Frames are in stock now. Complete Bike lead times are currently around 4 weeks
The Prospector is our timeless and rugged expedition mountain touring bike, designed around the stalwart Rohloff Speedhub drivetrain. It’s a bike designed to be reliable, tough and field serviceable in the harshest of conditions. In the face of ever changing bicycle part standards and the integration of exotic materials, the Prospector is built to last and to buck the trend of short product cycles and throw away upgrade culture. We believe that the most important features of a reliable expedition bike are a comfortable fit, a tough frame/fork, strong wheels, reliable components, and as much tire/mud clearance as possible.
While the Prospector is derailleur compatible, it was designed specifically around the Rohloff SPEEDHUB, a 14 speed internally geared drivetrain that has proven itself to be supremely dependable and capable. We've been using Rohloff hubs on our tours for over a decade and tens of thousands of miles through sand, mud, snow and at elevations of up to 18,000' without issue.
The Prospector has several features that separate it from other expedition bikes. We use the best chromoly tubeset available, it's oversized, heat treated, multi-butted with integrated gussets, and it's custom drawn just for the Prospector. A Phil Wood eccentric bottom bracket offers half an inch of bottom bracket height adjustability, custom cast dropouts work seamlessly with the Rohloff hub, and a hollow chainstay yoke maximizes every millimeter of mud and tire clearance to round out a complete package that can take you anywhere in the world with confidence.
What's new with the current batch of Prospector frames?
We added 10mm to the effective top tube length on all sizes, to work even better with the swept back Persuader bar that didn't exist when we first designed the Prospector. We also added a 150x15mm thru axle fork option.
Prospector Fork Options
We have three steel fork options for the Prospector: If you don't plan to run suspension, go with options 1 or 3.
1. 135mm Quick Release fork with rear disc spacing: The original fork that we offered with the Prospector, uses the same spacing as the frame, allowing you to run two rear wheels on the bike, useful if you run the bike singlespeed and want to run two different gear ratios. Wide hub flanges produce an incredibly strong wheel with great spoke triangulation.
2. 110x15mm Boost thru axle: Allows you to swap between rigid and suspension forks without needing to build a new front wheel. Lots of hub options, but narrower hub flanges don't work well with fatbike rims that have offset spoke holes, they produce a wheel with little to no spoke triangulation, but work great with non offset rims.
3. 150x15mm thru axle. The modern fatbike front hub standard. Lots of hub options, wide hub flanges for great spoke triangulation and super strong wheels. You can swap this fork with something like a RockShox Bluto in 80-120mm of travel.
Complete Bike Purchase Process
We will build complete bikes in the order that deposits are received. Our standard build as shown is $4675, some upgrades are possible based on parts availability. When you place your $2500 complete bike deposit, your name goes on a frame and you get put into the build queue. We will contact you to finalize the build spec when your build is a few weeks from starting, and the invoice for the balance due will be sent when your build starts.
Frame Material | Chainstay width is 140mm, crank arms must have 144mm inner width, 24mm spindle recommended |
Rack/Fender Compatibility | Rack and fender compatible, three bottle mounts on frame triangle |
Fork | Unicrown Chromoly steel with 135mm quick release, 110x15mm thru axle (thru axle included) or 150x15mm thru axle (thru axle included), upper and lower rack mounts, fender mounts, triple bottle cage mounts on fork legs, internal dynamo wire routing |
Max Tire Clearance | 26x4.0", 27.5x2.8-3.8˝ and 29 x 2.1-3.0˝, individual tire and rim combos affect tire clearance |
Headtube | 44mm I.D. |
Headset | Recommend EC44 lower cup. ZS44 upper cup. |
Bottom Bracket | 73mm, threaded English (1.37˝ x 24t) Phil Wood Eccentric Insert. M8 cupped point set screws (8mm x 1.25 thread pitch) |
Rear Axle | 135mm quick release |
Seatpost Diameter | 31.6mm |
Dropper Seatpost Compatibility | Internally routed for dropper post |
Seat Clamp (included) | 35mm |
Drivetrain Compatibility | Rohloff or 1x derailleur drivetrain recommended |
Brake Compatibility | 51mm I.S. disc caliper mounts, 180mm max rotor size, minimum 160mm rotor |
Fork Axle to Crown | 483mm |
Fork Steer Tube Length | 300mm |
Rear dropouts | Vertical with integrated non-driveside Rohloff OEM slot and replaceable derailleur hanger, 135mm quick release or bolt-on hub spacing compatibility; features threaded M5 and M6 eyelets for fenders and racks |
Chainring clearance | 1X Boost, 1X Super Boost |
Crank clearance | Chainstay width is 140mm, crank arms must have 144mm inner width, 24mm spindle recommended |
Frame Geometry | Small | Medium | Large | Extra Large |
---|---|---|---|---|
Effective Top Tube Length | 600mm | 620mm | 640mm | 660mm |
Seat Tube Length | 15" | 17" | 19" | 21.5" |
Head Tube Angle | 69.5° | 69.5° | 69.5° | 69.5° |
Seat Tube Angle | 73° | 73° | 73° | 73° |
Bottom Bracket Drop* | 58.5mm | 58.5mm | 58.5mm | 58.5mm |
Chainstay Length* | 456mm | 456mm | 456mm | 456mm |
Head Tube Length | 110mm | 130mm | 145mm | 160mm |
Fork Length | 482mm | 482mm | 482mm | 482mm |
Wheelbase | 1128mm | 1149mm | 1170mm | 1191mm |
Fork Offset | 53mm | 53mm | 53mm | 53mm |
Stack | 608mm | 626mm | 640mm | 655mm |
Reach | 414mm | 419mm | 444mm | 461mm |
Standover** | 772mm | 806mm | 837mm | 871mm |
Recommended Rider Height | 5'2"-5'7" | 5'6"-5'10" | 5'10"-6'2" | 6'1"-6'7" |
Recommended Rider Saddle Height | 63-69cm | 68-73cm | 74-81cm | 80-88cm |
Part | Description | |
---|---|---|
Frame | Prospector | Desert Sage or Midnight Blue |
Fork | Steel Unicrown | 110x15mm, 150x15mm or 135mm QR |
Headset | Cane Creek 40 | ZS upper, EC lower, 30mm Crown Race |
Crankset | Shimano | Black Super Boost |
Chainring | Wolf Tooth | Black, 32t Direct Mount |
Bottom Bracket | RaceFace | BSA Threaded |
Front Hub | Schmidt SON28 | Black 32 hole Dynamo |
Rear Hub | Rohloff SPEEDHUB | Black, 32 hole, Quick release 16t cog |
Quick Release | Shimano | Black |
Rims | Tumbleweed | Black 27.5" 40mm Internal Width |
Spokes | Sapim Race | Black 2.0/1.8 w/Brass nipples |
Brake Levers | Avid FR5 | Black |
Brake Calipers | Avid BB7 | Black |
Cables and Housing | Jagwire Pro Compressionless | Stainless Cables, Black Housing |
Disc Brake Rotor Adaptors | Tektro | 20mm front and rear |
Front Rotor | SRAM Centerline | 180mm 6 bolt |
Rear Rotor | Rohloff | 180mm 4 bolt |
Shifter | Rohloff | OEM grip shifter |
Tires | Maxxis Rekon | 27.5x2.8" |
Chain | SRAM | PC971 |
Grips | Ergon GP1 | Black, Rohloff Shifter Compatible |
Stem | Zoom | Black 31.8mm 4 bolt |
Handlebar | Tumbleweed Persuader | Black Alloy |
Seatpost | Kalloy | Black, 31.6mm Diameter, 410mm Length |
Saddle | WTB Rocket Wide | Black, Steel Rails |
Tubeless Parts | Tubeless Sealant, Valves and Tape | |
Headset Spacers | Black, Aluminum |
Technically it’s possible to run a belt drive on the Prospector, but you’d need to have a framebuilder add a split in the frame to accommodate it. Compared to a derailleur drivetrain, the simple singlespeed style setup of a Rohloff drivetrain requires almost no cleaning, just the occasional wipe off with a cloth and a little bit of chain lube.
We don’t recommend a belt drive for the type of riding the Prospector is designed for. Belts work, but they do nothing at all better than chain drive.
The Prospector was designed specifically around the 14 speed Rohloff internally geared drivetrain, a fully sealed transmission with a wide 526% gear range that has been proven to be reliable in the harshest of environments, with many reaching more than 100,000 miles.
The Prospector is built around a 73mm eccentric bottom bracket made for us by Phil Wood, to allow for easy chain tension adjustments and provide up to 1/2" of bottom bracket height adjustment to enable various wheel/tire combinations.