Introducing Sour Bicycles

Officially launched at the Kolektif Bike Fair in Berlin in March, Sour Bicycles is a new company based out of Dresden, Germany, and they’ve hit the scene with six models and three forks, offering something for everyone.

Using their online configuration tool, all frames can be powder coated and finished to order in a variety of color options, from classic, to fade, to sparkly. Given the custom process, there’s about a two-week lead time for orders. There are currently just a small handful of dealers across Germany (including our friends at The Gentle Jaunt in Berlin), but Sour will ship bikes directly to consumers anywhere within Europe.

Here’s a quick overview of Sour’s range, alongside an interview with product developer Christoph Süße…

Give us some background on Sour. What’s your story?

Sour is an offshoot from our parent company, Binova, a team of nine bike enthusiasts that could best be described as a development office for transportation problems. We develop batteries for e-bikes, motor control units, and try to find and develop soft and hardware solutions for unusual clients that want to use bikes or e-bikes as their way of transport. Sour is our passion project.

The Sour team currently consists of four people, including me. We’re the hardware part of the company. Our team is made up of two mechanical engineers, one production engineer, and one culture manager.

We started Sour in early 2018 when I decided to go to the Berliner Fahrradschau (Berlin Bike Show) to see how people would react to the prototype frames. To be honest, but I didn’t really have any plans for developing the brand beyond that. The feedback at the Berlin Bike Show was amazing, and a lot of our friends were asking to ride the bikes, so I decided to make a test run for friends. It took us about a year from the prototyping stage to running through all the iterations of every bike.

In mid-March of this year, we finally launched our website, had the online shop up and running, and the bikes are finally available. Right now, Sour is consuming at least 120% of our work time at Binova, but Katja, the company’s owner, believes in what we’re doing and I owe her massive thanks for that!

You have a diverse range of bikes, especially for a new company. Is there a particular direction you’re planning to steer the company in the future?

The development of our lineup happened pretty naturally, and was influenced by everyone’s individual cycling backgrounds mixed with what we’re most excited about riding today. We don’t want to be seen in just one way, and we don’t want to limit ourselves too much. We build what we want to ride.

The next big step for us will be offering complete builds for the Clueless and Purple haze starting this Friday, May 17th. We’re really excited to see where that takes us.

Purple Haze

• Overview (Large)
• Angles: 71.5° Headtube, 73.5° Seattube
• Chainstay: 440mm
• Bottom Bracket: 68mm BSA
• Rear Spacing: 12 x 142mm thru-axle
• Seatpost Diameter:27.2mm
• Max Tire Size: 29 x 2.0″
• Price:€749 (frame only)

The Purple Haze, Sour’s flagship adventure rig, has three sets of water bottle mounts, as well as mounts for fenders and a rear rack. There’s an aluminum and a carbon fork available, both with 12mm x 100mm spacing, internal light cable routing, and clearance for 29 x 2.2″ tires. Frames are available in sizes XS-XXL.

As Sour puts it, “Delivering a dreamy burst of euphoria that brings you right to your psychedelic heyday. With our Purple Haze you can remain cherished and full of blissful contentment throughout your day on the bike. It’s very special mix of geometry underscored by its materials and little details sum up to an exceptional ride.”

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Crumble

• Overview (Large)
• Angles: 67° Headtube, 73° Seattube
• Chainstay: 430mm
• Bottom Bracket: 73mm BSA
• Rear Spacing: 12 x 148mm Boost thru-axle
• Seatpost Diameter:31.6mm
• Max Tire Size: 27.5/29 x 2.4″
• Price:€749 (frame only)

The Crumble is Sour’s hardtail MTB, designed around a 130mm suspension fork and featuring internal cable (including dropper) routing. The small and medium frames get 27.5″ wheels and the larger frames get 29″ wheels. It features Unfortunately, it was only specced with a single set of bottle mounts. It’s available in sizes S-XL.

As Sour puts it, “Now who doesn’t love a good piece of apple pie? Also we all know that it’s all about the crumbles. Delivering a modern trail bike, optimized for 130mm suspension forks, internal cable routing, and made for all the short and long days outside. Nothing too experimental here, just like your favorite crumble pie.”

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Clueless

• Overview (Large)
• Angles: 72° Headtube, 73° Seattube
• Chainstay: 426mm
• Bottom Bracket: 68mm BSA
• Rear Spacing: 12 x 142mm thru-axle
• Seatpost Diameter:27.2mm
• Max Tire Size: 700c x 35mm
• Price:€749 (frame only)

The Clueless is Sour’s all-road rig. It has two sets of bottle mounts as well as fender mounts. It clears 700c x 35mm tires with fenders and is available in sizes XS-XXL.

In Sour’s own words, “Certified Fresh“ is what we call it. Meant as a modern reshaping of road bikes, Clueless offers the right mix of old and new that pokes as much fun on paved roads as it does at the next gravel gran fondo.”

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Bad Granny

• Overview (Large)
• Angles: 68° Headtube, 74° Seattube
• Chainstay: 442mm
• Bottom Bracket: 68mm BSA Eccentric
• Rear Spacing: 12 x 142mm thru-axle
• Seatpost Diameter:31.6mm
• Max Tire Size: 29 x 2.25″
• Price:€699 (frame only)

The Bad Granny is something quite special from Sour, and it’s a joy to ride. Its companion fork sports two sets of eyelets, light cable routing, and clearance for 29 x 2.4″ tires. The frame is available in sizes M and L.

According to Sour, “Usually grandparents have different functions in a child’s development. In this case our Bad Granny is here to remind you that singlespeed, rigid forks, and a laid back geometry is everything you need to have the most fun on a bike. Of course Bad Granny keeps up with the times, derailleur shifting, suspension forks, even internal or external dropper posts comes beside the old-fashioned style…she can handle it all.”

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Pick-Up

• Overview
• Angles: 71° Headtube, 74° Seattube
• Chainstay: 625mm
• Bottom Bracket: 68mm BSA Eccentric
• Rear Spacing: 10 x 135mm
• Seatpost Diameter: 31.6mm
• Max Tire Size: 29 x 2.3″
• Price:€749 (frame only)

The Pick Up is another surprising standout in Sour’s lineup. The frame sports two sets of bottle mounts, as does its companion steel fork. It’s available in just one size.

As Sour puts it, “If you just need that little extra strength, the bit more room, the bike to carry just one more piece, our Pick Up will be just right for that. Though it still is a mid-size vehicle and not quite as big as a full on cargo bike you will have the reliability and strength to transport whatever you fancy or need. Perfect for those who think that a classic cargo bike is too big for their needs.”

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What’s your personal favorite bike in the lineup, and why?

If I personally had to pick just one bike, it would most definitely be the Crumble. I come from a dirt-jumping background, and have done some downhill and marathons, and for me the Crumble sums up all the things I want from a trail mountain bike. It’s not too pointed downwards, not too extreme with its geometry, and perfect for our local trails and as a do-it-all hardtail.

Now that your frames are getting out into the world, is there anything that has surprised you about the builds you’ve seen?

We’ve seen some really beautiful builds so far, from super wild to super practical. Most of the custom builds we have seen so far were actually made by the shops we work with. They do an amazing job connecting with the customers, seeing their needs, and giving good advice. Bike shops are very important for the bike scene, which is why we’ve decided to work closely with certain shops. We see them as partners, not just as a way of distribution. We listen to them and what they have to say, and we can’t thank them enough for their support.

Any new bikes or projects in the works that you can share with us?

We have some exciting products in the making right now and are regularly testing new things. We have a nice bikepacking add-on in development, as well as something to transport even more than what’s possible with our PickUp.

You can find lots of additional details and photos about Sour’s bike range in English and German by visiting them at Sour.Bike. You can also keep up with them on Instagram @sour.bicycles.

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