Today, those cool guys at Mason Cycles are launching Mason RAW, a steel hard tail. If you are surprised that there are no mountain bikes within Mason's range, please join the club. However, for founder and designer Dom Mason, this is not a new direction. Before starting Mason Cycles on his own, Dom chopped off his design teeth and made some great hard tails for Kinesis.

Mason RAW has been developed for a long time. This wait-and-see approach has allowed Mason to avoid the most serious geometric growth pain in recent years. Therefore, the new hard tail looks very much in line with today’s rider’s needs for hard tails. I was fortunate to get the pre-release At the invitation of you, you can try the new Mason RAW on some trails around some Lakeland trails. My first impression of riding is as follows, but first, let's see what the new RAW is (not...)

Mason RAW is a steel hardtail car, hand-made and assembled in Europe. The tubing comes from Dedacciai in Italy and Reynolds in the UK. The tubes were welded in small batches by five land bikes in Scotland, and it also handled the beautiful wet paint job. (For example, the paint is sprayed rather than powder coated. This provides a glossier finish, supplemented by a high-gloss finish to protect the paint layer. The frame has undergone eCoat corrosion treatment, stops inside and out, and annoying rust bugs. Although it looks very Shiny, but Mason plans to use RAW often.

In addition to Dom’s Kinesis pedigree, Mason Cycles’ ISO (In Search Of) overhanging handlebar adventure bikes also have cross-country roots. The bike has been used by team rider (and all-around long-distance rider) Josh Ibbett. Josh promoted bicycles to participate in events such as Highland Trail 550 and Great British Divide, which laid the foundation for Mason RAW's direction.

RAW is nothing, it is a low, wooden jumping bike. Instead, Mason RAW is designed to accommodate large 29-inch tires, with luggage as you want, thanks to a more horizontal top tube for luggage space and many fixed points for luggage. There are also semi-custom options for riders who want an upper tube pocket mount or an externally mounted male bottle boss and a nut on the seat tube to allow the insertion of a complete dropper (or drop) seat tube in a smaller size. Dropper routing is internal.

As Mason said: "All bottles/bags/accessories perforations and convertible internal wiring are standard configurations within the frame price. There are no hidden costs. Cables/hoses are routed reasonably in places where internal wiring is reasonable."

About now, you will ask for some geometric shapes, so for a medium size (with a 430mm seat tube), you will get a spacious reach of 451 mm (471 mm on a large size) and an angle of 66°/75° (virtual Seat tube). The bike is designed for 120mm front forks and is equipped with SID Ultimate (assuming they can get any). The frame is available in four sizes-S to XL, suitable for riders ranging from 5 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 6 inches.

Color: Vela (this is the color of the stone), filter yellow, sensor blue

Price: Mason RAW has a variety of specifications. The base and accessories are priced at 1,695 pounds, and the RockShox SID Ultimate RAW is priced at 2,395 pounds. The SLX version is priced at 3795 pounds, and the top XT Launch version is priced at 4195 pounds. All frames and bicycles are equipped with Deda Elementi earphones, Mason seat clips, beautiful Mason head badges, a complete "black stainless steel" bolt set, all frame inserts and neat 3D printed Mason chainstay protectors. There are also free options for external threaded seat tube bottle holders (above) and top tube holders.

Full specifications highlights (expected specifications and pricing depend on parts availability!)

Mason RAW XT Launch bicycle manufacturing: £4195

The RAW frame with Rockshox SID Ultimate fork is £2,395 including: DedaElementi earphones, MASON macro clip, MASON SwitchLever axle, all black stainless steel bolt set, all accessories and MultiPort plug-in, MASON Element chainstay protector. Get ready, face and chase, get ready to build. The standard price includes 15 bottle/bag/accessory mounts, all internal wiring and options, accessory mounts for external threads or perforated cage/seat tube, and mounts with/without top tube set.

RAW Frame is only £1,695 including all the above parts and accessories.

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It is undoubtedly beautiful, but I am correct that the recent price increase of Chameleon will not be affected.

I can buy a snowman for this 😀

The paint job looks really amazing...

Also, have you lost weight? You can swear that you are taller than me...

I’m definitely 175 cm, as far as I remember I used to be 5 feet 9 inches since the age of empires (hint some kind of Star Wars joke...)-but I do live a "very average" between medium and large "The world, for example, I think many, many people are at the top of the bell curve-this makes the entire frame size a bit strange anyway. Shouldn't I be in the middle? I really like that Trek's M/L size is somewhere in between.

Out of interest, how does it compare to the Curtis AM7 you owned a few years ago? Both are handmade from expensive British steel hard tails. Which off-road ride do you prefer?

I know it has more travel, but I think if you are someone who is watching this mason, then Curtis may also be in your area of ​​attention

The strange choice of using RAW, when I saw this, I immediately thought that RAAW had a new hard tail.

It's a bit like a Patrol bicycle, but it's closer to the brand—especially RAW in all capital letters.

But I do live in a "very average" world between medium and large, otherwise called Marge 🙂

"But I do live in a'very ordinary' world between medium and large" otherwise known as Marge 🙂

It was a beautiful bike, the geometry sounded very suitable for all-round off-road riding, not too long, too low, too loose, and very interesting. But the price-wow.

In terms of weight, when you compare it with the Nordest, Piedream & Sonder steel hardtail cars over 6 pounds, I think it’s not too bad, but the price is three times that, it should be lighter!

Smaller seat tubes can have this outer bottle cage bolt/nut instead of an inner boss to allow the dropper rod to be inserted.

Don't mind the rest, this is a genius for those of us with shorter height ranges. Hockey stick seat tubes are business, but when cheap rivets limit the distance you can lower the dropper, they are completely wasted. Well done Mason.

@bent udder You are right. They are geniuses.

It looks great. If the bike’s manufacturing specifications indicate that it needs to be stable when loaded with a load, I’m not sure if you should expect a lighter bike. When riding a bike, weight will pay for itself.

The 75-degree SA seems a bit steep, and old guys like me feel comfortable in mixed or non-technical riding all day long...but maybe I will get used to it.

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