First Look: Pipedream Cycles Adds a Bit of Bounce to the Moxie - Pond Beaver 2020

Apr 8, 2020
by Dan Roberts  
Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie

Pipedream Cycles, the Scottish brand best known for their steel hardtails and adventure bikes, recently had a bout of chin scratching. What if they added some bounce to their Moxie hardtail? With fans of the brand having the same question or, at times, request, they set about putting the chin scratching into reality.

What has emerged is The Full Moxie. A steel framed, single pivot bike with 146mm travel and the ability to run two different wheel sizes in the same frame.

Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie
A simple but predictable single pivot system with a shock extender straddling the long, uninterrupted seat tube that allows the use of long dropper posts.
Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie
The stout bolt on brace ties the two sides of the rear triangle together while the beefy main pivot sits almost bang on chain line.

The Full Moxie is a bit of a homage to the British slang phrase the full monty, meaning all you could ever want or need. Moxie on the other hand is a term meaning skill or knowhow. So, the two together promises for a big pair of shoes that the bike should fill.

Carrying on their theme from the Moxie hardtail, they wanted something clean but with good performance and reliability. A single pivot suspension system fitted the bill nicely and there’s a meaty main pivot and stout bolt on brace tying the two sides of the rear triangle together.

There's 146mm travel with a 65mm stroke shock and 140mm if you run a shorter, 62.5mm stroke.

Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie Geo

It's available in two sizes, Long and Longer, with 470mm and 510mm reach respectively. Each size has a 64-degree head angle and 77.5-degree seat angle based on a 160mm fork and 440mm chain stays.

The frames tubes are a custom 4130 CrMo set for The Full Moxie, alleviating the need for a mass of gussets and braces all over the frame. Clean external cable routing and room for a water bottle, on the underside of the downtube, are all present and correct. And the cherry on the cake is the clean and simple metal head tube badge, which no doubt will get a good proud polish from future owners.

Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie
Frames are available with the DVO Topaz T3 shock, or without if you have your own preference or your own at home.
Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie
There's also an option with a DVO Diamond fork too.

The Full Moxie frames have finished fabrication and are available to pre-order from 12th April with estimated arrival of the finished frames being May/June. It's available in their signature pink, electric blue or rust orange.

Frame without a shock costs £1,499.

Frame with a DVO Topaz T3 Air costs £1,749.

Frame with a DVO Topaz T3 Air and DVO Diamond fork costs £2,249.


Pipedream Cycles The Full Moxie

For more information and to pre-order The Full Moxie, check out the Pipedream Cycles website.


Photography by Finlay Anderson



Pinkbike Pond Beaver 2020



Posted In:
Reviews and Tech First Looks Pond Beaver 2020 Pipedream Pipedream Moxie


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105 Comments
  • 23 0
 Shin scratching? That'll be the Midges then...….
  • 3 0
 As someone who's currently got itchy red lumps all over their shins, yes, it will be the midges. Little bastards.
  • 18 1
 Looks great...but what is this? Stack for ants?
  • 1 0
 Came here to say the exact same thing.

And the same stack height for the two sizes? I wonder if its a typo/misprint?

That stack height is a full 68(!)mm shorter than a Raaw Madonna v2 with aproximately the same reach. And ~20-30mm shorter than even most size large frames (my Kona Process 153 in size L is 632mm).

Still, nice to see another steel FS bike out there.
  • 5 0
 Moxie is so hot right now. Unfortunately It wont fix the fact that I'm not an ambiturner
  • 1 0
 Wasn't there another British trailbike on here recently which was also super long but with ridiculously low stack? Is that a trend on the island?
  • 3 0
 Geez, with a stack of 602 in „longer“ it will feel like a 57cm road bike for me at 6‘ 3“.
And that is mighty uncomfortable...

What have they thunk????
  • 1 1
 @ocnlogan: Very true, stack is low. Same HT and BB drop for both sizes gives the same stack. The Madonna has a lower BB, longer HT and longer fork all accounting for the big difference in stack.
  • 2 1
 It's approved up to a 170mm fork, so installing one of those will help a little
  • 8 1
 I have never seen negative stem spacers to make a too high stack shorter so I like it that way better.
  • 7 1
 It just means the reach numbers aren't as long as you might think. As you add stem spacers, you effectively increase stack and decrease reach. Do the trig to normalize the stack the across bikes. You also have to remember that's all static geo. A long travel fork will ride further into its travel than a short travel fork (25% of 180mm vs 25% of 140mm for example) so you'll expect to see more stack in long travel bikes to get similar dynamic ride position.

But I agree, the longer version in particular is going to require a ton of stem spacers to feel comfortable for most people who want that long of a bike
  • 2 0
 @phalley: I think your first paragraph is spot on. I have a Moxie (long size) and run about 20mm spacers with 40mm rise bar ( I'm 5'11). The 470 reach feels similar to my previous 450mm reach frame. Same stem on both.
The Moxie ht frame is lovely - really comfy ride.
  • 2 0
 @Heidesandnorth: I ride a moxie hardtail and I'm 6' 3" and it I definitely had to outfit it with some longer/higher parts (60mm stem, 210mm dropper, 3" rise bars) BUT, my favorite part about the bike is the minute the seatpost is down it feels like I'm on a big dirt jumper.
  • 1 0
 @tremeer023: arent the Moxie frames designed to be ridden with that slammed stack (no spacers)?
  • 1 0
 @ledude: yeh I think their thinking was to keep the weight over the front wheel for those loose enduro tracks which makes sense I guess. I use mine as more of a track/BMX all round trail bike though so prefer a higher front end.
  • 1 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey: agree with the seat tube, loads of height range.
  • 2 0
 Made for short people who want to hop on the long bike trend. Not for tall people who need long bikes. It'll sell.
  • 1 0
 @Lornholio: interesting take, but it makes sense.
  • 1 0
 @Ttimer: I had a Bird. Also very low stack. I call it fake reach. When you have all of the spacers and rise that you need the actual reach is considerably reduced. Is such low stack something we see most often among smaller brands that wants to look radical? Long and slack with nice lines. But at the cost of a ridiculous stack.
  • 1 0
 @ledude: "Do the trig to normalize the stack the across bikes"

Good point. For those interested, you get about 5mm reduced effective reach for every 10mm of spacers added on a 64 degree head angle frame. So if this bike had a 30mm extra spacers or a 140mm headtube (632mm effective stack) then the effective reach would be about 495mm.
  • 1 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey: maybe that works for you - to me it just looks wrong to cough up a chunk of change to get a frame that simply doesn’t fit me.
I just don‘t see the point of the maker...
  • 1 0
 @lowkeyokeydokey: but then again, it is a pipedream after all!
  • 1 0
 @Heidesandnorth: Out of curiosity what do you ride? As people on the very far end of the spectrum of sizes I'm always on the look out for a bike that actually fits me.
  • 1 0
 ~600 Stack w/ 160 is awesome, love it. (I'm 6'2 /188cm)
  • 12 1
 looks like a production privee shan 5 (got one) - bit more travel - bit longer and slacker - bit more $$. Good moove for pipedream as steel bike are the best ever, we need more of this - and people buying!
  • 1 0
 Il est bien ce Shan N°5? Il me fait baver ce vélo, mais j`ai eu des retours concernant le flex arrière un peu flou.
Je pense vendre une couille et un rein pour m`offrir un Stanton SwitchFS un de ces quatre. Pur fantasme Wink
  • 1 0
 I love steel full sus too. From my experience, the travel with steel feels a bit more than it actually is; so 146mm might feel like 155mm. Effectively making this bike a 160/160 bike. That's a lot of squish! Love to see a trail bike version of this beaut!
  • 12 0
 Oh my, single pivot, steel no nonsense. I love it!
  • 4 0
 Single pivot is great; less maintenance, less bearings = less weight than folks expect from steel. So nice.
  • 1 0
 @filmdrew: yep, I love single pivots, got a couple of hecklers, I reckon they have more pop, are more playful the advantage of less maintenance is great too.

I feel that most complex pivots, for the most part, only add up to more maintenance, more potential areas of failure, more potential creaks and that most punters who claim their multi pivot, multi link bike is sooo much better are victims of great marketing and probably wouldn't be able make use of the supposed advantages of such systems like a pro may.

Don't get me wrong though I have a Specialized enduro pro that is a great bike and handles like a dream through the rough and I love it. Though it was a pain in the arse to do a full rebuild of all pivot hardware and bearings.
  • 1 0
 Looks A LOT like the shan no 5
  • 11 0
 Frame colour of choice? Irn Bru please.
  • 7 0
 What a cool design. “All I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here in Scotland” ????
  • 4 0
 I'm interested to see a review of the DVO Jade X. It's a shock I would consider buying. The Jade was a very nicely made shock. Really fancy engineering on the outside at least.
  • 1 0
 @jaame Check out Ibis Ripmo AF threads, Tons of people run Jade X on their RAFs (including me). Short answer is that it is a really good shock, and DVO is a great company.
  • 2 0
 I've only got about 8 hours on my JadeX trunion on my Banshee Titan. So far so good. I've got plenty of rebound range even at 220lbs body weight and a 500lb spring. The three compression settings are very distinct out of the box. The open is open, as in magic carpet ride. The Banshee is quite progressive (over 20%) and this setting is working really well for me. The mid setting is a good deal more supportive, it is still very usable in normal riding situations, it gives the bike another personality. I've been doing a lot of back to back testing and honestly, I appreciate both settings. What I'm not a huge fan of is I want to adjust the rebound by a couple clicks between two settings (less rebound in the mid setting) so if I continue to flip back and forth I'll have to pick a compromise, it's only a 2-3 click difference though so not a big deal. The firm mode really slows things down, but not a full lock like on a Cane Creek IL. Overall, I'm digging the shock and would recommend.
  • 1 0
 @abeck59: How much do they go for over there?
  • 4 0
 What is going on with the blue fork and green shock? With the irn bru frame colour? Perhaps throw in some people pedals and a pink stem for full eye burning effect. Other than that, nice bike!
  • 1 0
 Or even purple pedals. ****ing auto correct
  • 1 0
 @mountainsofsussex: - The DVO Jade X is black with green anodised parts, the DVO diamond is blue with green anodised parts. The Stans rims have blue decals to match the fork. If you look on a colour chart all the colours are opposites on the spectrum, therefore they "go".
  • 1 0
 @Miniadventure35: I appreciate the colour matching effort, and each to their own, but I'm *really* not sure about the blue and green. Especially when that fork is available in matchy matchy green. Though that's a bit more Monster than Irn-bru...
  • 2 0
 Haha, I just built up a Banshee Titan in ferrari red (a good deal brighter than the orange moxie) with the same exact suspension, blue Onyx fork and all. I had a pair of green grips and green anodized pedals I won at a raffle so I threw them on there too. The bike looks like a bag of skittles. I've always had raw bikes with subtle anodizing, this bike is retina searing by comparison. Full pendulum swing.
  • 1 0
 @abeck59: if you're gonna do big statement colours, you just gotta go all in! You know you'll never lose it on the shuttle trailer :-)
  • 6 1
 Someone has to say it: shame there's no place for a water bottle inside the main triangle
  • 4 1
 Buy that race face booty bump off the other page! You're all set!
  • 2 1
 There is according to the article. Below the top tube (similar to Cotic).
  • 3 0
 @pensamtb: on the underside of the downtube not top tube.. according to the article..Wink
  • 4 0
 I'm not gonna lie...I like it. But I also have no money, and its 2:50am so I may be hallucinating...
  • 4 0
 I'd love to see a head-to-head test between this, the BTR Pinner and Cotic Rocket.
  • 9 1
 Although the Starling Murmur would win!
  • 2 0
 @Gazzamatazzzz: ... add a Stanton SwitchFS and a Starling Murmur Wink
  • 1 0
 @phutphutend: Pinner every day Wink
  • 3 0
 Dare I say the seat tube length is a little too short, I'd like to see something a little bit longer for us lanky folk
  • 2 0
 Just get a 210mm dropper and you'll be sorted!
  • 1 0
 I ride the hardtail version with a 210 dropper and 3" rise bars. It pretty rad actually, it goes back and forth between enduro rig and dirt jumper pretty regularly.
  • 3 0
 Sadly, given the state of the AUD against the British pound, owning such a thing is...just a pipedream.
  • 4 0
 That is one of the best looking bikes I've ever seen.
  • 1 0
 @SintraFreeride:
My current bike has a 170mm dropper with a 480mm seat tube and still has maybe 100mm of post showing. I'd worry about the amount of leverage a fully extended seat post would be putting on a 420mm seat tube
  • 1 0
 I love the look of it with the coil shock, but I thought coils didn't play nice with linear suspension designs?

I've never ridden either a single pivot bike or a coil shock. Sigh... I'm lame.
  • 2 0
 I'm guessing part of the reason they went with the yoke was to get a slightly more progressive curve. Not sure how much though, and would love to see that chart.
  • 2 0
 According to them, the shock yoke allows some progressiveness with the design. I can see that, but I'm skeptical it's enough. Unfortunately, I'm too lazy (and cheap) to plug the design into a simulation to confirm. Regardless, there are progressive springs available and/or damper designs that should make coils play well with a full or somewhat linear frame design.
  • 1 0
 I am really envious of the single pivot steel frame resurgence happening in the UK. Anyone aware of builders doing this in N.A., or options for getting these to the states without major customs hassles or duties?
  • 1 0
 For what it's worth, I wasn't charged any duties when I imported a hardtail Moxie to the US last summer. The whole ordering process was really smooth. Alan and Mike went above and beyond to deliver an outstanding level of service. With the exchange rate near a 5-year low, it was a good value.
  • 1 0
 I just got my Starling Twist a few weeks ago. No issues getting it here in the US — and it arrived in days of being shipped. Ferrum Bikes in Las Vegas build some burly looking steel shred sleds.
  • 1 0
 Ferrum Bikes out of Las Vegas area - most likely my next bike and looks to be a killer rig
  • 2 0
 Steel front triangle: YES
Steel rear triangles: NO
Aluminium seems better.
Stanton and Cotic mix both materials, and I think they`re right.
  • 1 0
 Why is aluminum better in the rear? Steel allows smaller diameter tubes which allows for more clearance - something more critical for a rear end. Aluminum is easier to machine and manipulate, but it can all be done in steel as well and that has its advantages.
  • 1 0
 @ohio: You`re right... Also, I was thinking about the flex. For a hardtail, it makes no doubt that steel in better in term of tolerance, resilience, vivacity, confort, but for a full suspension I thought that the flex already given by the assemblage of different parts + axles, bearing/bushings etc... could probably increase with steel rear triangles. I don`t know: aluminium might seem better in term of stiffness at that point. Just a supposition though, but if some companies do that there must be a reason; a good reason I mean.
  • 5 3
 Nothing like putting coil on a completely linear frame. Because it looks cool, does not matter how shitty it will ride ...
  • 5 7
 It actually works very well...You don't need the bottom out resistance on a steel bike because the compliance in the frame helps.
  • 2 0
 @phutphutend: Yes you do, otherwise when the shock bottoms out your load will spike and collapse the downtube rather quickly.
  • 5 4
 @MTBLegend92: Not had that happen in over 350 bikes! So my experience trumps you anecdotal ditty!

In addition the big rubber bumper on coil shocks does a very good job of softening the end stroke.
  • 2 1
 @MTBLegend92: Reynolds downtube and a nice long gusset under the shock mount appears to be doing the trick quite nicely Wink
  • 1 0
 Using the shock yoke allows for a little bit of progressivity. It's probably not completely linear
  • 2 1
 @phutphutend: I've built frames the exact same way, and it absolutely can happen. Send me #351 and I'll show you.
  • 1 0
 @MTBLegend92: Send me the money and I'll send you a frame!
  • 4 0
 Looks like a Shan No.5
  • 1 0
 Or a Dartmoor Blackbird. Or an NS Nerd There's a couple of others I can't remember the name of.
  • 2 0
 Looks great and the geo is dialed (apart from the super low stack) and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg! WIN, WIN, WIN!!!
  • 3 0
 Who is buying all of these niche UK steel bikes?
  • 2 0
 My friends are. I prefer niche UK aluminium bikes personally at the moment though.
  • 3 0
 Me.

They look great, ride great, last long, and don`t look like anybody`s bike.
  • 1 0
 I recently got one, love it. Would think there would be someone on this side of the pond doing it. Think Chromag is working on one? Seems like a brand like Niner that had some steel hard tails could pull it off at scale.
  • 2 0
 The orange is a little off, but otherwise it's a good homage to Moxie soda, the best.
  • 2 0
 Easiest way to identify a New Englander, knowledge of Moxie!!
  • 2 0
 I've had the hardtail Moxie for a little over a year now, and it's such a fun bike. Wish I could add this to my collection.
  • 2 0
 Please review a Ferrum Bikes NV 170 - been drooling over it for a while now but no major reviews are out on them yet.
  • 2 1
 saying there is room for a water bottle... when really.... there isn't. Looks rad though, shan no.5-esque
  • 2 0
 Trying to appease the water bottle obsessed consumer. Cool bike for sure.
  • 1 0
 God i love the look of steel bikes... I'd take one over a carbon bike any day if weight weren't a factor.
  • 2 2
 That weight issue is in your head buddy Wink
The most important things on a bike are the rotating masses, not the static weight...
  • 1 0
 @softsteel: so a 50lb bike should be fine as long as you've got light tires and hoops? Wink Wink Wink Wink Wink Wink
  • 1 0
 @grntnckl: Sold!... with helium in the frame and in every hollow component.

I`m allergic to weight discussions.

Chris Porter fan club member
  • 2 0
 Is it a Mullet bike ?? Description lists 29er/27.5 but no other details
  • 1 0
 Searching "Pipedream" from youtube gave me some weird results.
  • 1 0
 Shin scratching..... Real world problems
  • 1 0
 Don't know why, but I like it.
  • 1 0
 Looks like a lot of potential leverage going through that shock shaft
  • 1 1
 I don't get the point of full suspension steel bike, as alu, carbon and even ti are better for the application.
  • 2 1
 What head badge? Seriously PB, did you do that on purpose?
  • 1 0
 Awesome! stupid plastic frames that crack are annoying!
  • 1 0
 She bangs.
  • 1 0
 Great looking bike!
  • 1 0
 Need a size "longest".
  • 1 2
 I just cannot get on with their colours Frown







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