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Many months in the past, I met a man named Ian Atkinson, a motorcycle rider whose enthusiasm for using bikes was matched solely by his enthusiasm for attempting new issues, as demonstrated by the single-speed titanium hardtail he selected to race the Scottish Enduro Sequence on. Apart from the truth that it’s a must to be fairly exhausting to experience a hardtail at such an occasion, and even tougher experience it single-speed, Ian’s eye-catching bike was so due to its reasonably uncommon dropouts. Consideration grabbed, we hopped on a name with Steve Olsen, designer of the aforementioned dropouts, and proprietor of Olsen Bikes.
Steve, an journey biking fanatic from New Zealand, has for the final 22 years made the UK his residence and, since 2013, the bottom for his body enterprise. He has an extended historical past of working within the bike business, having held product design roles at On-One Bikes and Cooper Bikes. Nonetheless, judging from the array of off-road bicycles on the market on the Olsen Bikes web site, it’s clear Steve’s design concepts wanted their very own freedom to thrive. In keeping with their intentions, Steve’s bikes are named after locations and occasions which have impressed him over time. All are titanium, and all characteristic Olsen’s distinctive RocknRollOut Dropouts.
Olsen Journey Bikes with “RocknRollOut” Dropouts
We obtained an in depth up of the Corrour and Mokihinui, Olsen’s enduro and path hardtails, respectively. As talked about, it was the bizarre rear-end of those titanium hardtails that basically caught our consideration. At first look, the dropouts look very very similar to Salsa’s Alternator 2.0 dropouts. Certainly, they’re functionally very comparable in that they permit for the fine-tuning of chainstay size vital for tensioning the chain when working a single-speed drivetrain. Olsen’s dropouts permit for just a little extra swing although – 25mm as in comparison with the Alternator’s 17mm.
Wanting extra carefully on the rear-end, you’ll see there’s a bit extra to it than that. By advantage of Olsen’s distinctive design, his frames are appropriate with each conventional derailleur-mediated multi-speed drivetrains and single-speed drivetrains, in addition to Gates Carbon Drive Belts. To accomodate the latter, the rear triangle could be cut up the place the dropouts bolt to the body. Seen on the drive aspect, a black “becoming a member of plate” could be eliminated to permit the chainstays and seat stays to separate. They are often flexed simply sufficient to permit a Gates Carbon Drive Belt by.
Like many, Steve is of the opinion that Gates Carbon Drive is the gold commonplace in relation to low upkeep, dependable drivetrain efficiency. In keeping with his “go far and quick” ethos, Steve put a number of emphasis on making the RocknRollout Dropout appropriate with it.
Olsen’s Karapoti cross-country bike and Punakaiki Gravel bikes are marketed with the Gates Carbon Drive however all of his frames can settle for it. That versatility and reliability are on the coronary heart of Steve’s designs. We see extra proof of that on the non-drive aspect, the place the rear brake caliper is positioned inboard of the chainstay to permit for simple fitment of a rear rack do you have to want to use the bike for bikepacking.
Most Olsen Bike frames run 142mm rear-end spacing, just because it’s backwards appropriate with 135mm. Each of these requirements are frequent on inner hub gears, together with these from Kindernay and Rohloff, whereas the Shimano Alfine 11 goes with 135mm. You possibly can see the place i’m going with this; but once more extra versatility. Olsen’s frames give the rider freedom to select from a variety of conventional derailleur-mediated multi-speed drivetrains or the comparatively longer-lasting, decrease upkeep inner gear hub choices. Or, if funds don’t permit, the standard single-speed setup, with or with out the Gates Carbon Drive Belt (once more, funds allowing).
Whereas Steve is predicated within the UK, all Olsen frames are comprised of plane grade titanium in a manufacturing facility in Asia. Geometry charts, pricing and availability information can all be discovered on the Olsen Bikes web site.
