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Mason Cycles debuts new 650b adventure road Bokeh in aluminum and ti – Updated w/ exclusive pics

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Mason Cycles has unveiled an all new road bike in two flavors, and while Dom Mason is reluctant to call it a gravel bike the new Bokeh is certainly about taking on any road surface quickly. The first new model since Mason’s steel Resolution and alloy Definition disc brake road bikes on which he launched his brand, the new Bokeh aims to be ridden just as fast but when the going gets a bit rougher. The speed element is mostly why he wants to avoid a gravel moniker. Even though it gets the ability to go the Road+ direction with wide, high-volume 650b rubber, Mason calls it an AdventureSport bike as it is still designed to be fast-moving. Take a closer look at how it will be outfitted for your adventure after the break…

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Mason-Bokeh-Ti-650b-titanium-adventure-gravel-road-bike_final-prototype

First off the two variants of the new Bokeh will be one in aluminum and one in titanium. Dom Mason spent years working for Kinesis designing bikes before he hung out his own shingle, and his alloy bikes deliver a ride quality that far outpaces the affordability you get by building bikes out of aluminum. But if you are looking for an even better ride, what better way to go than switching out to buttery smooth titanium.

The bikes were developed as he saw more and more people looking to ride fast both on road and off, looking for a bit of adventure. Basically what happened was that more and more of his customers were riding the Resolution and Definition bikes more off the road, and more with lightweight touring setups. With last year’s TransContinental Race winner Josh Ibbet riding his bikes, it was no stretch to think of doing a bit of bikepacking on Mason’s bikes, but the addition of high volume 650b tires means riders can get farther off road, while staying comfortable on long days in the saddle.

That is essentially what Dom sees as AdventureSport. Ride fast, and don’t be afraid to leave the asphalt behind and head out on the track that takes you somewhere farther than you’ve ever been. And while Josh won last year’s TCR on an alloy Definition, he took off on this year’s event on his new Bokeh Ti, one of the bikes’ last batch of pre-production prototypes. (Unfortunately due to leg cramping issues, Josh has had to withdraw from the current TCR to recover for future events.)

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While the bike is still meant to be fast, it really is an off-road bike to Mason and gets both slightly slackened angles and a bit longer wheelbase for more stable handling. With that the fork goes to a 50mm offset to keep trail in check for quick handling. Even though that changes a bit, the Bokehs have essentially kept stack and reach figures the same, so you get a similar feel on the bike and still end up with a more race-oriented fit on the bike, as opposed to the more upright position many of the current gravel crop lean towards. They call the concept FastFar. Both Bokehs will come in six even sizes from 50cm up to 60cm.

Like the bikes before them, both ti and alloy Bokehs are being made in Italy. Mason has developed solid relationships with several Italian production frame shops over the years, and has been really pleased with their capabilities, and of course the ease of working closely with them.

Mason-Bokeh-650b-alloy-adventure-gravel-road-bike_pre-production-aluminum-frame

Both bikes use entirely custom tubing sets shaped by Dedacciai in Italy. They also get D-shaped downtubes in Ti or Aluminum like seen on the steel Resolution for improved stiffness and bigger weld area at the tapered head tube and bottom bracket shell. The bikes also gets slightly dropped chainstays for better clearance at the flat mount rear brake and reduced chainslap on the driveside, and custom shaped stays to balance comfort and stiffness. Both frames also get ovalized toptubes.

Mason-Bokeh-650b-alloy-adventure-gravel-road-bike_pre-production-aluminum-frame_dropout2 Mason-Bokeh-650b-alloy-adventure-gravel-road-bike_pre-production-aluminum-frame_dropout1

Both bikes are built around 12mm thru-axles and get clearance for a 50mm wide 650b tire or up to 41mm wide on a 700c wheel. Mason sees anything bigger than that as proper mountain bike territory and not where this FastFar bike is aimed. The bikes also share an all carbon fork developed specially for the Bokeh to match that tire clearance and uses their new F-stop 12mm thru-axle setup that also showed up on their new road fork (see below.) The bikes both get modular internal routing with adaptable cable ports, and braze-ons for 3 bottles in addition to the full-coverage fender mounts.

Mason-Bokeh-650b-titanium-adventure-gravel-road-bike_Mirad-Pro-ti-dropout Mason-Bokeh-650b-titanium-adventure-gravel-road-bike_Reynolds-Mirad-Pro-ti-dropout

The ti bike actually mixes tubing from Dedacciai, Rewel and Reynolds  to get the ride Mason wanted. They also use a new 3D printed set of dropouts made by UK company Mirada Pro (the same company producing 3D printed drops for Moots) to match up to the Reynolds ti stays. Mason helped develop them for Reynolds to match up a 12mm with flat mount discs, and will be the first to build bikes with them. The dropouts have internal shaping for Di2 wires and fender mounts that can be opened up for those who need them bit otherwise left hidden, something very unique to the 3D printed means of construction.

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A very limited run of the new aluminum Bokehs will be available in September, with pre-orders opening up in the next week or so. You will need to put 20% down through Mason’s online store to get on the first run waiting list. There will be SRAM 1x builds and framesets available, in both Flare Orange and Element Gray. These pics show the first coat of paint on the production bikes to get a sense of the colors, but will get a deeper, glossier shine once they get their lacquer top coat.

Aluminum framesets (including fork, headset, seat clamp, MultiPort inserts, F-Stop thru-axles and all bolts) will sell for £1150, and Mason will offer several complete builds with both wheel size options and 1x or 2x drivetrains. The Ti frameset will go for £2650, with a SRAM Force 1x 650b complete expected to sell for £4300. More details on build kits and pricing is expected in the coming weeks.

 

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Mason-Bokeh-650b-alloy-adventure-gravel-road-bike_final-paint-headtube Mason-Bokeh-650b-alloy-adventure-gravel-road-bike_final-paint-fork

UPDATE

OK, Mason just sent over a few photos of the final paint on the aluminum Bokehs in ‘Element Grey’ and ‘Flare Orange’ with their completed graphics and clearcoat. The pics are so far exclusive to Bikerumor, and we just wanted to share what the glossy bikes will look like. “The Element Grey has Copper/Mustard/White/Black detailing, Flare Orange has Tungsten metallic/Ochre/White/Black detailing.” Mason is still waiting for the orange forks, but they will have the same matching ‘M∆SON’ detailing here in the metallic tungsten grey.

 

Aperture2

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Spec’d for their other two road bikes Mason also had a new all-carbon Aperture2 fork to reveal recently as well. While the current Mason bikes use QR dropouts, like the new Bokeh’s move to 12mm thru-axles, the new fork does the same. The drive here has really been the availability of more good thru-axle road wheels and the industry settling a bit on a road thru-axle standard. The Aperture2 has a unique solution to dealing with the thru-axle and actually uses tapered and threaded inserts that press into the carbon fork legs. The tapered inserts mean that as you tighten the axle, it also tightens the insert interface so it should run creak-free.

Mason-Aperture2-carbon-AdventureSport_disc-brake-gravel-road-bike-fork_overall Mason-Aperture2-carbon-AdventureSport_disc-brake-gravel-road-bike-fork_fork-ends

This does double duty of meaning that the threads can be replaced if damaged, but also it seems that you can decide yourself which side of the bike you want your axle levers on. Mason calls the axle system F-stop as it lets you set the insert with the lever in whatever position you prefer, and it is supplied with a nice looking internal-cam QR axle lever.

Mason-Aperture2-carbon-AdventureSport_disc-brake-gravel-road-bike-fork_F-stop-dropout Mason-Aperture2-carbon-AdventureSport_disc-brake-gravel-road-bike-fork_F-stop-axle

The new fork improves tire clearance a bit over the previous Aperture fork as well, up to 33mm now, and gets cleaner (and sealed) internal routing of the front brake hose. It still gets a tapered steerer and the same mounts for fenders as the gen1 fork, but not goes to a flat mount disc caliper. It will replace the current fork on the Resolution and Definition going forward, and be available from September. Interestingly for titanium fans we’ve also heard that a ti version of the standard disc road Resolution will be coming soon under the new name Aspect. And while both of the new Bokeh’s above get a different fork with a bit more tire clearance, they use all of the same tech features as this new Aperture2.

MasonCycles.cc

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typevertigo
typevertigo
7 years ago

I had heard of the Bokeh on Road.cc, but the Aspect is news to me.

You guys have any more detail on the through-axle? It looks like a 12 mm Maxle of sorts from first glance.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  typevertigo

Hi typevertigo,

The Aspect will follow up the Bokeh bikes and uses a similar custom Dedacciai tubeset but with revised tube dia’s and wall thicknesses. It will use our new Aperture2 fork and have a similar geo. to the existing Mason ‘Resolution’, but with longer wheelbase and slightly more stack-height through the size range.

The F-Stop thru-axle is designed to work with our dropout system and allows you to loosen the small allen bolt on the end of the axle and fine tune the angle of the QR lever to exactly where you want it when the axle is tight. You can re-adjust as things bed in.

Hope that helps.

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Eric Schiller
7 years ago

£2650 ($3530) for a ti frameset? Wow, that’s Moots/Seven/Eriksen territory. I cannot understand how their pricing is working for them.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Eric Schiller

Hi Eric Schiller,

Thanks for your comment. We take our pricing very seriously and really try to keep things realistic for the amount of work and level of tubing and innovation that goes into our bikes and framesets. None of our frames are mass produced, all are made in very small, high quality workshops in Italy and painted to an extremely high standard in a paint shop near Venice.

Both Bokeh frames use full custom tubesets, designed and tooled for by us and produced specially in small qty’s by Dedacciai. The Reynolds 3D printed Ti dropouts alone, cost around the same amount as a full far-east Ti tubeset! We have also tooled for our own carbon forks.

So yes, the Ti frameset does cost around the same as Moots/Seven/Eriksen etc, but we firmly believe that it’s advanced tubing, geo., dropouts, finish and fine detail, very small batch production by high quality and very experienced builder + the pedigree of being developed with the help of a TCR winner make it worth it.

Our pricing does work for us because experienced riders are tracking us down and buying our bikes and framesets based on thorough research, solid reviews and maybe most importantly recommendations from other riders and early adopters of the M∆SON brand who have thoroughly enjoyed their bikes and the adventures that they have experienced. Take a look at our IG and FB feeds for a taste of this.

I hope this helps to answer your Q’s : ]

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Nigel Leech
Nigel Leech
7 years ago

Titanium frames hand made from name brand tubing by craftsmen in a developed/western country that have been designed and sold by a small Bike firm. Why wouldn’t/shouldn’t they cost a similar amount to the brands you mentioned?

Eric Schiller
7 years ago
Reply to  Nigel Leech

Because the frames I listed are custom.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Eric Schiller

Hi Eric,

Our frames use full custom tubesets delivered specially for us by Dedacciai in Italy, this isn’t normal for small makers like us. We are also using the very advanced Reynolds 3D printed Ti dropouts that cost a similar amount to a full Ti tubeset from the far east [not saying any of the makers you mention use TW tubesets of course!]

All our frames are finely detailed and finished and fully ride and ISO tested before production [normally after many versions and p.types].
So, I think when you mention ‘custom’ you are referring to bespoke geometry for particular customers? No, we don’t do that, it’s not our thing. But we do spend a long time developing our own award winning and race winning geo. in conjunction with riders like Josh Ibbett who won the TCR2015 on a Mason Definition.

Most ‘bespoke’ frame makers use off the shelf tubesets, they do not develop specific tubes for the frame models direct with the tube supplier like we do.
Our frames are also made by the same builders who make the ‘custom’ bespoke geometry framesets and they are made in very small qty’s. The BokekTi is made by an extremely experienced maker, high up in the mountains of Northern Italy.

The Ti frames can be ‘tweaked’ by customers as they will be built to order [we will hold a v small stock].
So, I call them semi-custom as they are ‘custom’ in just about everything but 1 off sizing.

I hope this helps answer your Q’s and thanks for your interest : ]

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Nigel Leech

Hi Nigel Leech,

Thanks very much for your well made points.

Our frames are made in very small workshops in Italy and in very small batches, the custom Dedacciai/Reynolds/Rewel tubesets and Reynolds dropouts are extremely expensive!
We are also taking the time to thoroughly develop and ride test all frames, changing them many times before the final version which is then sent to be ISO tested and certified.

So actually, because of the above points and the fact that they are being made in the very same workshops that make ‘full custom’ frames, the pricing has to be what it is!

Dom | Mason Cycles.

geraintcevans
geraintcevans
7 years ago

As a proud owner of both a Resolution and Definition, I completely understand how their pricing is working for them. They are not cheap bikes but the attention to detail, quality of finish, and superb ride more than justify the money compared to the competition, in my view. Unfortunately I can’t comment from experience on the Ti offerings or compare them to their competition, but why not consider that a Mason might just be every bit as good as the established players in the Ti market you mention? Don’t judge a brand by its age, every business was a startup once.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  geraintcevans

Hi geraintcevans,

Thanks very much for your comments, we are so pleased that you are loving your Mason bikes and maybe we’ll see you on a Ti Mason in the future ; ]

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Bill
Bill
7 years ago

I really like the look of the la bikes bowed stays coming to the dropouts, it gives the frame a really unique look but is functional also.

Can anyone tell me how you set the thru axle lever position if the thread is fixed in the frame? Ie, so you don’t have a lever pointing in a crazy direction. The thru axle looks like it has an adjustment at the tip?

Milessio
Milessio
7 years ago
Reply to  Bill

The threaded end of the thru axle is actually threaded into the end of the axle, so using a small hex wrench adjusts the closing force required on the QR lever, when it’s set in the correct orientation.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks very much! The Mason ‘Boatail’ stays were something we developed specially for the ‘Definition’ frames, they really give comfort and functionality to the bikes. We use this shape on the Bokeh Alu but with stays derived from Dedacciai CX tubing and we have also added an ‘hourglass’ shape bend to the SS’s and special bends/crimps to the CS’s to allow large tyre clearance and chainring/heel clearance, so they are pretty special items!

The F-Stop thru-axle is designed to work with our dropout system and allows you to loosen the small allen bolt on the end of the axle and fine tune the angle of the QR lever to exactly where you want it when the axle is tight. You can re-adjust as things bed in.

Hope that helps.

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Just some gibroni
Just some gibroni
7 years ago

Is no one concerned with carbon and hydraulics on an “adventure” bike? Maybe the carbon is ok, but I certainly wouldn’t head into the back country with hydraulic brakes. I think most people “adventure” through their local state parks for 3 hours. Mmmmm, adventurous….

Castor/Pollux
Castor/Pollux
7 years ago

And yet, people riding Tour Divide and TransContinental Race have been using carbon frames and hydraulic brakes for years now…

Ryan Madison
Ryan Madison
7 years ago

Hydraulic brakes on an “adventure” bike? A 3 hour ride around the state park is not an “adventure”. Even if you sleep outside.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Ryan Madison

Hi Ryan Madison,

Thanks for your comments.

Josh Ibbett who won the TCR2015 on a Mason Definition used hydro brakes and Di2 electronic shifting, when you are riding so far and are in the saddle for 9hrs+ a day then reliable, light shifting and braking is hugely important.

A 3hr ride round the state park and an overnight sleep may not be an ‘adventure’ for you, but it is for many less experienced riders and everyone has to start somewhere : ]

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Dom Mason
7 years ago

Hi Just some gibroni,

Many riders are using hydro brake setups on fast/lightweight adventure bikes, modern systems are so reliable. Josh Ibbett who won the TCR2015 on a Mason Definition used hydro brakes and Di2 electronic shifting, when you are riding so far and are in the saddle for 9hrs+ a day then reliable, light shifting and braking is hugely important.
Our frames are designed with adaptable ‘MultiPort’ cable/hose parts, so you can use mechanical braking if you are like and are not restricted to hydraulic systems.

Most of the riders who buy our bikes are serious riders who have done their research and hunted us down for a bike that exactly suits their needs. But I’m very happy that newer but no less enthusiastic riders are buying our bikes too, and many of these guys do start with an ‘adventure’ through a local park for 3 hours, many of them start here and get caught up in the excitement of riding further and faster than they thought they ever would, many of them contact me from a far away, remote place that they never thought they would reach…

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Chris R.
Chris R.
7 years ago

Hello Dom(Mason Cycles)!
Is there any chance that the fork for the Bokeh will be available for sale soon? I have been looking for a flat mount fork that can accomodate a 650bx50 tire, Which is exactly what you guys have designed. I was looking at the ENVE grd but their max width on that one is 700×38, which could probably accomodate 650bx40. Another one i was considering was the whiskey fork but i dont think they are available in flat mounts yet.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Chris R.

Hi Chris R.

Thanks for your enquiry. It’s not easy to find this exact fork with all the features you describe, which is why once again we have designed, or in this case collaborated to design our own. We’ll have just enough for our framesets and bikes to start with but I think we will be able to sell the fork seperately as we get going. It will be a good way to recoup a bit of the tooling cost.
when do you need one?

Dom | Mason Cycles.

Chris Ram
Chris Ram
7 years ago
Reply to  Dom Mason

Hello Dom!
Thanks for the response. I was planning on ordering a custom Ti frame optimized for 650B wheels with said clearance above and using your Bokeh fork. But after you emailed me the geometry of the BokehTi Frameset i was sold. The stack and reach are pretty close to what i need and i like the fact that it already has eyelets for fenders/racks and lighting(on the fork) as well as the multiport system. Just waiting for preorders to open.

Dom Mason
7 years ago
Reply to  Chris Ram

Hi Chris,

Thanks very much!

Final production samples will be here in the next couple of weeks, so we’ll be able to show you those and place the orders with the maker shortly after. All details and photographs will be on the site soon.

Stay in touch and we’ll keep you updated.

Dom | Mason Cycles.

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