Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

All-City Cycles release Macho King Disc and Nature Boy Disc cyclo-cross bikes

Disc brakes all round, and a 44mm head tube and Reynolds 853 tubeset for the Macho King Disc cyclo-cross bike + video

For 2014 All-City Cycles will expand their cyclo-cross range with a new beefed up Macho King Disc and the Nature Boy Disc model.

All-City is a bicycle company hailing from Minneapolis, a city that boasts a thriving cycling culture and the brand and its bikes stand out for their sheer simplicity and understated looks, yet bordering on classy at the same time. They certainly look functional, a blend of simple no-nonsense straight steel tubes. road.cc tested the regular Macho Man at the end of last year.

That functionally now extends to disc brakes for the company’s two cyclo-cross frames. Well, to be accurate, the company has been offering the Macho Disc for the past year, but it’s now been joined by the Macho King Disc.

The Macho King Disc frame has been beefed up compared to the regular Macho Man Disc, with a 44mm head tube so it’ll take many of the modern tapered carbon fibre disc/cross forks now available. It’s also constructed from Reynolds 853 double butted tubing, a first for the company. One nice detail is the reluctance to adopt a press-fit bottom bracket, instead sticking with an external bottom bracket, for simplicity and ease of fitting. 

Those changes aside, the frame carries many of the same features of the regular Macho Man Disc. There’s clearance in the frame for 38mm tyres so you could run a cyclo-cross tyre, or even a fat treaded slick tyre for more road-based cycling adventures. There are mudguard mounts increasing its versatility, and certainly ensuring it appeals to would-be commuters looking at this bike for all-round cycling. The geometry is retained from the regular Macho Man Disc frame, that’s to say it’s classic cyclo-cross fare.

To celebrate this new model All-City has produced a head-turning Macho King Limited, featuring a pretty bling build of a Whiskey No.9 carbon disc fork with a 15mm bolt-thru axle, SRAM Force 22 groupset, Stan’s ZTR Iron Cross and lovely blue/white fade paint finish. Only 50 will be made, and to be honest we’ve no idea if any will make it to the UK. We’ll try and find out for you. It’s not likely to be cheap, with a price over in the States of $3,500.

If you want a more modest build, they’ll be offering a cheaper build with a Whiskey No.7 quick release carbon fork and SRAM Rival groupset. Of you could just buy the frame on its own we presume.

The Nature Boy Disc is a new disc-equipped version of the company’s singlespeed cyclo-cross model. It’s pegged as a more affordable frame so doesn’t have the Reynolds tubing or 44mm head tube, but does have some very nice details, like the adjustable sliding dropouts and rear brake caliper mount.

That means you can set the chain tension just so and then adjust the brake caliper into the desired position so the pads are hitting the disc rotor squarely.

No UK price for that one yet, all we know is it’ll cost $1250. We’ll update you as soon as we get some UK prices. Both should be available in the next couple of months. 

Photos reproduced with kind permission of www.bikerumor.com

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

Add new comment

4 comments

Avatar
MKultra | 10 years ago
0 likes

I like the sliding drop out/disc mount. It looks like a system that you could trust running it fixed gear for winter. Sliding drop out plates on M5 bolts like you see on Voodoo and Isla bikes are neat but probably don't have the bite needed for fixed.

Avatar
Guyz2010 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Oh nice indeed. Yep like an orange but less agricultural. Loving those Stan Ironcross hoops too.

Avatar
missfaversham | 10 years ago
0 likes

Oooooooooooohhhhhh yeaaahhhh brother!

Avatar
ped | 10 years ago
0 likes

Now these are far closer to what I wanted the Orange RX9 bike to be.

Latest Comments