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oma got started around the turn of the millennium with a now-familiar business model: US hipsters source quality components in the Far East. The company has been unusually responsive to the developing fixer market and we were delighted when a new distributor began making its products available to the UK this summer. Stock has been arriving slowly, and we're expecting to expand the lineup on this page as time goes by. Watch this space.
PAKE CRANK | MAJOR TAYLOR BAR | 25.4 BULLHORN | NOAHS ARC BAR | BAR TAPE
It is easy to find an inexpensive crank, but hard to find one for a fix. The problem is that most cranks are designed for geared bikes, and are thus too fat to work well with track hubs and 120mm rear spacings. Soma's Pake track crank is the holy grail, a cheap viable 165mm track crank with good chainline. (A 107mm JIS BB will dial it in for most oriental hubs.) It looks the part, and comes with a 46t 1/8 ring, making it something of a deal. The ring is a definite candidate for an upgrade, but it's easy enough to find decent 130 BCD rings and in any case this one will get you through your first few months. The zoomed photo shows both silver and gold versions. Restocking shortly. |
The last couple of years have seen renewed interest in steel components, particularly handlebars. Steel bars are stronger than alloy, so despite their weight penalty they appeal to hard sprinters and to those riding in heavy traffic. If you need a steel bar for utility riding Soma's Major Taylor is a good choice, since the flared profile goes some way to keeping the weight down. Not that these are lightweights -- the bar weighs about 650g. Restocked. |
Bullhorns, bullhorns everywhere, but none with a 25.4mm clamp... until now. Quite why it has taken so long for an enterprising company to make a bullhorn that fits an MTB stem or track quill is unclear, but we're delighted that these have finally arrived on the market. The Soma Urban Pursuit bar has longer horns than the Nitto, so it's particularly well-suited to bar-end levers. Available only in 40cm and finish isn't quite up to Nitto standards, but since the only alternative is to take a hacksaw to a set of track drops we don't see that being a problem. Restocking shortly. |
The simple, elegant Noah's Arc is our first new bar for a while. (Once again, Soma's designers got up earlier than the competition.) We have the bar in silver and black, both varieties having a 25.4mm clamp. Limited stock. |
More bling? Well, it's true that we couldn't resist buying up a few rolls of the only bronze bar tape we've ever seen. But this stuff is Soma's Positraction, a very grippy tape which ain't cheap. Since the bronze stuff has gone so well we've begun stocking the black version also. Restocking shortly. |
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