I’ve been excited to build this bike since we first started talking about creating the Fairdale brand. It’s a bike where we get to show what we can do when we combine proven manufacturing techniques with modern technology. It’s also a bike that most companies would not be able to do. Thanks to Fairdale being part of Odyssey BMX, we were able to tap into 30 years of manufacturing know-how in order to create something truly unique. Continuing on with our daily posts of the 2015 line (full catalog HERE) we’ve reached our last new model, THE GOODSHIP. Let’s dive into the details….
To start with, the Goodship is a road bike. It’s not a bike that is meant to be adaptable to 100 different uses. It won’t fit knobby tires, nor does it have fender mounts. It is a purpose-built bike for riding on the road, and we might add, doing that quite quickly – if you are so inclined.
One of the Goodship’s standout features is our Drawnright Tubeset. The tubing starts out as an ultra high-grade, seamless, Japanese 4130 chromoly. We custom form and precisely butt each tube of the bike so it is specific to each size. That means that the internal thickness of the tubing changes depending on where it is on the bike. For example, tubing is thicker near the hand TIG welded joints to increase strength, while it can be thinner in the middle of the tubing to save weight. The tubing is also heat-treated to exacting specifications to further increase strength. The result is a frame that has all the benefits of good ol’ reliable steel. It’s very strong, dependable and only weighs in at 3.8 lbs (for 56 size). Of course you can find carbon frames that are lighter, but the Goodship is set to follow a different course. Instead of chasing grams we concentrated on ride quality and the practicality of a high-quality modern steel frame. Steel is resilient, proven, strong and much more versatile and affordable to work with too. It makes an outstanding platform on which to build a bike that you will love to ride every day.
The Goodship also comes stock with an ENVE Road 2.0 carbon fork, which contributes to the bike’s immediately noticeable and outstanding overall “ride feel”. ENVE’s quality is something we believe in and it’s essential to have a trustworthy name on your bike’s forks. The Goodship comes with our own sealed bearing Fairdale wheelset that is traditional and tough without being overly heavy. We didn’t play around with any funky 13 spoke radial laced wheels or anything like that. This is a classic cross-laced wheelset that you will be able to put some “real” mileage on. Continental Ultra Sport tires in 25mm width handle the road work (maximum tire size on the Goodship is 28mm for most brands).
The graphics are all hand drawn by Taj. That doesn’t mean that he drew on each individual bike or anything. They are water transfer decals, and because we really expect this bike to get ridden daily, we also used a water transfer decal in place of our usual head tube badge. Cleaning sweat from underneath those things can be a real pain. ENVE even let us hand draw their logo to match the bike’s graphics. (Thanks dudes! That was pretty cool of you).
SRAM Force 22 covers the braking, shifting, and cranking. You’ll notice that we didn’t mess around with using some off-brand crank that might interfere with Force’s excellent shifting. We stuck with SRAM’s specifications and used the whole groupset. An FSA Gossamer stem and seat post, FSA Vero bars and a sealed, integrated FSA headset round out the component spec. The Goodship’s initial introductory pricing will be about $2999.99 for the complete bike or $999.99 for the frame and fork (FSA headset included). A few small notes on our sample bike used for the photos: The production bike will use a compact 50/34 drivetrain crankset and the front derailleur hanger will be a clamp-on model to allow for greater long-term usability.
The first round of bikes will be available in mid-November in 54, 56, 58, and 60 sizes. The sizing options will increase as time goes on…since this is a pretty big project for us, we are taking our time to get things right.
