Bike Check: Soma Smoothie
Soma Fabrications are a small bike fabricator out of the San Francisco Bay Area who focus on making bikes for people who ride every day, who love to ride bikes, but who don’t really care about making their bike look like a team replica bike. In fact, the minimalist aesthetic on their frames intentionally eschews the billboard style graphics of ‘pro models’ in favor of a design they describe as simple, and “easy to cover up with stickers.”
While they may not be keen on using the WorldTour as their design starting point, Soma is still very focused on making a high quality bike that is really fun to ride. They just want that bike to last longer. To that end, they’ve built the Smoothie using Tange Prestige butted CrMo Steel to achieve their balance of durability and ride quality. Soma wants a bike that’ll make you want to ride it every day, and that can stand up to the abuse of years of every day riding. Sounds good to us!
The Soma Smoothie, with the classic look of narrow steel tubing and steel fork
It’s nice to see a good looking head badge, instead of just a sticker or paint.
Soma’s built the smoothie with rear rack mounts, adding function to the fun
Claris might not be Shimano’s top end race group, but it benefits from Shimano’s decades of experience
Soma sticks with simple, understated but good looking graphics on their bikes
This Smoothie is build up with FSA bars and fi’zi:k bar tape to match the frame
The 8 speed Claris group, as well as fender/rack mounts
Michelin Pro4’s to keep the colour theme going
