Bulletin: We expect Tout Terrain framesets to arrive in May 2013. If you’re interested in ordering one (any model), April 2013 is an excellent time to get in touch with us.
Germany’s Tout Terrain make perhaps the world’s strongest and most thoughtfully designed long-distance steel touring frames intended specifically for the combination of belt drive, internal gearing, dynamo lighting, and disc brakes. This is the exactly the sort of build we specialize in. As kindred spirits, we’re simultaneously humbled and ensmuggened to be one of North America’s only Tout Terrain dealers.
Hey, wait! That’s not a Metropolitan! Is it? No, you’re correct. That’s a Silk Road GT with chain drive photobombing our Metropolitan page. Are you interested in the Silk Road GT? Let us know. Below: a Metropolitan with drop bars, featuring Giles Berthoud’s Rohloff shifter and The Plug II dyno-driven USB charger for smart phones and other devices.
Metropolitan is the belt-drive version of Tout Terrain’s Silk Road. As its name implies, the Silk Road is the sort of bike you’d want to take on a fully loaded, independent tour across a continent or two. (Silk Road is available by special order.) With features like an asymmetrical steel fork, braze-ons specific for both Shimano Alfine and Rohloff internally geared hubs, and extremely strong integrated rear rack, we consider both models, not just the Silk Road, to be dreambikes for loaded touring, and our customers have ridden the Metropolitan over many mountains across many states.
A few more features of the Metropolitan:
- Low-maintenance, grease-free, buttery smooth Gates Carbon Drive–no chain
- Easy adjustment of belt tension and belt line simultaneously, thanks to the patent-registered Variable Belt Adjustment System (VBA) combined with an eccentric bottom-bracket shell…and no need to retension the belt every time you pop the wheel in.
- Okay, the above requires us to say: none of our belt-drive bikes require retensioning…but many belt-drive bikes that we don’t carry do require retensioning. We’re picky like that.
- Integrated rack with modular Snap-IT® carrier system from Racktime
- Integrated frame-lock mounts for Abus or AXA locks
- Child seat can be mounted with seat tube clamp
- Ergo-Stop steering stop prevents the handlebars from overturning and thereby the kinking and snapping of gear and brake cables
- A kickstand plate for heavy-duty bipod kickstands such as Pletscher or Asus Jumbo
- For on/off-road touring, Metropolitan is designed to work with the Rock Shox Reba suspension fork
Colors available in 2013: brown or black. Custom colors available upon request, typically with about a $200 upcharge.
Prices will vary widely depending on the kind of build you want, and the options are almost endless. The frame and asymmetric steel fork are $1155. Builds can be as low as about $2600, and at the other end of the scale we’ve done Metropolitan builds that cost over $6000. Typically, a Rohloff Metropolitan with most or all the trimmings will shine pretty at $4000-5500. Contact us to get started on your custom build.
More: See tout-terrain.de.
