Moots' Surprising New Womble Titanium Hardtail - Pond Beaver 2020
Moots are a name synonymous with titanium hardtails and also for creating some of the cleanest hardtail frames out there for road, gravel, MTB and generally just sitting back and admiring. But they are riders too, and probably advocate that you spend equal amounts of time riding as well as looking at their frames. And to up the amount of riding they offer to the more aggressive MTB crowd they have come out with the Womble. It may not be a full "hardcore" hardtail, but we're still excited to see a brand like Moots producing a ~66° (unsagged) headtube-angle bike designed around a 140mm fork.
Clean details all over the frame.
Clearance for 2.6" tyres.
Not a small animal that lives under Wimbledon Common, but actually named after the IMBA Epic trail in Arkansas, the Womble is aimed at people who love a good single track and a bit of adventure. Moots nicely say it's for old souls, those not chasing after the latest trend or most up to date spec and colourway. This is likely a bike you'll have in your quiver for many years to come. More of an investment.
The Womble uses 29" wheels with clearance for 2.6" tires, is based around a 140mm fork and comes in two build options.
Geometry is quoted for the bike at 25% fork sag, so more of a dynamic geometry guide than the usual static one. But there's 4 sizes ranging from 419mm to 505mm reach with just over a 67-degree head angle. Seat tube length and angle are altered per size with the larger sizes getting a slacker seat angle. BB drop is 57mm which should give a BB height of around 321mm and there's a 434mm chain stay on all the sizes.
Frames are designed around a 35mm - 50mm stem length and a minimum 150mm dropper post. There's availability to run down to a 120mm fork too, but it would change the geometry, resulting in a steeper head and seat angle while giving a longer reach. Max chainring size is 32T.
All frames have clean external cable routing, a threaded BB and attention to detail like no other. US-made titanium frames have never been inexpensive, and that holds true with the Womble - the frame only is priced at $3,625 USD.
The Womble uses new double butted top and down tubes to help out with the stiffness and strength of the longer bike design while minimizing the weight penalty. Moots also upped the tube diameter and the resulting aesthetic is more aggro.
Womble SRAM build. MSRP: $9,309 USD.
Womble Shimano build. MSRP: $7,640 USD.
Both builds of the Womble are 1x only with a full SRAM AXS setup, ENVE wheels and SRAM brakes. The other build uses a Shimano XT 12-speed and brakes and a normal, hydraulic Reverb. Both builds come with a Rock Shox Pike and Vittoria tyres.
The SRAM build bikes comes with a special bead blasted anodizing for a bit of flare without hurting your eyeballs. Moot's standard etched finish is also available, as too is there Signature series of anodized logos and patters for an upgrade option.
For more information head over to the Moots Womble website.
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Right. It's like a Ferrari...if you balk at the pricetag, you're not the intended market.
Really though, you are corrects, their bikes are one of the few where price is irrelevant, and if I had the cash, I’d have at least 2 or 3 of their frames
I love titanium frames, but if I got one I would gladly accept people laughing at me for being a snob. Just like I accept people wondering why on Earth would I have a boutique carbon frame. That is the problem. Not owoning such bike, it is being oblivious to the fact how ridiculous such things are.
But hey, I just bought myself a second hand Surly fork, It was cheap so I thought I have to have it, since so many boast about it being so great (unless off course someone rolls their eyballs saying, that Salsa is the shit) Except it isn't. the drop out for the 5mm QR is at least 6mm and at the same time the socket for QR skewer is too small for Shimano skewer, at least 1mm too small in diameter so I don't know what sort of hipster bollocks kind of QR fits in there. So aligning the wheel right is a job. I will be honest... I expected no less, I am sure there is an elaborated reason why it was made like that because expensive, pointless, unnecessary inconvenience is the prime value sought after by pretentious snobbery.
If it's a qr front hub, the skewer is 5mm, and the dropout is 9mm, btw. So, you're frustrated that the dropout is "at least 6mm"?
Wait... where were we? moots, ah yes. I actually like how they look, very clean lines.
@WAKIdesigns:
is it possible, maybe just possible, that a previous owner used this fork with 3/8ths inch (9.525 mm for those ignorant slobs who don't know their English units) bolt on wheel??? Maybe?
I once bought some very nice forged wheels automobile for real cheap and found out that the hub diameter was 5 mm too small. That is easy to deal with. Had them bored out to fit my car. Easy solution for you may be to get a bolt on axle for the wheel you want to use.
And, Ti bikes can be delightful. Fortunately here where I live the hipster scene and the bicycle scene don't have much intersection, so I don't have to deal with that crap. No, Ti is not "environmentally friendly", or "artisan" or anything else. Ti road bikes and hard tails just ride nice.
And please forgive the Brooks saddle on the MTBs. They are ridden in -30C temperatures and I got tired of breaking plastic saddles. Note that Fizik has a minimum operating temperature of -10C. Note also that my saddles are made from dead cows, so no Vegan or Soy points.
I bought my first Ti bike because the stuff that is put on roads here to melt ice is a weird mix of NaCl, CaCl2, beet sugar processing residue, and who knows what else. It ate the powder coat on my Ritchey steel bike that I was using for a winter commuter. Didn't want to ruin that gem. Got a Ti hard tail MTB from brand "L" on special for $600.
Then bought another hard tail brand L for cheap and set it up different. Then I bought a road frame from them made of the 6Al 4V alloy which means that the "tubes" are actually sheet material bent to form box section tubes. That frame was also bought new from the Brand L bargain Bin for around $500.
Most of the components on the MTBs came from my "shelf o' junk", like the Hope hubs and E4 brakes which had been on the adventure tandem but were not up to the task.
So I have 3 very nice Ti bikes that cost not much. Even the Olins fork on the first one was $400 new off of E-Bay. Also, Ti is a great material for a MTB free hub body, like the one on the tandem
If I'm ever fortunate enough to ring these guys in Colorado to build me a dream bike, I'm not gonna want a stock model. I'm gonna want to sit down and talk to someone about every bike I've owned and what I liked and what I didn't and have them take 30 measurements of me and make me something that answers every question I could ask of a bike.
But maybe that's just me.
Never thought I would say this, but I'm actually quite happy with a Sram product. The behaviour is stable and predictable and the levers withstood several crashes. XT M8000 lever were giving the ghost at each contact with the ground
I've got a custom steel road bike where I worked with the framebuilder to build exactly what I wanted and it is by FAR the best bike I have ever owned or ridden.
So... (shrug)
Shrug. I don't ride road bikes so I don't have this much time to think about deepest first world problems. Like I wish my Ultegra Di2 was shifting just as well as Dura Ace Di2, here CRC, take my money. Give me virtually any MTB frame and some modest budget to buy parts of my choice and I'll make it work very well for my likes. I have zero doubts that I would enjoy riding a Nukeproof Mega 29 just as much as Yeti SB150 if I can only pick a resonable shock, fork, brakes and wheels of my choice. Zero doubts. Just because someone can buy EXT Storia and a PUSH upgrade pack for their Fox 36, doesn't mean they will translate this "upgrade" into anything else, than feeling cool about owning something cool. Like Ceramic speed cage and pulleys.
For what it's worth: youtu.be/Jvqo9Ino1lE
But they are out of my price bracket. But I will have one eventually its on my bucket list
Barely a day goes by where I don't regret selling it. I've since had a bunch of carbon "super bikes" but the quality and feel of that bike was incredible and tough to match.
This is an extremely expensive luxury item that falls in line with expensive watches cars etc.
Where I live I can easily go into "town" and see half a dozen dudes rolling in 1/2 million dollar cars with watches that cost north of 100k on their wrists while wearing suits that cost 20k.
Wealth, value and quality are all relative to your bank balance but there are plenty of people who can and will buy that bike on impulse let alone lust.
I'd buy this in a heartbeat if I had the cash.
I mean, I guess? My made-in-the-US Lynskey Titanium hardtail cost me $2,328. Fully built with a middle-of-the-road spec. That was a demo unit, like new. Brand new would have been around $3K, but that makes a $3,625 frame hard to swallow.
But it's a hardtail, so it's so, so core.
No hate. I admire moots' clarity of purpose.
Until you've ridden or owned a Moots...or any really NICE titanium frame for that matter (Lynskey's don't count lol)..ignorance is bliss.
Give me a RAW TI bike!! Remove the paint.
For such a price, I can mount 2 titatium premium hardtails with a modern geometry, and 4 steel premium hardtails with... a modern geometry.
Moots, come back! We`re still loving you!
Thanks for keeping me honest!