Dave's Bike

It seems like I've done nothing but build bikes for the last couple of weeks, but I thought I'd share just one of the awesome bikes that are rolling out of the door at the moment. This is Dave's bike.

I don't think I anticipated how popular the Edit v2 was going to be. Things were fairly quiet back in February, and the new frames were meant to be coming soon, so I updated the website and put them out there for pre-order. And people started buying them. Lots of people. A nice problem to have, especially for a small business, but I don't like to keep people waiting. So to look after those awesome customers willing to trust me with their money, I air-freighted in the first 20 v2 Edits to come off the production line.

Since they arrived I've moved Airdrop into new premises (more on that later) and just built, built and built. Hence the lack of blog posts for a few weeks. I've put a few pictures out on Instagram but I haven't had the time to do anything more in-depth. 

This bike is worth a pause for though. It might look like any other Edit, but it's actually the first one I've ever built with a full Shimano drivetrain and brakes. When Dave came to do a demo a few weeks back he loved everything about the bike, but he's a Shimano man. When I started out I had to make a call: SRAM or Shimano, and I went with SRAM because of the Rockshox connection; just one supplier for forks, shocks, drivetrain and brakes made sense. And I've said 'no' to a few people who wanted Shimano over the last year - just because of the extra complexity it adds to everything. But when Dave asked I thought it was high time I pulled my finger out and sorted it. Icebike was that week so I jumped in the van, went to see the Shimano guys and they were super positive about supplying Airdrop (amazing what a year and some press coverage will do!). 

The Edit v2 is now available in Black. The new decal kits are still available in 12 colours but Dave chose white to match up with the Hopetech Pro 4 Enduro rim decals and the Rockshox Pike/Monarch plus combination. I hope you'll agree it looks the part. You can also clearly tell from this picture that the new Edit v2 geometry is a real improvement - this is a size Large, but there's plenty of standover clearance. With the Reverb Stealth 170mm dropper, Dave can run his seat post slammed but still get a great pedalling position.

The new Shimano XT M8000 cranks are finished really nicely. It almost seems a shame that they'll get covered in mud and grime. Dave went with a 32t chainring up front.

Shimano XT now gives you the choice of a 11-40, 11-42 or this monster 11-46t cassette. There's a big jump onto the lowest gear but Dave will be able to climb up walls on this batboy. The shifting is super crisp and precise. I've spent the last couple of years exclusively riding SRAM 1x11 group sets so it's great to see that the Shimano offering is just as good. It feels quite different, especially in the lever, but the quality is all there.

There's no shortage of stopping power with this beast up front. Shimano Icetech 203mm rotor. The finish and attention to detail on these is really impressive. 

The rest of Dave's bike was built around the Edit Pro specification, so it has the Rockshox Monarch Plus RC3 rear shock and Pike forks. Dave upgraded from the stock Pike RC to the RCT3. Finishing kit is from Joystick and Ergon.

Full Specification

Shimano Equipped Bikes

Some of you will be thinking "Can I get an Edit built up with Shimano?" and of course the answer is yes. At the moment the stock builds on the website are all SRAM, but we'll be updating the range to include an XT build, and probably one with the new SLX 1x11 groupset too. Want to mix up Shimano drivetrain and SRAM brakes? Or the other way around? No problem. For now the best thing to do is contact us and we can produce a custom build quote for you.

Edit v2 Availability

You might be wondering why the Edit v2 is still showing as "preorder" on the website. That's because the production was delayed back in Feb, and we're still playing catchup. We airfreighted in the first 20 frames, and there are another 80 coming via sea freight, due in at the end of April. There's a small build queue building up again, but there will be plenty of stock in all sizes and colours.