Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
The Rambler from Horse Cycles in Brooklyn, New York, is a new drop-bar adventure rig designed for control, durability, and functionality. With promising specs like 29 x 2.25″ tire clearance, lots of mounting points, and UDH dropouts, the Horse Cycles Rambler looks like a capable all-terrain bikepacking rig. Find specs and photos here…
Brooklyn’s Horse Cycles was founded by Thomas Callahan in 2017 with the goal of creating bikes that are both utilitarian and beautiful. Thomas’ focus is on high-quality handmade bicycles, and he also sells a unique assortment of other handmade goods, including oyster knives, apparel, and bike accessories. There are currently nine bike models available through Horse Cycles, which are all made-to-order and can be completely customized for a fee. Each bike is handmade at his shop in Brooklyn, and wait times fluctuate throughout the year.
Horse Cycles’ latest model is the Rambler. According to Horse, it’s a “gravel and bikepacking beast.” It comes standard with a steel unicrown fork, clearance for 29 x 2.25″ tires, rack mounts, several bottle mounts, and three-pack mounts on the fork legs. Because each Rambler is made-to-order, customers can add features like internal dynamo routing, custom geometry, additional mounting points, and more. The stunning two-tone splatter paint comes standard!
Thomas got out for a ride and fly fishing in the Catskills of New York and put together this mini edit of the Rambler in action.
Horse Cycles Rambler Specs
- BSA bottom bracket
- 38mm downtube for more compliance
- Oversized 44mm head tube with reinforcement ring for ultimate control (tapered head tube upgrade available)
- UDH dropouts for SRAM Transmission and future proofing
- Through axle front and rear: 12mm x 142mm rear/12mm x 100mm front
- Flat mount disc 140mm-160 rear/160-180mm ISO front
- S-bend seatstays and chainstays for tire clearance
- Mixture of Columbus Zona and Life (Steel), Titanium (Columbus)/USA-made Ti
- Steel Fork 1.5” crown race (Enve adventure fork optional)
- Offered with any single color and accent color of your choice from our custom paint shop
- Two sets of water bottle mounts
- 27.2mm seatpost diameter
- Optimized for 1x drivetrains
The nifty steerer tube-mounted bag support and slick rear rack aren’t included with the frame, but they’re available and made-to-order for $100 and $250, respectively. Horse Cycles has plans to release the bag support as a ready-to-order product soon but isn’t quite there yet. As for geometry, the Rambler falls in between a relaxed drop-bar mountain bike and a racy gravel bike—making it look suitable for anyone who likes spirited gravel rides and loaded bikepacking. Bikes with comparable angles include the Sklar Super Something I reviewed last year, Soma Wolverine, and Crust Bombora.
Horse Cycles Rambler Geometry
| SIZE | 52 | 54 | 56 | 58 | 60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB HEIGHT (mm) | 275 | 275 | 275 | 275 | 275 |
| CHAINSTAY (mm) | 435 | 435 | 435 | 435 | 435 |
| TOP TUBE LENGTH (mm) | 535 | 550 | 565 | 585 | 608 |
| HEAD TUBE ANGLE | 70° | 70.5° | 70.5° | 70.5° | 71° |
| REACH (mm) | 370 | 380 | 393 | 404 | 418 |
| SEAT TUBE | 435 | 475 | 500 | 525 | 540 |
| SEAT TUBE ANGLE | 74.5° | 74° | 73.5° | 73.5° | 73° |
| STACK (mm) | 550 | 570 | 576 | 599 | 610 |
| STANDOVER HEIGHT (mm) | 745 | 770 | 790 | 812 | 830 |
| WHEEL BASE (mm) | 1025 | 1045 | 1055 | 1074 | 1085 |
The Horse Cycles Rambler starts at $2,950 USD for the frameset (Enve Adventure Fork) or $3,150 with a handmade steel unicrown fork. Complete builds are also available upon request. Learn more at HorseBrand.com.
Further Reading
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