Phiber

Made my first payment today. New bike is being built and will be on its way shortly!

'05 Soul Monk!

thechrisproject

I been checking out your posts about them and their webpage. Looks interesting. Have you ridden a soul bike yet? How do you know about them? I'm very interested in them...

Phiber

I have not ridden one yet; and I actually heard about them through the MTB Forum. Went and checked them out online. Called and got them to fax me specs on their cyclocross frame. Became very interested and started doing some research on componants. Called them up and told them that I was probably just going to get the frame from them because I had to split payments up and would be doing that with sun and ski. They told me they'd do the same thing for me. So I am getting around 2g's worth of bike for 1400 shipped, with payments, in the colour I want!

Awesome people to deal with, very helpful and no bs. I reccommend them whole heartedly! I will post pics and give opinions when I recieve the bike!

B1105

I am also getting a Soul frame, its one the way. May take a month or so to buid it though.

Byron

Phiber

A month to build? Did you have to get a size they don't have or something? Mine should be on its way next week.

B1105

Nah, I just bought a frame. I work at a shop so I get components a bit cheaper still so I'm taking my time builidng it. I'm basically putting campy centaur stuff on and like Avid brakes, and once I get some funds, I will lace a set of nice wheels.

Arsbars

Yeh Soul is basically 'sponsoring' anyone right now.. so if u want a decent aluminum frame- the time is now. A friend of mine has their XC frame built up and is happy with it for the price!

Phiber

I think it's cool what they're doing. Although it may be sponsorship only by name, it's a nice way to get a nice product for a good price.

I'm not complaining.

Arsbars

no no- that's why i said get it when u can. it's an AWESOME way to get people to promote you.. by *gasp* sponsoring people that don't race I mean look what ur doing, spreading their name everywhere you can. it's good, don't get me wrong at all. I give them full support.

bertt

Here are a few pics. & specs they emailed me earlier this week. Frames are "in the rough".

Phiber

Beautiful!

bertt

What build did you go with? What color? I am about ready to buy one but I want to check out a couple others first. Just can't make up my mind.

Phiber

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=64349

Something like that. We've revised a couple things but for the most part, that's it.

paddlerx

I've ordered one as well, initially i was a bit concerned about the sensiblity of doing it almost sight unseen but one of the advantages Soul has right now is that their bikes are Available! Lots of mftgr's cross frames aren't at the moment (most are sold out). Looked a bit harder at the drawing, saw some nice features that tell me they A) designed their own damn frames b) didn't give it touring bike angles c) made it disk compatible. For me these were some very important factors.

So i placed an order online and crossed my fingers that it wasn't a mistake. That night at home i get a call and its Chad from Soul. On his dime we talked for close to an hour about the frame, the design, the promise of support and quality, business philosophy, parts selection and on and on. THAT was the selling feature right there. He's a good fellow to talk to, knows his product and the industry and sincerely seems to care. I ride a klein palomino XX...i've emailed them a swack load of times about this or that...think i ever got a response from gary or anyone else...noooooope. So for someone to say hi and spend the effort supporting his product and belief in it is rare and refreshing.

I've only ridden 1 cross bike and it was a converted Devinci touring. SO my first ride on the Monk will not be a comparison but more of a discovery. It will be raced in our provincial (yes province, i'm in atlantic canada...eh) series, it will be raced at the National Championships that we're hosting in November (https://crossnationals.mbscycling.org/), then it'll be ridden for the hell of it. Commuter to work until the snows too deep, trail rides and road rides.

It may be shipping as of today, once it arrives and is built and raced and ridden i'll post back honestly about the experience.
Cheers.

bertt

Could you post some pics. when you get it? I would like to see what they look like finished.

Phiber

I too will be posting pics and a review when I recieve my bike.

bertt

Did anyone get there Soul cross bike built up and take any pics.?

paddlerx

Ok, souls built and has been through its first race. Initial impressions are that its wickedly stiff, power isn't wasted anywhere. With the mid range level parts i've got on it its still relatively light (haven't weighed it yet though). People seemed to respond favourably to it, aside from the fact that no one could tell who built it. Basically the Soul Cycles is too small and only on the top tube. with the huge billboard that is the downtube it looks like a stolen bike right now. I'll email soul for some decals for that. I'm not necessarily a proponent of mega decaled bikes but this is too sparten.

climbs brilliantly, with the carbon post i had on it seems to be less harsh than i expected for a full on aluminum frame. the fork...she's stiff but again, i expected worse. I did notice that with the "strange brakes" i'm currently usign on the front that i can flex the forks outwardly a bit when applying pressure on them, that may translate into some cush overall but i've only raced it once so far so its too early to tell, Fit and finish is all very nice, nicer than i had expected really. Rear dropouts are nicely cut out and sculpted. very impressive overall.

I'll be riding it recreationally this week and will have a better feeling for overall ride characteristics.

feel free to email me directly for any additional info.

don.ricker@moncton.ca

Phiber

Just wait until I get my pics up.

BlastRadius

Yeah but you'll have to get a better model to stand next to yours

Phiber

She isn't that bad! She is sexy in that whole mom way.

How does a white thong sound? White thong, white frame.. Mmm..

BlastRadius

I didn't mean she was bad, on the contrary she's quite attractive.
I just meant that the next model should be one-up, you know like weapons escalation.