Builder Spotlight: No.22 Bicycle Co.

[Hilltopperny]

My two go to bikes are the Drifter and the Great Divide. I have been through tons of bikes and usually find myself passing along the majority of them after one season. My No.22 bikes are not going anywhere. They are that good!

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[SoCalSteve]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

My two go to bikes are the Drifter and the Great Divide. I have been through tons of bikes and usually find myself passing along the majority of them after one season. My No.22 bikes are not going anywhere. They are that good!

Sent from my LGL423DL using Tapatalk

As you may know, I’ve owned a bike or two over the years ( probably close to 50, but who’s counting? ) and I’ve owned 3 variants of Moots. The craftsmanship on my Aurora is up to par with all 3 of the Moots that I owned. And, the detailing of the Aurora far surpasses the Moots on every level. The shapes of the tubing is absolutely gorgeous.

Oh, it rides as well ( and is as comfortable as my last Moots - RSL ).

And lastly, both Bryce and Mike were a pleasure to deal with, truly. There was a hiccup along the way on their end, but they came through like champs!

[roguedog]

Hey Team 22 - have had the pleasure of speaking to each of you over the years during NAHBS. Always look forward to seeing how you've progressed and watching what you all come up with next. Have been a fan of yours for a number of years now. Go 22!

Question

You say that for each model you have an ideal ride that you strive for. Can you describe what those are for each model?

If I have a preferred shop who already has my fit, can they contact 22 even though they are not in your dealer network?

[GonaSovereign]

My Broken Arrow, which is slightly custom with some minor geo adjustments. It’s been exceptional for racing CX, doing gravel races, going on adventures, punching well above its weight in the singletrack, and subbing in for my road bike occasionally. This is a super versatile race bike, although officially a CX bike.

Great people making super bikes.

Tour of Pelham 2_web
Untitled
Lakeshore 22
22&mosaic

[Bryce22]

Originally Posted by PaMtbRider

What percentage of your bikes would you say have custom geometry? Do you change tubing selection / butting profiles on custom geometry or just dimensional changes? My wife at 5'7" weighs less than the typical male cyclist of the same height. She has definitely benefited from custom bikes in the past.

Your bikes are well thought out and look well proportioned. You are high on the list for any future bike that might come into our household.

Hi there -

Thanks for your question. Sorry I missed it, I thought I had an auto-notification set <whoops>.

I would say we're about 60 stock / 40 custom at this time. Yes, depending on frame and rider size, we make macro adjustments in the tube diameters utilized, and micro adjustments in the butting profile.

Here's a little video that summarizes our butting process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZCFSzQdFdM

You will find a growing collection of videos under that account that summarize various steps of our production process.

[Bryce22]

Originally Posted by roguedog

Hey Team 22 - have had the pleasure of speaking to each of you over the years during NAHBS. Always look forward to seeing how you've progressed and watching what you all come up with next. Have been a fan of yours for a number of years now. Go 22!

Question

You say that for each model you have an ideal ride that you strive for. Can you describe what those are for each model?

If I have a preferred shop who already has my fit, can they contact 22 even though they are not in your dealer network?

Thanks for your questions!

In regards to the dealer query, we don't offer dealer margins to non-dealers as we don't want to step on the feet of the shops that have invested in the brand. Please send me an email to bryce <<at>> 22bicycles.com to discuss how we can get your sorted.

A quick top-of-head geo summary below. Feel free to reach-out if you have any specific questions.

Overview

All of our bikes have a performance oriented focus. That is realized in the geometry and tube selection.

Road

Great Divide / Great Divide Disc:

- Our flagship model we call a '9/10ths' race bike
- Aggressive enough for spirited club rides, comfortable enough for long days in the saddle
- A lower bottom bracket height and a little more trail upfront for predictable handling and descending

Aurora:

- Similar approach to the Great Divide with a slightly tighter wheelbase/rear end
- Wears our 'premium' features of a tapered/integrated head tube and carbon ISP with our cast Ti topper resulting in about a half-pound weight savings over the Great Divide

Reactor:

- Our race oriented geometry
- Higher in the bottom bracket for tight cornering, a little less trail for a more lively front-end
- Wears our 'premium' features of a tapered/integrated head tube and carbon ISP with our cast Ti topper resulting in about a half-pound weight savings over the Great Divide

Gravel

Drifter:

- Our most popular model, a gravel bike that has more of a road geo heritage than a touring bike allowing for spirited riding while retaining all-day/week/month comfort.
- 700c/650b swappable for maximum versatility

Drifter X:

- Designed as a gravel race bike
- A tighter rear-end than the standard Drifter and a little less stack for a more aggressive rider positioning
- Wears our 'premium' features of a tapered/integrated head tube and ISP with our cast Ti topper resulting in about a half-pound weight savings over the Drifter

CX

Broken Arrow:

- Our CX race bike
- A tight geo with a high bottom bracket to clear ground obstacles, slacker in the front end for stability through nasty course conditions
- Horizontally ovalized top tube and for shouldering

Track

Little Wing:

- Our track offering with a fairly conventional pursuit geo, with an eye to being equally suited to urban fixed gear riding

MTB

Old King:

- A XC race-ready hardtail
- Relatively tight chainstays and quick yet stable front-end handling for tight single cornered single track
-Comfortable enough for endurance / 24h events

Hope this helps!

[Bryce22]

Thanks to everyone who's been posting-up their No. 22s and feedback on their bikes!

Those first-hand impressions are invaluable for a relatively young brand such as ours.

-B

[OtayBW]

^
^
Anyone who names his product bike 'Little Wing' is Otay By Me! Just saying....
And BTW - your descriptions (above) are great - more helpful (to me...) from an overview perspective than what is shown on your website.

[Bryce22]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

^
^
Anyone who names his product bike 'Little Wing' is Otay By Me! Just saying....
And BTW - your descriptions (above) are great - more helpful (to me...) from an overview perspective than what is shown on your website.

Glad they helped! We are planning on a massive site overhaul for the 2021 season. Would love to get to it sooner, but building bikes takes precedent over building sites.

-B

[vincenz]

I’ve put over 2000 miles on my Great Divide in one year, competing with 2 other bikes. I reach for it most of the time. I find it’s tuned for the perfect balance of ride quality, stiffness, comfort, and handling. No22 have done such a great job with it. Build quality and craftsmanship are off the charts. It’s my forever bike!

[dziekiel]

Absolutely drool worthy. Can you please post the standard geo for the 60cm: Great Divide and Aurora?

thanks!

[Toddtwenty2]

Hello,

In my humble opinion, you all at No 22 make some of the nicest bicycles available today. Your bikes get incredible praise and I have no doubts that they are wonderful.

Seeing as this is formerly a Serotta forum, and your organization houses many of the individuals previously employed by Serotta, I can’t help but compare your bicycles to the bicycles coming out under that advanced bicycle-fabricating organization. Would it be possible to elaborate further on your tubeset butting and swaging processes in comparison?

I have always believed that the Serotta Legend was the most thoughtfully considered titanium tubeset. Whether this is true or not is debatable. However, Ben did a thorough job of educating everyone on his butting, swaging, and bending of tubes to create the best ride he could produce. I was wondering if you’d be open to divulging where you decided to include butting/swaging decisions versus do away with them in comparison. Your bicycles certainly have advancements beyond Serotta in areas like the head tube, your prices are more amenable, and your bikes have a more broad use-case as far as I am concerned. However, Serotta went deep into the rabbit hole of tube manipulation to constantly work toward the desired ride characteristics they strived for at the lowest weight they could achieve. Since many individuals in your organization were within those walls, I would be very interested to hear more about your thought process behind butting, swaging, and tube manipulation.

No worries if this is not something you’d like to delve into at a detailed level. Again, your bicycles garner unanimous praise, and I would love to own one. I am sure that these tubeset manipulation decisions have been thoughtfully considered, but I don’t understand the logic and reality behind the considerations and choices. These are fun details to know and great selling points on nerdy bicycle forums.

With much admiration and respect,
Todd

[ERK55]

Originally Posted by dziekiel

Absolutely drool worthy. Can you please post the standard geo for the 60cm: Great Divide and Aurora?

thanks!

Try 22bicycles.com
Comes right up.

[Bryce22]

Hi Todd -

We've continued and expanded upon the type of tube manipulation that was done at the Serotta factory. In fact, we have the exact CNC lathe that we still use for externally butting our tube sets.

We do not swage our chainstays as the drop-outs we utilize don't require it and we prefer the structural and aesthetic characteristics of the style we now use.

To get into the details on tube manipulation, butting, etc. I would direct you to a video series we have been rolling-out with the help of NY-based videographer, Kyler Lieberman.

All can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7R...vfcsStCUmFsmzQ

Originally Posted by Toddtwenty2

Hello,

In my humble opinion, you all at No 22 make some of the nicest bicycles available today. Your bikes get incredible praise and I have no doubts that they are wonderful.

Seeing as this is formerly a Serotta forum, and your organization houses many of the individuals previously employed by Serotta, I can’t help but compare your bicycles to the bicycles coming out under that advanced bicycle-fabricating organization. Would it be possible to elaborate further on your tubeset butting and swaging processes in comparison?

I have always believed that the Serotta Legend was the most thoughtfully considered titanium tubeset. Whether this is true or not is debatable. However, Ben did a thorough job of educating everyone on his butting, swaging, and bending of tubes to create the best ride he could produce. I was wondering if you’d be open to divulging where you decided to include butting/swaging decisions versus do away with them in comparison. Your bicycles certainly have advancements beyond Serotta in areas like the head tube, your prices are more amenable, and your bikes have a more broad use-case as far as I am concerned. However, Serotta went deep into the rabbit hole of tube manipulation to constantly work toward the desired ride characteristics they strived for at the lowest weight they could achieve. Since many individuals in your organization were within those walls, I would be very interested to hear more about your thought process behind butting, swaging, and tube manipulation.

No worries if this is not something you’d like to delve into at a detailed level. Again, your bicycles garner unanimous praise, and I would love to own one. I am sure that these tubeset manipulation decisions have been thoughtfully considered, but I don’t understand the logic and reality behind the considerations and choices. These are fun details to know and great selling points on nerdy bicycle forums.

With much admiration and respect,
Todd

[Mzilliox]

I need a drifter.

lovely work guys