Frame-fork-headset: $2,000. Includes powder-coat paint.

The BOMBADIL is a stout-tubed mountain bike for rough riding and heavy loads. It's not Dutch-heavy, but by contemporary standards of expensive, fine bicycles, it's out there on the edge. This frame of this 52cm prototypeweighs 5.3 pounds. We may put in a heavier down tube. But I expect it'll weigh about 5.5 pounds max.

The tubes are about extra strong, reinforced, and there's a second top tube to create a small strong triangle even on bigger frames (all but the 48 has the second top tube, and the 48 doesn't need it). It's a MOUNTAIN bike, and not a frilly-techy one for gram counters who race in their minds but not in the world. It's not for racing, period. It is a modern mountain bike in the spirit of a 1983 model. Maybe '84.

The Bombadil will come in 5 sizes. Here they are, with my best guess of the corresponding Pubic Bone Height and Saddle Height:

48cm (for 650B wheels). For PBH of about 77 to 83cm; Saddle height 67 to 73.
52cm (for 650B wheels) For PBH of about 81 to 87cm; Saddle height 71 to 77.
56cm (for 650B wheels) For PBH of about 84 to 91cm; Saddle height 74 to 81.
60cm (for 700c wheels) For PBH of about 87 to 95cm; Saddle height 77 to 86..
64cm (for 700c wheels) For PBH of about 93 to 102cm; Saddle height 85 to 92.

I/Grant have a PBH of 85 and ride a 58 Saluki, a 59 A. Homer Hilsen, a 56 Atlantis with Albatross bars, and I'm getting a 52 Bombadil.

The top tube slopes up 6-degrees.

One-inch threaded headset, like on all our bikes.

We're having them built by Waterford.

Except for the seat post, all the fittings are familiar: One-inch threaded headset, 135mm spacing, British-threaded bottom bracket, 3 water bottles. 27.2 seatpost.

When available?
Now!

How much for a complete bike?
Depends on parts picked, of course. We're happy to help you figure it out if you feel overwhelmed by all the parts decisions you have to make. Here's a typical build.

If you want to upscale it here or there, we've done it before and offer great advice. Want top of the bar shifters, a second set of brake levers, STI? We've done it all. We won't let you wreck the bike with a fantasy part that doesn't work, but we're quite flexible if you have a notion you'd like to explore, or just want our opinion about some idea you might have.

Color: Undecided. Probably a clear-coated version over bare steel, and maybe a black or dark green or silver. The time to think a lot about color isn't yet, if that sentence makes any sense. "What if I want another color?" You can probably get it, but it'll take an extra two months and cost you $300 more. That's what it costs us.

Maximum tire size in actual millimeters, accounting for a minimal acceptable clearance: 52mm.
Tire availability: At least the Schwalbe 650B Fatties, but 650B is catching on fast, and it wouldn't surprise any of us here if there were ten new tires in the next year and a half. It (650B) remains the scary freak among tire sizes, but given the momentum it has and the hubub surrounding it and the press it's been getting and will continue to get in the real mainstream, I am beyond confident that tire availability will not be a problem.

If your local bike shop opts out of the 650B loop and plays the semi-ignorant but completely convenient high-horse card ("It complicates things/I don't want to support a weird tire size/I don't see the need for it/It's too hard to get"), there are and will be plenty of other sources. Kenda, I hear, is making three new tires, Panaracer will make at at least one or two more...and the next thing you know, we'll be up to our ears in Bombadil-compatible tires!

If you live nearby or are in the area, stop by and see it and ride it.

Geometry PDF here.