4130 Road v2 - Black & Tan - (8-Speed)

We took our best-selling 4130 Fixed Gear and made it a road bike. Same timeless look. Same double-butted chromoly. Same simple, approachable feel. Now with gears, drop bars, and the range to handle a much wider slice of everyday riding. This isn't trying to reinvent the road bike. It's doing the opposite — bringing it back to the parts that actually matter. Simple on purpose. Bikes have gotten complicated and expensive. There's absolutely a place for that technology, but not every ride requires it. This is a road bike stripped back to a great steel frame, comfortable tires, enough gears, simple brakes, and good ergonomics — at a price that makes sense. Good enough looking that you'll want to ride it. Not so precious that you'd be afraid to lock it to a rack. What it is A classic steel road bike built on the 4130 chromoly platform this company was founded on. It's for people who want a real road bike without needing electronic shifting, hydraulic brakes, carbon everything, or a four-figure price tag. Familiar and timeless to look at, functional and modern where it counts. Commute on it. Ride it around the city. Take it out for thirty or forty miles on a Saturday. It doesn't need to be overthought. The frame Double-butted 4130 chromoly, TIG welded, with a matching chromoly fork. Steel is durable, comfortable, and has a ride quality that just feels right on rough city streets — it takes the sting out of cracked pavement in a way aluminum doesn't. It also has clean, traditional lines that aren't going to look dated in two years, which is a bigger part of this bike than the spec sheet suggests. Two water bottle mounts, a 1-1/8" threadless steerer, and a 68mm English threaded bottom bracket shell. Nothing proprietary anywhere on it. New 8-speed drivetrain The biggest change from the last generation: the shifters moved to the bars. Version one used down tube shifters — charming, and a reach every time you wanted a gear. This one runs Sensah Reflex integrated drop-bar shifters, so shifting happens where your hands already are. It's more precise, more intuitive, and it means you shift when you actually need to instead of when it's convenient to let go of the bar. The rest is deliberately uncomplicated: 1x8 drivetrain — no front derailleur, no cross-chaining to think about, no front shift to fumble on a climb 42T CNC-machined chainring paired with an 11–28T cassette Enough range for commuting, city riding, and rolling terrain Fewer parts to adjust, maintain, or replace — eight speeds means a cheaper chain, a cheaper cassette, and more tolerance for a slightly-out-of-tune derailleur than a twelve-speed will ever give you 38mm tires, because real roads aren't perfect Most road bikes at this price ship on 28mm tires. We're putting 38mm CST Metropolitan Escapes on it, and it's the single best decision on the build. Potholes, cracked pavement, construction plating, rough bike lanes, the occasional gravel shortcut — that's what most people are actually riding. A 38mm tire at lower pressure absorbs all of it, adds grip in the wet, and dramatically reduces the odds of a pinch flat on a curb you didn't see. And it doesn't make the bike feel slow. Wide tires at correct pressure roll about as fast as narrow ones on real surfaces — the speed penalty everyone remembers from skinny-tire road bikes was mostly a comfort penalty in disguise. Rim brakes, and why that's fine Rim brake bikes aren't dead. They're light, simple, inexpensive, and they work. A dual-pivot caliper has maybe six moving parts. You can see all of them. Pads cost a few dollars and swap in minutes with an Allen key. There's no fluid, no bleed kit, no rotor to true, and nothing that requires a shop visit. For a bike designed to be ridden, locked up, and ridden again, adding hydraulic complexity just to check a box doesn't serve anybody. There's something genuinely refreshing about a bike where almost anyone can understand how every part works. Built on standards you can actually build on Simple doesn't mean disposable. Every interface on this bike is an established, widely available standard — which means you can work on it, and you can change it. Frame & Cockpit 1-1/8" threadless steerer 31.8mm bar clamp 27.2mm seatpost 68mm English threaded BB Drivetrain Square taper cranks, 110 BCD Standard 8-speed freehub Standard derailleur hanger Swap the cassette for more range anytime Wheels & Brakes 100mm front / 130mm rear QR 700c double-wall alloy, 32h Dual-pivot caliper, 55–72mm reach Decades of rim-brake wheels available used and new Buy the complete and ride it exactly as it comes. Or start with a frameset and build your dream steel road bike. Upgrade the wheels, the drivetrain, the cockpit, the tires — make it as basic or as ridiculous as you want. There are still a lot of excellent rim-brake road components in the world, and comparatively few new platforms to use them on. This is one. Sizing 49 cm: Riders 5'5" – 5'8" 52 cm: Riders 5'7" – 5'10" 55 cm: Riders 5'9" – 6'0" 59 cm: Riders 5'11" – 6'3" 62 cm: Riders 6'2" – 6'7" Sizes overlap on purpose. If you fall between two, the smaller size gives a more nimble, upright fit and the larger one stretches you out. All sizes share a 425mm rear center and 45mm fork offset, so handling stays consistent across the range. Specifications Frame: Double-butted, TIG welded 4130 chromoly steel, two water bottle mounts Fork: 4130 chromoly steel, 1-1/8" threadless steerer Headset: SBC 1-1/8" threadless Bottom Bracket: Sealed cartridge, square taper, English threaded, 68mm x 110mm Crankset: Forged 6061 aluminum, 42T, 110 BCD Cassette: SunRace CSM86, 11–28T, 8-speed Chain: KMC Z8, 8-speed Shifters: Sensah Reflex, 1x8, drop-bar integrated Rear Derailleur: SunRace RD-R81-SD, 8-speed Brakes: Dual-pivot alloy calipers, 55–72mm reach Rims: 700c double-wall alloy, 27mm depth, 32h Spokes: Stainless steel, 14 gauge Hubs: Sealed bearing, 100mm front / 130mm rear, quick release Tires: CST Metropolitan Escape, 700 x 38c Handlebar: Aluminum drop bar — 420mm width, 125mm drop, 80mm reach Stem: SBC 3D-forged alloy, 31.8mm clamp Seatpost: SBC aluminum, 27.2mm x 350mm Saddle: Polyurethane with steel rails Bar Tape: EVA Pedals: Nylon flat pedals, included If you love the 4130 Fixed Gear but want gears — this is basically that bike. Same frame material, same aesthetic, same philosophy. Just built for the road, with eight speeds and tires that can handle whatever the city puts under them. It's the 4130 you already know. Want to get technical? Full Geo / Specs here.