Home > Bike Types > Mountain Bike

Foundry Cycles Adds Broadaxe 29er Hardtail Mountain Bike, Drops Router

2013 Foundry Cycles Broadaxe 29er hardtail mountain bike with SRAM XX
13 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

2013 Foundry Cycles Broadaxe 29er hardtail mountain bike with SRAM XX

If you’ve been following the Foundry Cycles brand (or had one of their Router 29ers on order!) you’ve perhaps noticed that they haven’t delivered.

Brand manager Jason Grantz says they went through all of the preproduction testing, final production-model testing and everything was rolling along nicely. Then, as the shipment came in they received a call from their manufacturer saying that a high percentage of head tubes were “out of round”. He says that virtually every head tube on every carbon bike is imperfectly round, but at a certain point they won’t properly hold a press in headset. Such was the case with their first container load, so the model was scrapped in favor of expediting production of the Broadaxe. Grantz says their development was ahead of schedule so it presented the best solution for crappy situation.

Originally slated as a 2014 model, the Broadaxe is a racier version of the Router with a few key improvements…

2013 Foundry Broadaxe 29er hardtail mountain bike with Syntace X12 142x12 rear axle

The frame is less angular than the Router. The two big changes are flatter seatstays to give it better vertical compliance and Syntace X12 rear thru axle.

Brake post mounts remain inside the rear triangle, bottom bracket is BB92 to give it a wide pedaling platform. The chainstays are pretty stout and are a fairly short 17.2″ (438mm), and the head angle is 71.5, which should give it pretty tight handling. The dropped chainstay design is to reduce chain slap and provide a bit of protection for the rear derailleur.

Adding to the comfort factor is a seat tube that’s tapered from 34.9mm at the bottom to a 27.2″ at the top, letting you run a narrower seatpost. This generally translates into a bit more flex from the seatpost to take the edge off.

The frame is high-modulus carbon fiber with a monocoque construction. Claimed weight is 2.2lbs (1010g) for a 17″ and the bike comes with their “10 year no hassle warranty.” Grantz says it’s an absolute rocket, something we’ll put to the test when we get our test bike in July.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

13 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
mark ifi
11 years ago

it looks to be a good design, with nice warranty policy. the #1 refused warranty claim will be botched post mount brake mounts.

ed.rides.bikes
ed.rides.bikes
11 years ago

nothin’ says “racier” with the handlebars higher than the saddle 😉

bike1225
bike1225
11 years ago

This brand is a joke. That rear end is hideous, looks like the drop outs from a $249 Dyno VFR 18 years ago. Is that stamped crabon? There is nothing “workingman, workingclass hero” about these, they are expensive cheap chinese crap. *Remember when they were going to introduce the Router and all of the headtubes shipped with horribly misshapen head tubes, that seems like so long ago. Haters gonna hate and this brand is a travesty.

Jason Grantz
11 years ago

We should have flipped the stem down for the photos, or perhaps lifted the saddle. Oh well, the ride quality is what matters most.

We’re proud of the decision we made to cancel the Router outright – it was a tough situation. But, we chose the high-road, we were honest about it and did the right thing. Nearly 50% of them were perfectly salable, but we just didn’t feel right weeding through all the frames – not knowing if a problem would arise later. We actually received a lot of praise from all over the cycling industry for making the decision. It’s not everyday a company admits a mistake openly – and that’s all it was, a simple manufacturing mistake. And those who received Routers are being well cared for – above and beyond because that’s how we do things.

We do not pretend to be workingman or working-class. It’s not a colored-collar thing, it’s about work ethic. A bike is a tool, a means to an end in our view. We’re really all about the rider – giving riders a bike, a tool, that fits their way of thinking, their philosophy. Foundries are tools backed by a solid, no-hassle warranty. And we keep warranty frames in stock, because we never want to tell someone they have to wait 6 months to get back on their ride. Warranties and crashes will happen, and when they do we stand behind our products. Oh yeah, we also supply a fresh set of cables & housings with our warranty and crash replacement frames – your bike should shift and brake like the day it was new.

We know Foundry is not for everyone, nor do we want to be. But, I don’t see how we’re a travesty. We’re new and have been faced with challenges that we’ve handled as best we can. Our dealers are behind us, our investors are behind us and the future is looking good. We know who we are, we know where we’re going and the next round of product is solid. Saying that anything is cheap Chinese crap is pretty darn offensive, and racist. Not all of our frames are made in China. And I think you’d be dumbfounded by the frames that are made right alongside our own – in China. The assertion is that Chinese manufacturing equals low quality simply isn’t true as a blanket statement. The companies we work with take great pride in their work; they’re craftsmen committed to what they do – we chose wisely.

Thanks!

Jason Grantz
Foundry Cycles

MikeB
MikeB
11 years ago

@ Jason G.
When will we see official reviews for the Broadaxe? I’m looking to upgrade later this summer and the B3 is in my price range.

Jason Grantz
11 years ago

MikeB – Dirt Rag did a short web review from Dirt Fest, but it wasn’t very in-depth. Dirt Rag has the exclusive first ride on the Broadaxe and we’re working with them now to find an opening for a more detailed review. After that we’ll be sending one to Bike Rumor and Bike Magazine. And beginning in July we can send a demo to one of our local dealers for you to ride, if you live near one. 17″ bikes will come online in July, with the remaining sizes coming in September – wish they were coming sooner.

Seneb
11 years ago

Much respect to Jason Grantz for bitch-slapping bike1225 while being nice about it. I think it is great that Foundry stepped up, noted the error, and is taking care of things. All companies should do business this way.

Mindless
Mindless
11 years ago

And what if the defect was a bad layup in headtube that you can not see and that will snap as you bomb downhill?

Yeah, carbon is strong. If done right. I just can not trust Asian carbon at this point.

Good builder made aluminum FS and titanium hardtails for me please.

Jason Grantz
11 years ago

@Mindless –

Carbon isn’t for everyone. Fortunately, the manufacturing error wasn’t related to the lay-up. The head-tube junction is typically the strongest part of a carbon frame. And for those people who like Foundry, but aren’t carbon fans, which we can appreciate, we’ll be introducing some cool product in July of 2013.

When dealing with carbon, you need to know who you’re working with and their track-record on the manufacturing end. We spent nearly 3 years reviewing manufacturing partners before we pulled the trigger on creating Foundry. Safety is king, and that is something we will never compromise on. All of our frames must exceed all current safety standards; and they do. We’re not here to make a fast buck peddling inexpensive frames and be gone tomorrow – we want to be here in 20 years making cool things happen. Stay tuned and give us a little time to get fully up to speed.

binny bin
binny bin
11 years ago

It’s the year 2000 calling, and Soulcraft was the first to use ‘the best Tool for the job’ slogan. i think most people in the know really respect QBP for their community service, ethics, professionalism and great people, so i am rather surprised to see a blatant rip off of Soulcraft’s slogan.

For a company with many creative minds, it’s disappointing that you guys and girls couldn’t come up with something more original. http://www.soulcraftbikes.com/history.php

other than this small quip, i commend QBP for doing the right thing and proactively discontinuing a frame that doesn’t live up to its standards. Jason is right–there’s plenty of good quality bikes coming out of China right now.

Jason Grantz
11 years ago

@Binny Bin –

The truth is, the idea for Foundry was born naturally without the influence of Soulcraft. It wasn’t until after we launched that a kind dealer pointed-out the similarity in branding. When we were developing Foundry we looked almost exclusively at carbon-centric brands. QBP and it’s affiliated brands maintain the highest standards of ethics, as you pointed out. And under no circumstances did we blatantly rip-off anyone. We just didn’t know and that’s the truth. Had we known things would likely look different for Foundry. We have much respect for all manufacturers of bicycles, big and small.

We have to believe there is room in the cycling marketplace for more than one brand to value similar things. Trek, Specialized and a host of other brands all occupy the “we have the best technology whiz-bang wonder bikes” brand angle and its generally accepted.

If you think about it, the existence of Foundry will only help Soulcraft. Over time the differences between Foundry and Soulcraft will become obvious, if they aren’t already.

Jason Grantz
Foundry Cycles

SteveD
SteveD
11 years ago

Any bikers swing a hockey stick..all chinese..and they break because they have been hit..not because they are junk…I am interested in a 29er soon and have xo parts to build. I am interested. Nice looking bike.

Dave F
11 years ago

Will your Broadaxe bikes have any Canadian Dealers…..lets say in Manitoba, just north of you??

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.