scratchpaddy

A few weeks ago, I was searching craigslist for bikes or frames just a little bigger than what I have now, when I came across a Soma Smoothie frame. I'd never heard of Soma before, but I did some research, and came away impressed. They have all the things I like about classic road bikes (traditional geometry, decent tire clearance, mount points for racks/fenders), but built for hardware you can buy new today.

It's an older frame. The current Smoothie is sort-of compact, and black, not my favorite color. This frame is my favorite color. Metallic orange! I couldn't resist, so I drove down to Tuscon and bought it. The owner is a super cool guy, with a really nice collection of bikes. Another Smoothie, a Surly, even a classic Freschi! This picture is from his ad.



I toyed with the idea of Campagnolo components, then decided on Shimano Ultegra, then was tempted away by Dura-Ace. I'm used to downtube shifters (very flat where I am, so not much shifting anyway), and Shimano kept offering indexed downtube shifting all the way up to 10 speed. I got a mix of late 7400 and 7700 components (9-speed).

I must've had 15 orders or so from sellers all over, so there were a few issues. The seller of the brake cable/housing waited a week, then canceled my order, claiming to be out of stock, even though they were still selling it with "more than 10 available". I ordered a couple of things from Chain Reaction, including silver headset spacers and 2 rolls of Velox rim tape. Instead, they sent me red headset spacers and 2 boxes of rim tape (20 rolls!! ). I didn't mind that mistake so much.

This is my progress so far. I'm itching to ride it, but... no brakes.

Wspsux

no brakes no rules!


looks great

TakingMyTime

Great looking bike.

mstateglfr 

That sure is an older frame, and it looks great! Love the old Soma script too. Its going to buold up great with silver components. 63cm frame size? Just a guess, not sure what the older frame sizes were.

Looks like a reynolds 631 decal on the downtube. Soma changed from 631 to Tange Prestige back in 2006ish, so the frame is probably from around then at latest.

scratchpaddy

Thanks, everyone! The frame seatpost is 60cm, and the top tube is 61cm. I've always wound up with 58cm/23" frames, which are just a little on the small side for me.

Mstateglfr, yes, I read about Soma switching to Tange 2006-2007, so I figured it was early-to-mid 2000's. The original owner bought it NOS on ebay a few years ago, so he doesn't have an exact year either. I might send the serial number to Soma to see if they can look it up.

I love the look of polished alloy, and I went over the whole frame with car polish and wax before I put it together. I want to make it as bright and shiny as possible to stand out from all the sinister matte road bikes out there now.

noodle soup

I'm sure the original owner was happy to finally sell that frame. It had been on craigslist for a very long time.

scratchpaddy

And I'm happy to have it! I bet it's hard to find a buyer for a frame as tall as this one.

I ran into a little issue with the brake calipers I bought. I got a pair of Dura-Ace 7403 calipers, which use Campagnolo-style barrel adjusters, but one of the calipers was missing the little plastic bushing the adjuster fits into. Luckily, I still had the one to measure and copy with my printer.



I was really impressed with the cassette. They're not messing around with this "weight reduction" thing! This mix of high-strength steel, titanium, and aluminum is a big change from the iron slab on my Schwinn.



I've been riding it to work this week, but I took it for the first real ride today, up through Tempe and Scottsdale at sunrise.





I actually went a little bit overboard on the size of the frame. The bikes I've ridden before have all had shorter top tubes compared to the seat tube. This bike is the opposite. With traditional bars, I'm a little more stretched out than I want to be. One of those "compact" drop bars that are all the rage now will put me right where I want to be.



It's still manageable as-is, though. Man, this bike is smooth! I've always ridden steel frames, and still, I'm amazed at how smooth this bike rides. The handling is just as snappy as my Basso, too. Coming from the steel-wheeled Schwinn, acceleration feels effortless.



I'm looking forward to many more miles on my Smoothie.

mstateglfr 

Keep it in the family and get some Soma hwy1 bars.
They are $35 at a ton of online sites, come in silver, and are 31.8 or 26.0mm clamp size.
Short reach and drop.
I have em on a couple of updated 80s road bikes.

Thata a really neat build you ended with!

TenGrainBread 

The nice thing about the Highway 1s is that they have a flat ramp to the brake hoods, which is very comfortable. It looks like your current setup doesn't really have a nice spot for you to rest your hands on or near the hoods.

scratchpaddy

Yep, those are the bars I ordered. It's good to hear from someone who's used them before. I wasn't looking specifically for Soma gear, but their Highway 1 bars are just about the only compact bars in existence available in silver. I don't understand why it's gotten so difficult to find things that aren't black. I had a heck of a time finding aero brake levers with white hoods, like on my Basso. It just isn't done anymore.

scratchpaddy

That would be a big plus! I spend most of my time on the drops, so I need to have the brakes low enough that the levers aren't jacked way far away from the drops. But, that puts them low enough that I can't really use the hoods on the current bars. They're Nitto Olympiade bars I just had laying in the closet, so no big loss.

mstateglfr 

Yeah, silver is close to going the way of the dodo.
I have a bike with black 105 thats modern steel and am going to build a frame this winter thatll have black components, so i obviously like them...but its a shame quality silver is disappearing. And painted silver doesnt count.

Unfortunately, painted components are cheaper to produce than polished silver.

Veloorange has some compact silver bars that are nearly identical to the hwy1 bars. Its a housebrand of theirs that they market under called Dajia.

Maelochs

I had been looking at Lynskey but those are pricey frames ... now I have tio look at steel instead.

Honestly, I cannot imagine Ti is All that much better than good steel .... I will have to compare costs,.

Beautiful bike. Eager to see it with the Soma bars.

dunrobin

From my experience, comparing like style true temper to titanium they are very similar. My favorite rider is a colnago titanio master oval because it is stiff and compliant. My motobecane titanium is a very nice ride...love the ping, and its relatively inexpensive.
With top end bikes coming out with discs you might be able to find a top end used rim bike for a fraction of new.
Lynskey also occasionally puts up frames on eBay for pretty good prices.
Just need to be a little patient. Good luck.

Btw, really like that soma smoothy!

scratchpaddy

Thanks for the compliments! I read up on carbon, aluminum, titanium, etc. when I was looking for a new frame. I've always had steel, and I wouldn't mind trying something different. But, all the new materials are about reducing weight at the expense of something else. Aluminum and carbon are punishingly stiff, while titanium punishes your wallet.

The Smoothie frame is not light by modern standards (4lb). I could save almost half that weight with a titanium frame, but I built the whole bike for the cost of a basic Lynskey frame. If I spent that much to save 2lb, I'd have to feel guilty about putting on a rack, or a heavy Brooks leather saddle. Then, there's the extra worry that comes with having that much money invested in a bike.

How much are you willing to spend to save 2 pounds? Is the prestige and beauty of an exotic metal frame worth the cost? I can understand the appeal, but I guess there are reasons why I've always come around to steel.

trailangel

Scatchpaddy......I have a silver Soma ES with 631 Reynolds. I also use the Soma Hwy One bars with short reach because of the long top tube. 8sp in back with sora index DT shifters. This is the bike for club rides, light touring like an overnighter or two..Rides really nice... I pass the plastic bikes on the downhills.
Ride On......

Maelochs

I pass All the bikes on the downhill .... on the rare occasions I can make it up the hill .....

sh00k

great photos and nice build my friend!

scratchpaddy

Thanks Sh00k!

Sounds really nice! I love indexed downtube shifting. Do you have any pictures? When I went looking for pictures of other built Smoothies to try and find some ideas for mine, I didn't find much.

The Soma bars came during the week, and I installed them Saturday. They're really nice! They have a channel bent into them for the cables. That's probably common now, but all the bars I've wrapped have been from before cables went under the tape.



I bought some gaffer's tape in my favorite color to match the tape and cables, and I re-used the same tape. I had to cut the cable housings down a little to compensate for the shorter reach. I put some cable donuts on the rear brake cable while I was at it, to get rid of an annoying ding over bumps.



I went for a 40-mile ride this morning. With the new bars, the reach is just right. I'm not done with it yet, though. At some point, I'll get a saddle more suited to the bike, like a Swift, or maybe a Selle Anatomica.



Bigger spacers are on the way. I think the bars are meant to be rotated further up than I have them now. I may flip the stem down, too. The drop is shorter than what I'm used to.



The miles are really easy on this bike.

trailangel

Gaffer Tape! LOL. That what I'm using as the first layer of tape. I have 3-4 layers of Velox clothe tape on it.
Hold on for pics.

scratchpaddy

I e-mailed Soma with a picture and my serial number, and I just got a response today. Apparently it's one of the original Smoothies from the company's early days.

avhed

Is this powder coated?
Why the switch to Tange?

mstateglfr 

soma claimed its due to wanting to upgrade thetubing wothout adjusting the price much. Soma highlighted the fact that prestige is heat treated as the upgrade.

I believe both used the name brand for the main triangle and generic cromo tubes for the rear triangle.
also, if both were .9/.6/.9 butted tubing, they would feel and ride almost identically. The only possible difference in ride being due to a difference in butting, but not sure if there was one.

my guess as to why they changed- cost. Either Tange tubes cost less or were more readily available. Pretty sure Maxway in Taiwan made and still makesnthenframes, so perhaps Maxway had better or cheaper access to Tange tubes.

a company will switch supply due to price, performance, availability, or consumer appeal. Performance would be equal so a wash. Consumer appeal...maybe worse at the time since Tange had closed its US business so it maybe wasnt as well known. Or perhaps equal in appeal since people who seek out steel usually know its history.
Either way, it leaves price or availability as the obvious reasons.

ColonelSanders

That is a gorgeous bike , but I have a question about your rear rack and trunk bag.


How did you get the Topeak Quick Release trunk bag to work with that rack?

scratchpaddy

Thanks for the thread bump Avhed, and thanks for answering, mstateglfr. From everything I've read, Tange Prestige and Reynolds 631 are similar enough to make no difference to the customer out in the real world, and I'm sure Soma made the switch for economic reasons. I did install a Tange bottom bracket on this Reynolds bike, though. A good thread with more than you'd ever need to know:

Reynolds 631 vs. Tange Prestige

@ColonelSanders , Thanks! The Topeak bag works because it's a Topeak Super Tourist DX rack. I had to order from the UK to get a silver one, since I'm allergic to black components... although the bag is black, I guess...

In the time since I last updated this thread, I got tired of the Heliums, replacing them with a heavier, but oh-so-sexy H Plus Son Archetype wheelset from Velo Mine. I also tried a Brooks Swift saddle for 600 miles or so. It looked fantastic, but never got comfortable for me, no matter how I adjusted it. I think it's just too narrow for me.





I recently replaced the Brooks with a far cheaper Charge Spoon, in brown. It's not dead sexy like the Brooks, but it's more comfortable to me, and that's what counts. I have about 900 miles on the bike now. I still ride it to work every day.