First Look: The Mason Raw is a UK-Made, Versatile Steel Hardtail

 Love these gravel bikes, well done. On a side note...I just got an email from my CTO stating the new Terms of Use here on PB...he is threatening me again "When you post, upload, or submit User Generated Content to the Services, or otherwise when you use the Services, you agree that you will not (and will not permit any third party to): Impersonate any person or entity or otherwise misrepresent your identity or affiliation"

Gulp....

Be safe be well.
Incognito Robin

 I'd be real interested in sitting down with a potential customer of a 1600 quid steel hardtail frame, and to have them explain their rationale.

 Hi guys, 

Speaking personally; I've been a long time Pinkbike reader and avid mountain biker, so I'm just stoked to even have a bike featured on here, and I also knew we were going to get a flaming in the comments over the price point!

We didn't set out to make the "dentist's" hardtail, but we also realise that the RAW is not going to be for everyone - there are so many well priced and well made Far-East produced frames, and we were never going to be able to compete with these on price. What we aimed for instead was the best possible hardtail for fun trail riding and bike packing adventures. We wanted it to be as sustainably responsible as possible and we wanted it to look and ride beautifully. We have a real passion for metal frames and the craftsmanship of the small maker and this extends to a passion for making our tubes and frames entirely within Europe. Up to now we have made all our frames in Italy and this is the first to be fabricated entirely in the UK, using Italian and UK made tubing.

I won't go too far in trying to justify the price, you guys will have mainly made up your minds on this already! But in short, this frame costs far more to produce than the Far-East frames cost to buy at RRP. Our fabricators Five Land Bikes are absolutely at the top of their game, and their paint alone costs more than some hardtail frames. The Dedacciai tubing is all painstakingly considered and uniquely shaped for us, in fact, no main component of the frame bar the headtube (UK machined by Bear Frame Supplies) and bottom bracket shell are off-the-shelf.

We believe that the result of these factors is something really quite special, and even despite this we spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying about the price point - it is genuinely as low as we can get it whilst still making it worthwhile. No one in the supply chain is being short-changed here, we are genuinely proud to be working with the best tube makers and fabricators and paying the right money for an outstanding job. We are also very proud of the fact that we are keeping as much of the work as possible within Europe and the UK and not shipping frames from the other side of the world.

We are a very small business of just 6 people, we don't have huge buying power or margins, these frames are extremely small volume production, and we strongly believe in sustainable means of production both from the environmental and human perspectives.

The beauty of a free market is that you can choose what's important to you and make your purchases based on those things, and if you care about where your bike comes from, how deeply it's cared for during its design and development, and how exquisitely it's crafted then just maybe we've carved out a small niche for you here.

Peace and shreds, 

Dom & Matt - Mason Cycles

 Love a good raw hardtail, buy why the hell is it £1,695 for the frame only?! I can buy from other brand's a hardtail in the £700 range, and a full suspension with shock from £1600!

 super boring expensive bikes .com

 Lands right in the firing line of the Stanton Sherpa Gen3), which is half the price (for the UK made version, the taiwan version is even cheaper again), so im guessing "Dedacciai Zero and Zero UNO" must be quite pricey?

 I find measuring the sagged head angle more complicated than it's worth. You can't easily compare to other bikes and everyone has slightly differnt sag, plus it's gonna be dynamic anyway

 taking the piss with that frame cost

 Strong, light, cheap: pick one

 Another UK steel hardtail, even from the same facility that makes the other UK steel hardtails.

I’m sure it rides well, geometry looks solid, but it’s expensive for what it is. I guess if that’s your kink, here’s another label you can get on the downtube of your British fetish machine.

 I understand that its apples to oranges, and this bike is very nice, but this frame only is more expensive than bikes (with shocks) from other small british brands, top of my head being bird with the aether 9 and am9, and privateer with the 161 and 141, but there may be others also

 pricing is way out of control for a mountain bike they're going to shoot themselves in the foot eventually as recession gets worse
not picking on this company but all the companies are way overpriced for what you get in a build kit no one needs a 5 to $6,000 hardtail

 Loving the short travel steel hardtails on the market. There are so many of them I can't help but think the bike industry is going to "invent" a new bike type. My money is on XCslopstyle or 29 big dirt jumper.

 Big price. But the attention to detail is what your paying for. Each tube is selected for it's properties well defined by these European tube manafacture s. Quite a refreshing change from . It's got chromoly tubing from China.

 I own 2 Masons already and I’d buy this in a heartbeat if I wanted one.
The build & detailing is fantastic on Doms bikes and I only pay the price once, but smile every time I ride one (Definition and Bokeh)
And I like to support small UK businesses. Love this bike

 The bike everyone says they want, but don’t want to pay for!! To all of the “why isn’t it made in this country” because it costs more to manufacture! Also this is a beautiful frame, amazing work and I’m sure to the right person it’s well worth the money.

 Backpacking and/or hardcore HT.... with a SID on it.......

 Steel bikes are sick!

 Didya ask them if they're releasing an eBike?

 18 bikes making beautiful steel hard tails in the uk for £900. Cotic doing Taiwan for £550-£600.

 So a British Surly where the pricing department smoked all the crack?

 Well if we know anything by now, all they need is the hardtail party effect to sell out of them.
That price is a little hard to swallow though. It’d be interesting to see what their cost analysis is and how they made their way to this price. Even if it’s made in country.

 Big fan of Mason and own two of their frames. Honestly, I struggle with this. I'm not sure what value you get over a cotic. However, most of their customers probably don't buy it because it's good value. Their previous bikes all offered something different when released and the ride quality is sublime. Just not sure how much difference that matters with fat tyres and sus fork....

 Theres better value for money framesets than this. Five Land Bikes LTD make the frame, mason put there
branding on, then all the logistics and overheads. How much costs go into frame and how much added ?

 I'll keep my 2021 NS Eccentric 29r frame for 350 usd thanks! This frame rides great, its lighter(2200g LG), and priced well........

 The must have looked at the average income poll results and thought "let's give it a try"

 If their intention was to build a 1980s throwback in everything but price, they're onto a winner.. but for me, it is so generic it could be made by Raleigh and no-one would look twice... it's all a bit, well, meh.

 It's interesting how many hardtails we're seeing these days that aren't being built by the companies selling them. We've seen that with carbon wonder bikes for a long time, but for handbuilt steel and ti hardtail frames, it seems like a lot of companies are just putting their name on someone else's build. It's getting hard to differentiate between brands' bikes when a lot of then are being built at the same factory with different brand names on them. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it's changing the industry. I believe most people generally believe that handmade steel hardtails made in the UK or North America are built by the company whose name is on the head badge.

 I know I've posted above knocking the price, but those thinking this is just an off the shelf frame with mason's branding are way off the mark. For context, I sold a ti road frame and replaced it with an alu Mason definition a few years ago. The ride quality, finish etc are sublime and unique.

 People who post to complain about prices are dull. When the price is posted in the article and it's plain as day to see, what's the point of complaining? These builders know the market for their frames and their own costs. Proclaiming that these are overpriced, is not going to make the builder lower it or change their mind.

 you could get a handmade, custom geometry Curtis frame for less..

 u can get a trail hardtail frameset made out of carbon for less than that and with a lifetime warranty they say. Or u can buy a steel hardtail frame and use it as a dumbbell cause lifting heavy objects is life.

 Boring! Buy a Soma Juice frame for $1000 less and be done with it. You can't even put belts on these steel hardtails. I consider that a major Faux Pas.

 @Joebohobo: I'm pretty sure Masons are made in Italy. So I'm guessing the import charges and taxes to bring it from Italy to be assembled in the UK to then be shipped around the world might account for the high price. But ultimately the companies supply chain shouldn't really be the end-users concern

 That price! Wow! Would love to hear the rationale behind that price.

Still, I bet they sell bucket loads (or as many as they make).

 I'll stick with my Sour cycles pasta party thanks for less than half the price.

 he forgot to drop the seat on that drop

 Wow. All this moaning about price. Please note info from the article (btw: thanks PB and seb for reporting on small operations like Mason): material sourcing done within EU, frame building in UK. If you want shorter supply chains and good wages locally (speaking from an EU perspective) - this is the way! Comparison to Gothic and many others who offer made in China or Taiwan frames simply won't work.

 man is that thing ever pretty.

 It's going to cost more to have frames produced in the UK. That's why. You don't have to pay that premium if you don't want to.

 Something wrong with titanium these days? That looks great in "raw".

 Cheeky use of the aperture science logo.

 £1700 frame only

 Looks like a bike

 3.0’s?

 Wow a steel hardtail that can do it all from the uk!!! Jesus Christ.

 These f*ckin hardtails all look the same, how the f*ck is this unique in any way? f*ck off, just get a $200 Marino custom made frame.