Read the We Are One Arrival review here.
The Arrival: It’s a cool name sure, but it has some real meaning to the folks at We Are One, and the wider bike industry. The more I think about it, the more meaning it has, and a little backstory will help explain it.
We Are One backstory
Founded by ex-pro downhill racer Dustin Adams in Kamloops BC, We Are One is the first and only company manufacturing bike rims in-house in Canada. Dustin built the business from scratch, officially launching in 2017, aiming to produce a bike frame within five years. Lofty dreams for sure, but the company did it, and here it is.
The Arrival is not only the first frame that We Are One has produced, and not only is it possibly the first mass-manufactured Canadian carbon frame, but it might also be one of the most ethically-produced carbon frames around. That’s not to say that it’s any more recyclable than any other carbon, but the brand is committed to repairing rather than replacing broken frames, even though they know it’s more labor intensive. This way the frames stay out of the garbage in the first place.
We Are One is dedicated to supporting Canadian manufacturing, claiming 99% of the raw materials used for the Arrival frame coming from within a 500 mile radius of the brand’s facility in BC.
The Arrival is designed to be a “complete mountain bike” for many different types of riding. That means a conventional floating pivot suspension system, rather than a high pivot/idler setup as is trendy right now — and that’s no bad thing. We Are One has put a focus on creating something of high quality with predictable performance using a manufacturing process they can closely monitor to control the quality of the end product.
We Are One says that the Arrival is designed to be both a strong climber and descender and to come in at a weight that makes it competitive in whatever you want to do with it. To this end, the brand decided to use a floating pivot suspension design because they wanted to make the bike super supple and active, great for rough and choppy terrain, yet with the ability to tune the leverage curve to give the rider a platform right at the sag point for efficient pedaling. It’s worth noting that the Arrival is designed to be run at around 22-25% sag, which is around 10% less than most conventional full suspension bikes.
We Are One Arrival geometry
| SZ1 | SZ2 | SZ3 | |
| Recommended Rider Height | 5’3″ – 5’8″ | 5’8″- 5’11” | 5’11 – 6’4″ |
| Reach | 450mm | 475mm | 500mm |
| Stem length | 45mm | 45mm | 45mm |
| Stack | 616mm | 621mm | 626mm |
| Headtube length | 95mm | 100mm | 105mm |
| Chainstay Length | 437mm | 437mm | 441mm |
| Headtube Angle | 64° | 64° | 64° |
| Front Center | 783mm | 809mm | 836mm |
| Wheelbase | 1220mm | 1246mm | 1277mm |
| Seat tube angle – 77deg | 77° | 77° | 77° |
| BB drop | 37mm | 37mm | 37mm |
| BB height | 338mm | 338mm | 338mm |
| Effective top tube length | 593mm | 610mm | 645.5mm |
| Fork offset | 44mm | 44mm | 44mm |
| Dropper length | 150mm | 150/170mm | 170/200mm |
| Standover | 665mm | 665mm | 676mm |
The Arrival comes in three sizes and geometry is decidedly modern. On test here is the SZ3 designed for riders 5’11” to 6’4″ and with a 500mm reach and a 441mm chainstay. It’s definitely on the lengthy side of things and sits probably somewhere between a modern large and extra large. With low standover heights, not excessively long head tubes, and the option to choose different dropper post lengths and bar rise, it means that while sizing options might be limited, riders can tune their fit in better than with a lot of other bikes.
In terms of head angle, we’re looking at a slack 64° coupled with a 77° seat tube angle to move the riders weight forward for climbing. We Are One says they wanted the Arrival to have the ‘in the bike’ rather than ‘on the bike’ ride feel, and to achieve this they’ve dropped the bottom bracket by up to 20mm over other bikes in this category; with a 37mm BB drop, the Arrival is low for sure.
We Are One Arrival frame details
It’s the details that count though, right? And that’s one thing the Arrival seems to have pretty dialed. All the hardware on the Arrival is really neat and tucked away, to prevent it from being ripped off/damaged on trail. Pretty much all of the hardware on the bike is CNC’d in-house in Kamloops, and it looks great. All of the frame and linkage parts are hand molded in house and it makes for a very well thought out package that works well together. Other things to note include a Super Boost 157mm rear axle spacing, a 30.9mm seatpost diameter, and a threaded BSA bottom bracket.
The build
When it comes to spec, there are two options: nice, and really nice. Because the Arrival is a premium product, the spec packages are also premium. The SP2, on test here, at $8,999 USD, with Fox Factory 36 fork and Float X2 shock; a full SRAM X01 Eagle drivetrain; Magura MT5 brakes; We Are One’s own ‘Da Package’ bar and stem combo; house branded Revolution rims on I9 1/1 hubs wrapped in Vittoria Mazza tires; and finally an SDG Tellis dropper. The SP1 steps up to $10,755 USD and has the same suspension package, cockpit and Chris King headset, but features SRAM’s wireless AXS X01 drivetrain, AXS Reverb dropper, Magura MT7 brakes, and the same rims and tires but on I9 Hydra hubs.
Stay tuned to see what we think of the We Are One’s inaugural bike in the coming months. We can’t wait to see what it can do.
