Roam Production Update

First off, let me apologize for the massive amount of information about to be dumped on you but I’ve only got one shot at this and I want to do it right. 

After more than 2 years in development, our All-Mountain/ Freeride/ Enduro machine, the Roam is finally ready to make it’s long awaited production debut…

When I decided to enter the All-Mountain/Freeride bike scene, I wanted to do it with a reason… not just to throw another 6″ bike in the trail mix and count the dollars from the hungry consumer. The Black Market All-Mountain/Freeride frame had to set itself apart from the other stuff out there and give the riders something they can’t get from any other frame. I also wanted to accommodate the smaller riders that seem to get left out from all the cool “Big Bikes”… and most of all…

I wanted it to be FUN to ride. 

The Roam has exceeded our expectations by being one of the most fun, efficient and versatile frames to ever hit the shop floor. Take a peek at what went into what makes the Roam frame and our A.W.D. Systems different from all other bikes on the market today and you’ll understand why I named it the “Roam”, with it’s incredible versatility and range of uses. We think you’ll be pretty stoked… I know we are!!!

Like all other Black Market designs, Pablo and I talked about the parameters of the frame. What we wanted it to be used for and how we wanted it to act in conjunction with the rider. That meant it needed certain characteristics engineered into it’s core. The main characteristics we focused on were: 

1. Anti-Squat: This characteristic combats the forces applied to the linkage and shock under power when the rider sprints or accelerates quickly… A.K.A. “Pedal-Bob”. The Roam’s Hammer Link suspension design and 3D CNC’D Drive box provides unmatched Anti-Squat characteristics, which are immediately felt when you get on the gas. This translates into pure power allowing you easily lift your front wheel under power with out the frame flexing around you.

2. Lift: This is the characteristic necessary to lift or manual your bike whenever you desire allowing the rider to place your wheel where you want it or keep the front end up thru the whoops. This is when our high/rear single pivot comes to play. 

3. Cornering/ Turning: This one is pretty obvious and important but it’s become one of my favorite past times… just being able to rip a turn at will is one of the greatest joys in life. It’s also one of the joys robbed from many who have chosen to ride ” Wagon Wheels”. So, an ultra-stiff, low-slung, low center of gravity ( C.O.G.) design was a must! This was achieved with our Hammer link suspension combined the Roam’s 3D CNC’D Drive Box giving even the Large Roam an Uber Low standover height.

4. Compact Frame Design: We wanted the Roam to have a very low stand-over height and tons of room to move around the cockpit. As you can see, we’ve got that and then some. The Roam is one of the only bikes to offer up to 6.5″ of travel to a rider under 5 feet tall and all wheel sizes to boot. The Extra Small Roam with the A.W.D. Plan 9 (29″) System has a standover height of only 26″ while the Large Roam with the same system has a standover of only 27.5″. It sucks when smaller riders are left out due to design limitations… Truth is… they didn’t design for you, they bought an existing design and that’s what it allows for… Simple. 

But we did… our goal as always is to design the smallest frame possible from the ground up… not from a catalog.

5. Playful Feel: The final piece of the puzzle was to make our Hammer Link System have a nimble “playful feel”. This required a carefully planned shock rate and pivot placement. The Hammer Link’s initial leverage rate is much higher than most bikes in this realm. At nearly 4:1 the Hammer Link pushes past the typical stiction and abrupt feel of typical air shocks, giving them a bouncy playful spring over a  hard flat entry into the travel. The Hammer Link’s rate then curves into nice low leverage ratio that keeps you from blowing thru the end of the travel. Combined with our Anti-Squat characteristics under power, you’re going to have the confidence to do what ever you want when you want too.

Black Market’s proprietary features, the All-Wheel Drop Out Systems combine with our Hammer Link suspension system to deliver unmatched anti-squat characteristics while pedaling and a supple ride all the way thru it’s up to 165MM range of travel with an appetite for chatter. Easily eating small bumps and big hits while giving you every watt of power instead of wasting it compressing your suspension with lessor anti-squat systems out there. 

The Roam’s aggressive, low slung frame/linkage design allows the rider more room to move around while keeping the majority of it’s weight centered around it’s 3D CNC’D Drive Box, creating a agile cornering beast. Throw in our super-short 17″ chainstays ( *A.W.D. System Plan 6 ) and gravity inspired geometry to give you the stability at speed with the confidence to rip corners but still handle like your trusted dirt jumper in the air in any wheel-size or travel configuration.

And with our A.W.D. Systems ( Black Market’s proprietary All Wheel Drop-Out Systems) the rider has the ability to run every MTB wheel size… 26″, 650B (27.5″) & 29″ while keeping all your geometry and handling characteristics dialed… All on the same frame. WHAT???!!!

The All Wheel Drop-Out Systems ( A.W.D.) ~ Black Market’s proprietary All Wheel Drop-Out Systems provide 12MM of rear wheel axle adjustment and the ability to use 3 different wheel size options; 26″ (standard), 650B (Optional) and 29″ (Optional). All while keeping your geometry dialed by adjusting to your frame’s BB heights, head angle and chainstay length appropriately within each respective drop-out system. And finally, The A.W.D. Systems will be available in either 135MM x 9MM or 142MM x 12MM spaced hubs.

First off, the Roam offers 2 travel options in both the standard 26″ configuration (120MM or 160MM) or the “Plan B” configuration (130MM or 165MM) and 1 travel option in the 29″ configuration (130MM). That’s 5 different ways to set-up and ride your bike.

Shock options have often been an issue with many frames, not being able to fit the larger bodied shocks on the market like the Cane Creek Double Barrel or the Rockshox Vivid Air but not with the Roam.

Feel free to run any shock currently offered in either 165MM x 38MM or 200MM x 58MM. Shorter shock options are archived by using our CNC’D aluminum shock shuttle comes standard each frame. Due to the Roam’s versatility and that most of you will be either swapping parts over from a current bike which means you may already have a 6.5″ or 8″ shock or building your bike from the ground up… 

Roam A.W.D. Plan B in 165MM Travel Configuration

When Pablo and I set out to design the Roam… we didn’t want to follow the crowd and just pick your run of the mill 4 bar or over-hyped has been design. We did research into the systems that have won the most World Cup Titles and decided on a single pivot was our basis. We wanted the ability to lift the front end whenever, along with the rail cornering abilities of a rabbit on crack. 

Cornering crack rabbit??? Yup… that’s the result to our low stand-over/ low C.O.G., high/rear single pivot and super short but adjustable 17″ chainstay design.

Black Market’s 3D CNC constructed Drive Box/BB and Main Pivot/ Seat Tube are machined from 7 separate solid blocks of aluminum. Together they create an insanely stiff and accurately mated main pivot/bb junction that includes an integral CNC’d front derailleur mounting block and ISCG 05 mounts.

Of course you will need to use the appropriate wheels and forks to complete any configuration correctly and with the use of lower or taller stack headset bearings. Using our “Chingadera Chip” or flip-chip, you can really dial things in or just play with your headangle in different configurations. 

The A.W.D. Systems are controlled by an integral 4mm bolt with internal rails to guide the A.W.D. and keep them locked into place even if you should loose your 2 M6 lock bolts on the trail.

Please remember, our idea was NOT to build a 29’er… but to let you PLAY with your bike. You can barrow a buddies fork and wheels and with the proper A.W.D. System, you can set your bike up any way imaginable and have fun trying something that would otherwise cost you an arm and a leg, or even worse… when you do get around to checking out a 650B or 29’er… it doesn’t ride or fit anything like “your bike”… but the Roam does. You’ll actually get enjoy and feel at home on a “Test Ride”.

The A.W.D. Systems gives aggressive and forward thinking bike shops/parks the ability to have a fleet of “Loaners” that can be set up in multiple wheel-size configurations with nothing more than some A.W.D.’s and “Take-Off” parts, in a matter of minutes allowing their customer to choose the wheel-size best suited for their riding style, terrain or body size. Kinda cool… 

Black Market’s All Wheel Drop-Out Systems provides 12MM of incremental rear axle adjustment as well as adjusting your CS Length, BB and Headangles to their appropriate wheel centers.

The A.W.D. Plan 6 System : 26″135MM x 9MM extended and closed. Fully CNC’D 6061 T6 Al. frame lugs and drop-outs.

More options for you to play with reliably… that’s why… With adjustable head-angles being all the rage these days & every component brand introducing a new Mangleset to creak it’s way into your heart. 

But, on top of that, how many times have you beat your  that $200 headset into your hot ass, brand new $2500 frame because the shop was closed and you don’t have that $150 H/S tool and you really want to ride it???!!! Or that fact that even .25 of a degree off from “Dead Nuts Perfect” acts like a bent steer tube and create creaking. 

We wanted to do everything we could to take that unnecessary pain out of that part the equation. All of these little factors can be avoiding by simply pushing your greased H/S in by hand into our CNC’D Pinch-Bolt H/T and torquing the pinch-bolts to the appropriate spec. thereby minimizing any chance for creaking and completely eliminating ovalized headtube warranties for the cost of a $.30 steel bolt and replaceable nylock nut available at your local hardware store.

This not only takes the expensive “shop tool” out of the picture but also gone is the “hairy-back-knuckle-dragging-garage-mech” with a hammer and socket extension… (Yes, we’ve all done that… marring your H/S in the process right???).   

But… there is of course more than one way to skin that cat or change your H/A… right? We’ve come up with two ways to make that skinning go easier and way more reliable. That was one way here’s number 2… 

Another feature of the Roam is the ability to change your head angle on the fly with our “Chingadera Chip” or flip-chip as it’s also known. The Chingadera Chip gives you the option of a full degree of head angle adjustment just in case you want to ad some spice in your ride. 

*Note: The shock can only be removed in the Mild shock position…

A couple different views of our 3D CNC’D Drive Box and Swing Plates. 

   

You’ll love the responsiveness derived from the Roam’s beautifully designed 3D CNC’D Drive Box.

7 individual CNC’D components make up our Uber stiff, low center of gravity Drive Box and Rear Yoke with massive tire clearance. 

Our main pivot is ridiculous… Two 20MM CNC’D 6061 T6 Al. main pivot bolts thread from each side of the CNC’D link plates into our CNC’D main pivot components compressing massive 32MM main bearings ensuring there is zero torsional effects found in stamped or pivots welded to seat-tubes. 

All but one nut and 2 bolts on the Roam are easily replaceable at your local hardware store in case of emergency when you loose that linkage bolt while traveling or something to that effect that would otherwise be a total loss if that linkage bolt was some proprietary aluminum sleeve thing that only comes from somewhere you’re not when you need it. Though if you do lose a bolt, please replace it with the correct bolt ASAP. If you run a full-thread bolt for an extended period of time it WILL damage your frame or linkage.

Another minor problem solved but an issue we’ve all faced at some point but it can be avoided in the first place so why not do it?

The Roam with triple front chainring set-up.

The 3D CNC’D seat tube includes a direct mount for a front derailleur.

The first limited production Roam frames are on their way to Black Market Distributors world wide… BTI will be the first to have stock the USA and they should be arriving anytime now. All production Roam frames will come standard with the A.W.D. Plan 6 System (26″) installed. Optional A.W.D. Systems should also be available at that time.

*Future production runs will allow the buyer to choose their A.W.D. System at the time of purchase. 

All Roam frame parts have been assembled and just completed the heat-treating process.  

Roam front triangles back from heat-treating.

Next on the schedule is painting and then final assembly, alignment and QC before they get packed and ready to ship off to their new homes, where ever that may be.

The large Roam front triangle ready for assembly.

Roam downtube decal… apparently some other brand gets their stuff painted here too…