Speedvagen, an offshoot of Vanilla Cycles that was created to offer stock and custom frames with much shorter lead times the the bespoke bikes from founder Sacha White, has finally added disc brakes on their road and cyclocross models.
The bikes get revised Berzerker dropouts that let them place the caliper mounts inside the rear triangle, placing the rear-most mounting point on the seatstay to direct braking forces up the tube rather than into the dropout. On all disc brake models, the hose/cable will run inside the downtube. On standard builds with a threaded BB, it’ll pop out and run externally on the chainstay. On PFBB30 upgrades, it’ll remain inside the frame all the way through the chainstay, popping out just in front of the caliper.
There are a few other tweaks and treats making their way to the 2015 iterations, too. Most of the tubes used are now custom drawn to their specifications, and there’s a new carbon seat tube option and carbon seatmast toppers, too. And to make it all look good, a few more paint schemes are on offer…
The Berzerker dropout places a stainless steel insert on the outside face to prevent scratches and wear from the skewer. Sure, a simple little insert would have sufficed, but that wouldn’t be nearly as cool as this machined out piece that shows the craftsmanship of the Vanilla workshop. Almost lost to that beauty is the slick hidden brake caliper mount inset from the seatstay/dropout junction.
Up front it’s a paint-matched ENVE cyclocross fork.
Complete disc brake bikes will have the option of Chris King, DT Swiss or White Industries hubs laced to ENVE, HED or H+Son rims. Their road bike will get a disc brake option, too, they just don’t have any photos of it ready to share yet. As it was, we had to send in a friend to score the top three pics of the ‘cross bike just have something better to show you.
The carbon seatmast topper (above) and carbon seat tube (below) are both custom made for them by ENVE. The topper comes in at 90g, which is about half the weight of the regular version. The seat tube cuts between one third and one half a pound off the bike. These options will set you back $250 and $850 respectively.
Their internal Di2 battery mount attaches the battery to a top cap that requires no tools to remove, making for easier battery charging. You’ll need to remove the seatmast topper, though. It’s a $300 upgrade, but that includes the battery.
Each seatmast has a stainless steel fitting for the topper to rest on and clamp to, eliminating paint scratches.
Every two years, Sacha picks three new color schemes, and here’s the latest three options.
Among the new custom paint options are Ghost, a single color scheme using multiple layers of paint and masking to create the logos with a 3D effect, but all in the same color.
Holla Text fades colors across the outline of their logo overtop a single frame color.
The Horizon paint scheme puts three or four colors in horizontal stripes from front to back, and this year you can choose which colors you want from a palette of 11 shades.
The biggest color upgrade is Overt, which is an $1,800 option for the frame. Have them color coordinate the kit on the bike and you’ll spend another $400 to $750. Or, you can opt for the Surprise Me color scheme and have something completely different that you won’t see until it shows up on at your front door.
Stock geometry frames retail for $3,450, and full custom geometry with an included fit session is $4,350. But considering they prefer to sell it as a complete bike, it quickly becomes a sizable investment, so they’ve introduced a new crash repair program that puts your frame at the front of their work queue and gets it a special little paint application at the site of the repair. You’ll pay for labor and parts, but they’ll get it back to you as quickly as possible.
Check out the Speedvagen site here and peruse the 2015 Guidebook PDF here.
Other photo credits: Jeff Curtes & Bob Huff
