“Why do you carry what you carry?” This is one of the best questions you could ask of any bike dealer. At Fit Werx, we spend a lot of time researching any product that we carry. While we lose some sales because we are not willing to always jump on the latest marketing bandwagon or just carry any brand people are interested in, we sleep well knowing that we offer our athletes equipment that work better, last longer and perform better. With this in mind, we want to let you know why we carry Moots Cycles, arguably the most well engineered titanium bikes available.
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Company Statistics
Pros/Cons
Our Take
Moots Model Links
Moots Cycles Company Statistics:
Location: Steamboat Springs, CO
Number of Employees: Approximately 25
Year of First Bike Sold: 1981
Materials Used: Titanium
Point of Origin: All Moots are built in Steamboat Springs, CO
Delivery: Stock geometry Moots frames ship in four weeks while custom usually takes eight.
Specialty: Maximizing the potential of a titanium bicycle.
Unique Attributes: Just as Parlee focuses purely on carbon fiber, and believes it is the best material to build a bike, Moots believes the same about titanium. Moots only builds with titanium and is firmly committed to bringing titanium frame design and performance to its pinnacle. There is not a company in the industry more committed to titanium than Moots.
Web Site: www.moots.com
Pros of Moots Bicycles:
• No company is more committed to titanium and has more experience with titanium than Moots; titanium is the only material they use for their main frames. This focus shows in the refinement of ride and options available with Moots.
• A variety of stock frame models with a range of frame geometry options that fit a wide array of riders well. Headtube length can be changed by 1cm without additional charge as well.
• One of the only custom companies to design and build their own carbon fork to complement their frames and geometry.
• Moots makes brilliant riding titanium seatposts and stems that match their frames and further enhance the ride.
• Custom geometry and tubing available on all models.
• All Moots are made in Steamboat Springs, CO and are built by hand by people who are passionate about what they do and are committed to building the best frames/bikes possible.
• A proven and dialed in model specific handling and geometry. The “Moots Ride” works really well for how many people ride and their geometry and tubing selection is model specific.
• Moots now offers paint on their frames for those that want something outside of the standard Moots shot peened titanium.
Considerations of Moots Bicycles:
• Delivery is not instantaneous. Whether stock or custom, Moots builds frames one at a time to insure the best end result for the individual who will be riding it.
• Quality titanium frames cost more than aluminum or base level carbon fiber. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for and a ready to ride Moots starts around $5000 and the frame will ride just as well ten years from now as it does the day you take delivery.
• Whether stock or custom, part of what creates the “Moots Ride” is consistency in certain aspects of geometry and Moots does not offer infinite variability in all geometry aspects for this reason. K.Bedford Customs and others fill the “unlimited options” part of the market well while Moots is more committed to building a bike that feels “like a Moots” regardless of whether it is stock or custom geometry.
How did we first learn about Moots Cycles and what stood out?
Moots has been around for a long-time – since 1981. Moots Cycles has always been known as one of the highest quality titanium builders available and the “Moots Ride” is often described as “telepathic” and “connected” in ways that few other bikes gain a reputation. Fit Werx has been a Moots Cycles dealer since our early days and once someone is properly fit and matched to a Moots it has been easy for us to have great confidence that the rider is going to love their bike. This consistency of ride and commitment to what a Moots “is” stands out as much now as it did a decade ago and is a hallmark of Moots.
Moots Cycles Double Pass Welds
We’ve worked on a lot of nice titanium bikes over the years. As one of the largest dealers of Serotta and later Seven Cycles, Fit Werx is used to seeing well executed titanium bikes with great welds, alignment and deta
ils. This being said, when it comes to weld quality, Moots Cycles plays second fiddle to no one. Moots uses a double pass weld technique to tack and final weld their joints and this helps them not only achieve some of the best alignment standards in the industry, but also guarantees that the strength and weight of their U.S. manufactured cold-worked seamless titanium is not compromised at the joints. Moots welds items wherever they can and you won’t find rivets or clamps where a stronger and more durable welded/integrated part can be installed. For example, most titanium builders use simple aluminum rivets for their water bottle cage mounts that can sometimes spin or wear over time while Moots uses a welded titanium unit. There is no such thing as a “shortcut” when it comes to how a Moots titanium frame is fabricated; calling fabrication quality on a Moots “Best in Class” certainly would not be a stretch.
Moots Cycles – Built for the Long-Run
A Moots Cycles titanium bike is designed and built for the long-term and as an investment that will not only enhance the quality of every ride you take, but also save you money the longer you keep it. While a ready-to-ride Moots will cost over $5000, it will also last forever. While others are on their third or fourth $3000 bike (well over $12K invested), you will still find yourself very happy on your first Moots and appreciating all that it does for the enjoyment of your rides with every turn of the pedals. You can also rest assured that if you have a Moots Cycles frame it is worth upgrading with new components down the road. While a Cannondale with 2015 Shimano parts may be disposed of in 2018, a Moots will just need a component refresh and it will be current and ride like new in 2018, 2024, 2030 and beyond. Furthermore, accidents can happen and a titanium Moots will not only survive many interactions with firm objects far better than average, but can also be repaired to a compromise free, new quality much better than many of the “one and done” mass produced carbon frames on the market. The long-term value equation with a Moots is extremely strong and anyone who thinks that titanium can’t be made into a competitive race bike any longer has not ridden a Moots Vamoots RSL. The Moots Vamoots RSL proves that race capable bikes need not provide hollow ride, lack rhythm, ride harsh or be disposable and that carbon fiber is not the only material worth discussing.
Moots Cycles Details That Make a Difference:
The Breezer style dropouts used by Moots not only look good, they help maximize lateral stiffness while being more forgiving vertically than many of the simple plated titanium dropouts used by other ti builders. Moots Cycles is one of the only builders that uses welded titanium bottle cage and rack mounts instead of inexpensive aluminum rivets. Does this add value and work better? 80% of the titanium bikes with inexpensive aluminum rivets will not have a problem in this regard. 100% of bikes with the name “Moots” on the side will never have a problem in this regard… In addition to their frames, Moots offers beautiful titanium seatposts and stems. A Moots titanium stem or seatpost not only matches a Moots frame, but also can make for a very smooth ride.
Moots Cycles Model Overview:
Moots offers a variety of road and mountain frames designed to suit the geometry and ride quality needs of a wide range of riders and uses. On the road side, whether you are looking for a sporty performance ride like the Moots Vamoots CR or Moots Vamoots RSL; a smooth endurance based ride with a more relaxed geometry like the classic Moots Vamoots; a gravel ready disc brake bike like the Moots Routt or loaded touring capable bike like the Moots Routt 45, Moots has a model that likely makes sense for your type of riding. On the mountain bike side of things, Moots hardtails are 
respected for their technical prowess and responsive handling and are available in all common wheel sizes. The Moots Rogue and the Moots Mooto X are available in 27.5″ and 29″ wheels respectively and are known as some of the best singletrack carvers in the business. Moots also offers their Frosthammer Fat Bike as well as the full suspension Divide, one of the only customizable full suspension mountain bikes available and certainly one of the plushest available. Whether road, mountain or cyclocross, Moots offers their simple YBB passive suspension system for those looking to enhance comfort as much as possible and really take the edge off road vibration or pesky tree roots.
Moots Cycles U.S. Sourced and Graded Titanium Tubing
When it comes to tubing, all Moots frames are built with premium U.S. sourced seamless titanium that is cold-worked to the individual shape and structure of the application/model it is being used. Seamless tubing is drawn and not welded and the advantage of a seamless tube compared to a welded tube is consistency and strength of the material around the entire tubing wall. 3/2.5 titanium is the most common of the two primary titanium alloys used in building bikes. “3/2.5” refers to the percentages of elements used in the alloy with 3% of the tube being aluminum and 2.5% being vanadium while the remaining 94.5% is titanium. The aluminum and vanadium increase the workability of the tubing and are necessary to make titanium tubing functional. “6/4” is the second most common titanium alloy used in bike fabrication. Again, the numbers designate the percentages of aluminum and vanadium in the titanium with 6/4 ti being more difficult to work with and more rigid than 3/2.5. While full 6/4 tubing equipped titanium bikes are very rare now, due to their often harsh ride characteristics and challenging working qualities, 6/4 titanium is often selectively used in some top of the line titanium frames.
Moots uses a mix of double butted 3/2.5 and 6/4 tubing in their lightest and most responsive frames – those designated “RSL”. Bikes like the Moots Vamoots RSL clearly demonstrate that the generalization that titanium is always more flexible and doesn’t transfer power as efficiently as carbon fiber are just that – generalizations. When executed to its potential, titanium offers a rhythmic quality that harmonizes with the dynamics of the rider as they pedal that few carbon bikes are able to capture. Moots understands that pursuing as stiff a platform as possible at all costs is an exercise in diminishing returns. Again, the Moots RSL platform offers more stiffness than 98% of all racers would ever need (greater lateral stiffness than a number of carbon bikes) while still preserving that rhythmic smoothness and balance that is a hallmark of a great metal frame.
Moots Bikes and Frames:
Moots Road Models
Moots Vamoots
Moots Vamoots DR (Disc Road)
Moots Vamoots CR
Moots Vamoots RSL
Moots Routt (endurance/gravel road capable)
Moots Routt45
Moots Psychlo X RSL
Moots Mountain & Fat Bike Models
Moots Farwell (Updated Plus version of the Rogue)
Moots Mountaineer
Moots Rogue + Rogue YBB 27.5″
Moots YBB + Rigor 26″
Moots Mooto X (Standard, RSL & YBB)
Moots Frosthammer Fat Bike