“Viral Bikes have been busy this year. Not only did they move their operations from Bend, Oregon to Bentonville, Arkansas, they have been hot in development for their latest model, the Wanderer.” – Viral Bikes
“The Wanderer is Viral’s drop bar specific adventure bike, designed for the roughest of roads and the longest of back country adventures. Mounting points abound on the Wanderer, making it possible to carry as much gear as can be carried while the frame itself is built around mountain bike standards including a full 100mm travel mountain bike suspension fork and boost spacing. “As soon as we had the Pinion SmartShift in our hands, we knew that this would be the next bike to market,” says Viral’s founder Steve Domahidy. The Wanderer is built specifically around the SmartShift, Pinion’s electronically shifted gearbox. TRP have stepped up to the plate with the Hywire, a drop bar shifter/lever (the brifter) combo designed around the Smartshift that allows for a proper shifting experience with drop bars and the Pinion gearbox. “There have been a lot of work arounds to making drop bars compatible with the Pinion gearbox, but they’ve all been pretty major compromises, until now,” Domahidy continues. Worried about battery life for electronic shifting? Pinion claims a full 10,000 shifts per charge, making the SmartShift charging a non-issue for all but the longest of adventures.”
“The Wanderer is also pushing the boundaries of gravel or adventure bike geometry. With a slack 67.5˚ head tube angle and long front center, Viral aims to push the wheelbase and reach of the Wanderer for more stability and confidence inspiring descending, loaded or not. In addition, Viral is changing the game in terms of size specific geometry, concentrating on the seat tube angle vs. size specific chainstay lengths. “At the end of the day, we have little control over the final chainstay length of a bike. It is what it is when you tension the belt to a specified amount, and you can change that a bit with belt lengths and gear ratio’s, but now you’re compromising final drive ratio to accomplish a chainstay length. That’s not how we wanted to go about it,” Domahidy says. Instead, the new Wanderer puts larger riders AND smaller riders more forward on the bike, with a steeper seat tube angle, to accomplish the same thing as longer chainstays would. “Shorter riders benefit from a steeper seat tube angle as it helps improve the front and center geometry which helps keep toe overlap in check. Taller riders benefit from the same steepening of the seat tube to keep their center of balance more forward and centered over the bike. As you raise the seatpost for taller riders, this moves their center of gravity further and further back which unbalances the ride characteristics. Because we can’t really effectively control the chainstay length, we decided to control center of gravity through seat tube angle.” Domahidy spent a lot of time working on and refining the geometry of the Wanderer, and he thinks the end result is “sublime”. The Wanderer also has a very unique seat cluster up it’s sleeve, which de-couples the top tube from the seat tube and uses a titanium spring plate welded to the seat stays to support the rider. This offers between 10-20mm of flex to the seat tube, giving the rider even more comfort and control over the rough stuff.”
“Viral is also co-launching the Wanderer with Industry 9 and brand new product from them including their all new Solix M line of wheels and a brand new gravel stem, which help to keep the weight of this machine in check. The Solix M Ultralite 300 Carbon wheels weigh a scant 1385 grams per pair and feature a 30mm ID on the rim width, a perfect match to the Wanderer’s ample tire clearance of up to 29 x 2.4” tires. The Solix M wheels are also the perfect companion to the Pinion gearbox, with only a 0.59˚ engagement angle, they add very little to the clutch mechanism already inside the Pinion.”
“The Wanderer frame kit will come with a frame, the Pinion C1.12i Smartshift gearbox, forged cranks, battery, charger, wiring, and a full TRP Hywire brakeset with 180mm rotors front and rear (either 6 bolt or centerlock rotors are available). It will also come with a Gates CDX cogs and belt, the Pinion cog lock ring tool, and the first 6,000 mile oil change kit. Pinion have recently updated their requirements for servicing the Pinion gearbox. It is now only necessary to change the oil every 6,000 miles, regardless of how long it takes you to get to that mileage, making the Pinion gearbox even lower maintenance than it was before (unless, of course, you’re putting more than 6,000 miles on per year, in which case it’s the exact same amount of maintenance as before).”
“Pre-orders are available now from Viral Bikes and require a 50% deposit. Pre-order customers of the frame kit will receive the TRP Hywire brakes and shifters for free in addition to being able to select the color they want to anodize their frame’s logos and stripes. For the first time in Viral’s history, they will offer a complete bike package with this pre-order special, with top of the line components from Industry 9, Crank Brothers, Fizik, and more, which will also be discounted from the normal sale price of the complete bike.”
“Lastly, Viral is also launching the Wanderer with partner Tailfin who are also launching some brand new packs. Viral can now offer customers purchasing a Viral bike frame or complete bike any assortment of Tailfin product they might want to attach to their new bikepacking rig.”
Learn more at the Viral Bikes Website
