing Enduro but I miss it for my local rides.

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