A lot of mountain bikers (myself included) love the idea of a steel, full-suspension (FS) mountain bike. But you don’t see a lot of them rolling around on the trails, at least not here in the US. Yesterday, Trek Bikes shared a steel bike project from industrial designer Kyle Neuser called “Pipe Dream” on Instagram, and clearly it generated a lot of buzz, with more than 700 comments in less than 24 hours. From the sound of things, it’s not really a prototype; it’s more of a concept bike.
The brand writes, “Kyle’s vision combines the timeless strength and natural damping of steel with the proven geometry and pedaling performance of the new Top Fuel.”
Trek actually begins the post by asking, “Should we… make this?,” and not surprisingly, many of the commenters said “yes, please!” Of course, that’s not the same as asking if riders would buy a steel FS Trek bike, so tell us what you think in the comments below.
The Pipe Dream frame uses a Trek Top Fuel rocker link and stays, which are aluminum, meaning only the front triangle is made with steel tubing. Neuser chose to go with external cable routing, and everything appears to be clipped neatly in place. While Trek and other big brands like Specialized have moved on from steel MTB frames over the years, this project pays homage with a vintage-inspired paint job.
While the Trek Pipe Dream may remain just that, plenty of brands are already making steel FS mountain bikes, including Starling, Cotic, and REEB, whose trail bike, the SST, is currently up for a 2024 Singletracks mountain bike of the year award. Coincidentally, the “regular” Trek Top Fuel is up against the REEB SST in the very same category.
9 Comments
Nov 8, 2024
Nov 8, 2024
Nov 8, 2024
Nov 14, 2024
The tubing on the prototype is pretty small not a lot of real estate left to stick the massive in your face hard to ignore Trek branding - thumbs up for that...
Nov 11, 2024
Totally agree with th commenter who stated the sheer idea of buying from a "different" builder is what makes those other steel bikes viable.
Nov 11, 2024
Nov 10, 2024
I would prefer if bikes were made of longer lasting components and materials, especially suspensions. I have two steel framed bikes (Surly, Masi) that will probably outlive me. My two carbon bikes (Alchemy, Santa Cruz) likely won't since the composite to alloy connections have already failed multiple times (BB cups, lower link).
Nov 7, 2024
5 days ago