Brave New Velo is a journal documenting the progress of building a new Soma Smoothie bicycle and the experience of such an endeavor for the first time. Thoughts, discoveries, trials and tribulations will be shared.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Smoothe Arrival: Soma Smoothie

A few days ago the Soma Smoothie frame was dropped at my doorstep via UPS. There was excitement in the air as I whisked the box inside to open it. The dog was as anxious as I to see what await inside, poking her snout at the top as if to say, "What could it be? Hurry!" The back order period was about twice as long as projected, but that's OK because I don't have all the components yet to build up the bike completely. First impressions? It's quite light, I was surprised when I picked up the box for the first time. The finish is lovely, the metal-flake pearl white shimmers beautifully in the sunlight. The joint welds are pretty good. For a $300 frame I wouldn't expect them to be much neater than they are. The frame design is practical - rear rack braze-ons allow for the option of touring, functional with its agile and somewhat aggressive geometry making for some quick riding, and aesthetically attractive. General opinion is I got myself a good quality frame most likely worth every penny of its selling price. I'm looking forward to putting this baby on the road.