The Sam Hillborne
Our slam-dunk, super affordable, does-everything great bike.
Frameset with headset, bb, and seat post: $1,000.
The whole bike no saddle/pedals: around $2,200.

The Sam Hillborne is the replacement for the Bleriot, with some differences. It's a cross between the Atlantis, our cantilever-braked touring bike, and the A. Homer HIlsen, our roadish country bike. "It's a cross..." means it has tubing halfway in between the two (in wall thickness...); has the canti-brakes (or V-brakes) of the Atlantis, and the 40mm max tire clearance of the A.Homer Hilsen.


It is a wonderfully versatile bike--functionally halfway between the Atlantis (our full-touring bike) and the A. Homer HIlsen (our roadish all-arounder). But, and this is the key, a complete Hillborne costs about $1400 less.

You can ride your Sam Hillborne self-contained across the country, but it's also super on roads, for commuting, and fire trails. If you have one bike, you can't do any better than a Sam. If you have a stable of "normal" bikes, this is the one you'll ride the most. The Sam Hillborne is an all-around bike that sacrifices nothing, and will do all you ask of it without a wimper, forever.
The average price of a road bike in 2009 is $1,500---and there are thousands of bikes that sell for four times that. The Sam, at $2200 to $2300 or so, is not only a better bike than anything made of lesser materials, but the biggest bargain alive today. It's only competition is the Surly LHT. They're similar bike functionally, and the LHT is an incredible value. It's not the enemy, it's a friend. If your budget is $1,100 and you don't need lugs, get the LHT. If you can handle $2K or so (and you kind of sort of gotta have lugs), get the Sam.
(If you don't trust a bike that costs only $2K and you want a faux race bike made with a material known for its short life and high price, by all means spend more and get a carbon bike.)

Four sizes: 48 and 52 fit 650B wheels; 56 and 60 fit 700C. The frame design is "expanded," which is not at all like "compact." The top tube slopes up 6 degrees, and so the head tube grows in height to intercept it. As a result, it is easy, really easy, to get your handlebar high up where it's comfortable.

If you're five-ten, you'll probably be on a 56. Most 6-footers ride the 60. Most five-eighters, the 52. The 48 fits most five-twoers.
To nail the size, we'll need your height and PBH, and we make sure you get the right frame, the right bars, the right stem. Don't think for a second you're at a disadvantage ordering without a personal fitting. The roads are teeming with mis-fit riders who were sized incorrectly in person, and since we send bikes across the country all the time, we've had to evolve sizing methods that work. We must be more careful; we never get returns. This is what we do, and we do it well.

A frame with fork, headset, and bottom bracket andseat post sells for $1,000. Frame will probably be green. Rear spacing: 135mm. Complete bikes equipped with a typical parts package will go for $2,000---a price arrived at after we discounted some stuff we don't ordinarily like to discount. The Sam Hillborne is an untouchable value.

It is brass brazed (same as Masi, Atlantis, many Confente frames) and is quite well-made. Straight, good penetration, no signs of overheating in the brass. If "brass brazed" means nothing to you, the issue is this: You can braze with silver or brass. Silver melts at a lower temperature, brass has a higher shear strength. Super thin-walled tubes can be brazed eithe way, but are probably more often brazed with silver. The Sam's butts are normal--it's a touring bike, it's not a featherweight racing steel bike trying to compete with carbon in weight. So it is brass brazed, as is our preference in a bike of this type. Strong joints, straight frames, super design, accommodating clearances...all good stuff!

We're selling them direct, as always, and also through about six dealers across the country--the names to be announced in a few weeks or a month.

We are truly excited about this bike. Nothing's cheap on it. I uses our lugs, crown, bb shell as always. My pick of tubing, my design.

Any questions you have, please write or call (800) 345-3918.

View the Sam Hillborne geometry PDF here.

What do you get for the $2200 base price? Here's a typical build. Sales tax applies for customers in CA. Shipping on complete bikes is $110-130.

More photos.
Even more photos.