Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Lucas’s Brother Cycles Mr Wooden: Back to the Future
Eschewing modern standards, the Brother Cycles Mr Wooden is a simple and adaptable steel frameset with rim brakes, quick-release axles, and room for burly 650B tires. Wanting a change of pace, Lucas recently built one for rough-stuff touring around Colorado. Find a detailed build breakdown, a reflection on merging the past and the present, and a colorful photo gallery here…
PUBLISHED Jul 25, 2024
When real-life brothers Will and James Meyer of Brother Cycles in the UK brought the Mr Wooden to market last January, internet commenters quickly arranged themselves into two camps: those who couldn’t understand what anyone would possibly want with a rim-brake-equipped, 650B-wheeled frame in 2023 and those who desperately needed to have one. Falling decisively into the latter group, I’d already dreamed up a complete build in my head by the time I finished reading the announcement.
Named after one of the brothers’ favorite childhood teachers, I view the Brother Cycles Mr Wooden as a bike for people who care more about riding than keeping up with the latest and greatest bike tech. Brother calls it “a middle finger to the throwaway culture we live in today,” a sentiment that resonates with me as it applies to the world of bicycles and well beyond. There’s nothing wrong with following the endlessly advancing (and occasionally tail-chasing) realm of bicycle technology and components. It’s exciting, and those of us on the BIKEPACKING.com team closely track the industry as a core part of our work. Still, if there’s one thing my time riding the Mr Wooden has already laid bare, it’s that chasing the newest bits and pieces every season adds significantly less to the experience of enjoying the ride than one might think. More on that below.
Meet Mr Wooden
The Taiwan-made Mr Wooden is only available as a frameset, which Brother Cycles sells for £699 ($900), including UK VAT, or £582 ($750) for buyers outside the UK. I think that’s pretty reasonable for a quality frame and fork today. The Mr Wooden is built from double-butted 4130 chromoly steel with an ED coating to help prevent rust, and it has provisions for front and rear racks, fenders, and three bottles (two in the main triangle and one under the downtube). Downtube shifter bosses facilitate the use of classic downtube shifters or cable stops if integrated brake/shift levers or bar-end shifters are more your speed. The low-mid trail fork is designed for moderate front-loading, whether on a minimal rando rack, a porteur rack, or panniers on low-riders.
Niche as it may be, the Mr Wooden is impressively versatile (or altogether useless if you’re in that camp). It’ll clear at least 650B x 50mm (~2.0″) tires with fenders; fits 50-39-30T triple, 52-36T double, or 48T single chainrings; and features 132.5mm QR rear spacing, which opens it up to either a 130mm or 135mm rear wheel. It’ll work with cantilevers or V-brakes, and the other frame standards are all tried and true, including a 27.2mm seatpost, a 68mm threaded bottom bracket, a 1 ⅛” threadless headset, and a 28.6mm front derailleur (remember those?) clamp. In size medium, the frame comes in at 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds), and the fork weighs 1.1 kilograms (2.4 pounds). For reference, that’s a little less than an equivalent Surly Cross-Check and a smidge more than a Crust Lighting Bolt Canti. Splitting the difference, the Mr Wooden’s tubing strikes an optimal all-purpose balance between overbuilt and noodly.
- Highlights (60cm)
- Angles: 73° Head tube / 72° Seat tube
- Reach/Stack: 401mm / 613mm
- Bottom Bracket: 68mm Threaded / 65mm drop
- Hub specs: 100mm QR (front) / 132.5mm QR (rear)
- Chainstays: 435mm
- Max Tire Size: 650B x 50mm (front/rear)
Like its tubing, Mr Wooden’s geometry is fairly unexciting, which I don’t write in a negative context. In the largest size, it has a 73-degree headtube angle, a 72-degree seat tube angle, a shortish reach of 401mm, a generous stack of 613mm, a 65mm bottom bracket drop, and 435mm chainstays. My ideal frame would have a tiny bit more stack and longer chainstays, but the many decisions that went into the frame’s geometry all point to a clear expectation that owners will build their Mr Woodens to serve all manner of purposes, whether that’s riding brevets, cruising the city, or roaming off-road tracks. Proportionally, I think Brother nailed the look of the Mr Wooden. Big frames paired with smaller wheels can sometimes look gangly or goofy, the 62cm Surly Trucker DeLuxe with 26-inch wheels I rode across the UK and Europe back in 2012 being an embarrassingly apt example. To my eye, the 60cm Mr Wooden appears just right with chunky 650B tires. I’d even argue that it looks at least a size smaller than it really is.
I went for a Metallic Green frameset, which was the only option at the time, but Brother has since added a lovely Metallic Lilac color. If I could do it again, I’m torn on which one I’d choose, but the subtler green edges out the purple if you’re after something more understated and classic. The metallic sparkles really pop in a way that caught me pleasantly by surprise when I first took the frame outside. I suspect the Metallic Lilac looks equally good in person.
All-Terrain Rando 2.0
The build I envisioned when I first learned of the Mr Wooden, which closely matches the one presented here, fills the role of all-terrain rando in my too-large (but slowly shrinking) stable of bikes. To me, that designation means it’s comfortable for super long rides without much concern about what’s around the bend. My checklist includes large-volume tires for confidence and compliance, high bars for a comfortable all-day position, dynamo lights so there’s no excuse to stop riding after dark, and a large front bag that’s easy to access on the go. Fender mounts and room for three bottles are plusses, too.
Before the Mr Wooden, my all-terrain rando bike was a Fairlight Faran 2.0, which I shared on the site in 2022 (find it linked at the bottom of this post). I built it up during the years I was living in Germany and rode it around various corners of Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the Swiss Alps. It was and is a wonderful bike, and Fairlight remains a forward-thinking small brand I recommend at every opportunity. However, I mostly built my Faran with parts I purchased around 2018, and the Mr Wooden reflects where my shifting interests have led me and how my tastes have evolved throughout the past six years. It may seem counterintuitive, but I see the move to the Mr Wooden as a logical progression. At the risk of sounding like a total jackass, I’d call it the Faran’s spiritual successor. You get the idea.
Viewing the two side by side, it’s clear that some things have changed, and others have stayed the same. Having left rainy Berlin for sunny Boulder, I’ve ditched the fenders. Gone, too, are the hydraulic disc brakes and wide-range 1x drivetrain. I miss the slightly higher stack and shorter reach of the Faran’s dreamy 58 Tall size, which helped get the saddle and bars just a tad more level and closer together. Both bikes have 650B wheels and check off all the essential boxes on my list. I’m not under any illusions about the Mr Wooden being a technically “better” bike than the Faran, but I’m having more fun and getting a little looser on it, which reflects what I want out of riding today.
While Out Riding
In the months I’ve been pedaling my Mr Wooden, I’ve taken it out on bikepacking trips, commuted, gone on many solo and group gravel rides, and tackled a handful of mountain bike loops. Bike industry pressures to own a different bike for every discipline aside, I estimate that the Mr Wooden can handle about 90 percent of my riding needs. My hardtail covers the remaining 10 percent. Between the two bikes, I feel next to no limitations on how I currently want to ride.
No doubt, the Mr Wooden isn’t the best at anything, but neither am I. Rather than fussing over which bike to ride, I’ve found myself reaching for it by default, which has sometimes meant struggling to ride chunky trails with a huge smile while scheming other impractical exploits. I’ve had a ton of fun underbiking on it instead of stressing about having the right tool for the job.
As I’ve written elsewhere, balance is something I’m pursuing in all areas of life as of late, and the Mr Wooden found me at the right moment in that journey. Not only is it balanced in its frame/fork geometry and tube selection, making for an even-keeled experience, but riding it naturally raises broader questions of balance. Do I have too many bikes? Almost certainly. Do I truly need 13 speeds or wireless shifting? Nah. Rolling around on the Mr Wooden evokes similar feelings to those I had when riding the 1986 Diamondback Ascent I built up for a few hundred dollars (also linked below!) for our Budget Bikepacking Build-Off challenge, even if they’re entirely different animals at contrasting price points. What is enough?
Pulling it All Together
Every now and then, one of my builds comes together almost perfectly by my standards, and this is one of them. There’s very little I’d change about it beyond drilling the frame for dynamo routing to get the wire off the top tube. And despite all my blathering about simplicity and balance, I acknowledge this is still an undeniably fancy build. In part, that’s because I have a deep parts bin after a couple of decades spent going deeper down the rabbit hole. I’m lucky to have access to industry deals that help make things more attainable, too. That said, I also picked up many of the parts inexpensively secondhand, whether from bins at local bike co-ops or in various online buy/sell groups.
Compatibility with affordable, widely available components and accessories is a crucial aspect of what makes the Mr Wooden great. Assuming you have the means to buy the frameset, the rest can be had for relatively cheap when compared to something with more thoroughly modern standards that lock you into expensive and sometimes proprietary components. The 650B rim-brake wheels are likely the trickiest part to source, but doing so is far from impossible. There are many new 650B wheelsets on the markets, loads more used via various online marketplaces, and a solid dozen rims that spring to mind if you want to go the route of building your own.
Brother Cycles Mr Wooden Build
For my Mr Wooden, I opted for a nine-speed double drivetrain with 44/28 chainrings and an 11-34 cassette, cantilever brakes, handbuilt wheels with a dynamo front hub, classic downtube shifters, knobby 47mm tires, and a front-loading configuration with a Rene Herse UD-1 rack supporting a mid-sized rando bag. Find a list of everything below.
- Frame/Fork Brother Cycles Mr Wooden, 60cm
- Headset IRD Double RollerDrive, 1 1/8″ threadless
- Rims 650B Velocity Quill, 32h, polished)
- Spokes DT Swiss Competition
- Hubs SON28 (front) / Bitex Touring (rear)
- Tires WTB Venture 650B x 48mm
- Handlebar 46cm Rene Herse Maes Parallel, 31.8mm
- Bar tape Grepp Gripper
- Brakes Paul Touring Cantilevers
- Brake levers TRP RRL SR
- Shifters Shimano Dura-Ace
- Crankset White Industries Square Taper Road, 170mm, 44/28
- Pedals Shimano XTR PD-M9100
- Front Derailleur Campagnolo Chorus
- Rear Derailleur Shimano XTR RD-M952
- Cassette Shimano Ultegra 11-34, 9-speed
- Saddle Brooks Professional
- Seatpost Parts bin find, 27.2
- Stem Velo Orange Tall Stack, 80/31.8mm
- Front Rack Rene Herse UD-1
- Front Bag Gramm Diamond Bag Tall
- Saddle Bag Gramm Multi-Tool Saddle Bag
- Lighting System B+M IQ-XS (front) / B+M µ (rear)
- Accessories Spurcycle Bell, Silca Frame Pump, Forager Cable Cherries, Paul Funky Monkey
A Few Highlights
From the $12 rear derailleur that I overhauled in my workshop to the top-of-the-line custom wheels that I wouldn’t dare try to build myself, I appreciate the high and low mix of parts and how they all came together. As mentioned, I’m not sure I’d change a single component, but a handful of clear favorites stand out.
Totem-Built Wheels
Expertly built by Ryan at Totem Cyclery in Denver, these are wheels for life. The polished Velocity Quill rims are equally strong and stunning, the SON28/Bitex Touring hub combination is quiet, efficient, and reliable, and the silver DT Swiss Competition spokes hold everything together perfectly.
Paul Touring Cantis
Far and away, Paul Components makes my favorite rim brakes. Form meets function with these California-made Touring Cantilevers, which are super light, powerful, and elegant in their simplicity. They’re pricey, but like the wheels, I’m never letting these go.
Rene Herse Maes Parallel
The Rene Herse team calls these “one of the most comfortable and beautiful handlebars ever made,” and I can’t argue with that. I’ve moved this pair between a few bike builds because I love the long, flat ramps, which let me move my hands around into different fore/aft positions when I need to mix things up. There’s something pleasing about the parallel drops and ramps, too.
Gramm Diamond Bag Tall
Made from X-Pac RX36, the Diamond Bag Tall from Gramm Tourpacking in Berlin permanently lives on my Mr Wooden, and I can’t imagine the bike without it. With an 11-liter capacity, it’s the ideal size for all kinds of rides. It’s impressively stable on my front rack, and the rider-facing “origami” lid with FidLock closure is easy to open while on the move.
Shimano XTR Rear Derailleur
This cult classic nine-speed rear derailleur was once the pinnacle of Shimano’s mountain bike range, and you could argue that it still is! These last forever, are easy to adjust and rebuild, and look great. The RD-M952 is one of a few rear derailleurs I always buy when I find one for a good price.
Brooks Professional Saddle
This old saddle looks like it’s been to hell and back, but it somehow came out incredibly comfortable on the other side. It’s beyond broken in and yet still firm. I found it at a bike co-op for $30, hoping it would work for me, and I’m so glad I gave it a shot.
FRAME SPECIFICATIONS
- WHEEL SIZE: 650B
- COLOR: Metallic Green
- FRAME MATERIAL: 4130 chromoly steel
- FORK AXLE TO CROWN: 380mm
- FORK RAKE: 55mm
- HEADSET (TOP): EC34/28.6
- HEADSET (BOTTOM): EC34/30
- BB SHELL: 68mm ISO threaded
- DROPOUTS: 132.5mm quick release
- SEATPOST DIAMETER: 27.2mm
- MAX TIRE SIZE: 650B x 50mm
Closing Thoughts
To wrap up this piece, I first want to commend James and Will from Brother Cycles for turning the Mr Wooden into a reality. Despite being an emminently practical frameset in so many ways, I can appreciate that only a relatively small subset of riders will see it in that light for one reason or another. From a business standpoint, I’m sure producing it was a risk, but it’s one I’m thankful they took.
For riders who want to try something different, the Brother Mr Wooden is a refreshing alternative to the hydraulic, electronic, 3-D printed, carbon fiber, transmission-equipped components and frames that have long captivated the market. We’ve all benefitted from advancements in bike technology through the years, of course, but I think it’s beautiful—perhaps even radical—that a production frame made to exacting standards in 2024 requires only basic shop tools to work on and can be built up with reliable parts that have been around for years and are available at comparatively affordable prices. No need to anticipate whatever new standard is looming around the corner.
If you’ve made it to this point and the Mr Wooden still sounds like a compelling option, I can confidently recommend it. Looking ahead, I know novel and exciting review bikes will come and go from my workshop, but I’ll be here happily riding my Mr Wooden in my own time long after I’ve sent the others back.
You can learn more about the Brother Mr Wooden over at BrotherCycles.com.
Further Reading
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