“Noble Bikes is a small high-quality, performance oriented bike brand. We are rider owned and design bikes for other riders.”
“Things have been quiet the past few years around Noble Bikes, but lately, we’ve been busy developing a new generation of gravel, cyclocross and mountain bikes. Our official launch will be at Sea Otter in April of 2018, and bikes available by mid-2018.”
Photos – Noble GX5 (Carbon)
“Carbon Gravel at its finest. If are looking for a gravel bike with optimal handling and performance, we have the bike for you. The GX5 has what it takes to give you the best off-road experience. When you’re out there getting lost in those long rides, the GX5 will simply disappear and feel more like an extension of your body. Features like the shaped tubes with optimized layup make for great vertical compliance. The modern geometry gives you more of an “in the bike” feel rather than perched on top.”
Features:
- Toray carbon frame and fork.
- Flat-mount 160 standard.
- Internal cable routing.
- Floating derailleur hanger.
- Much more!
Above, SRAM’s Force 1x / single chainring drivetrain will populate the GX5 for starters, but I assume we’ll see more options, including a frame/fork only option in the future?
“Noble drop bar bikes feature forward geometry. This pairs longer top tubes with shorter stems. The net result is a fit similar to traditional road geometry, but with different handling. Forward geometry shifts the rider weight slightly forward for improved handling.”
“Our drop bar geometry is built around effective top tube length. If two sizes have a difference between head angle and seat angle, reach can be close or the same but fit will be different. Effective top tube length should be used for fit, but reach can be used as a reference.”
Above, this SRAM Force hydraulic brake caliper utilizes Mark Landsaat’s new flat-mount standard, flat-mount 160. Flat-mount was designed for 140mm rotors. This standard negates the need for a spacer to utilize 160mm rotors.
Mark Landsaat was the man who designed all of Raleigh’s recent gravel bikes, including the Roker, a favourite of the Gravel Cyclist crew. The Noble GX5 takes over where the Roker left off, but still maintains the Roker’s tyre clearance.
Above, the clean and simple lines of the new Noble GX5 look great in the dark blue livery, and tasteful Noble logo.
Internalized cable routing for the fork, and flat-mounting for the front hydraulic brake caliper.
Brake rotors are 160mm front and rear.
MSRP on the Noble GX5 with SRAM Force 1x build is $US 2,999.00. See link to Noble’s website at the bottom of this article.
Photos – Noble GX3 (Aluminium)
“Gravel bikes surged to the foreground in the summer of 2013 and continue to grow in popularity and for good reason. The incredible freedom it gives you is unmatched by most other bikes. 37% of the roads in the US are unpaved. If you want to get away from traffic, go out and explore some of these roads on your gravel bike. The GX3 is a great partner that will keep you comfortable all day long whether you are riding on road or dirt.”
Features:
- Flat-mount 160 standard.
- Internal cable routing.
- Floating derailleur hanger.
Simple, clean and well executed, the GX3 by Noble Bikes.
SRAM’s Rival groupset is a proven performer.
The Noble GX3 and GX5 share the same fork, which has massive tyre clearance. Shod with a Donnelly X’Plor MSO, 700c x 40mm, there is ample room for mud clearance, or bigger tyres.
Plenty of tyre clearance on the rear of the GX3. Note how the rear brake and rear derailleur cable are internalized.
Additionally, provision for a third water bottle cage.
MSRP on the Noble GX3 with SRAM Force 1x build is $US 1,999.00. See link to Noble’s website at the bottom of this article.
Bike looks interesting especially if I can buy just the frame down the road. Since I am not the techy guy what is the difference between these 2 bikes than say the Roker Comp or the Roker Sport? Was wondering why they can’t list weight and have it TBD as I thought the proto type would be almost the same weight as the one that is finally manufactured but then I don’t know much about bikes yet.
Hi Larry,
We will offer the frame set only. It will be in a 1x or 2x specific version. The Noble GX5 is 19.0lbs and the GX3 is 21.6lbs. These weights should be a very good indication for production weights. The reason we don’t have the weights up yet, is because I literally finished building the sample bikes on Monday evening and Tuesday morning we were driving down to Sea Otter.
I would say that the main difference between the Noble bikes and the Raleigh bikes is the geometry, The geometry is an evolution of the work I did for Raleigh. The fit is close to the same as the Raleigh bikes, but the handling is improved (in my opinion). This is mainly due to the forward geometry where I combine a longer effective top tube with a shorter stem.
Another big difference is the fork. If you look around on gravel forums you will actually see some comments that the Roker fork may be too stiff, providing a harsh ride. The fork I designed for the GX3 and GX5 has totally different blade shapes. The crown is still very stiff providing good steering accuracy, but the lower part of the blades have a taper to them to allow more vertical compliance.
In addition to that, the relatively easy to install fully internal routing on the aluminum bikes is much cleaner and lower maintenance. It’s still internal routing, but as far as internal routing goes it’s easy to install.
If you have any other questions, let me know. I’ll try to check the comments regularly.
Cheers.
Nice reply Mark, thanks for that, and great looking bikes. You U.S.A based guys seemed spoilt for choice, hopefully can up one of these sometime. Cheers
Ohh sorry Mark, forgot to ask, is the tyre clearance on the carbon the same as alu model? Looks more on the Alu. Any idea on max tyre clearance or if any 29×1.9 or similar would fit on those.
Thanks
Hi Jonny,
The tire clearance on both models is roughly the same. The processing for aluminum is a little bit different, but both bikes were designed to have 6mm clearance or more with a 40mm tire.
A 29×1.9″ will likely fit in there, but it wouldn’t leave you with any clearance. The opening is roughly 52mm and a 29×1.9 is roughly 48mm. That would only give you 2mm on either side. I don’t think that will be enough, but I haven’t tried it.
Cheers.
Awesome, thanks for that Mark. Good luck with the sales, seems a lot of competition there with gravel bikes now, we’re stuck with the overpriced brand names here in Aus for now. Cheers
Haha,
Yeah no kidding on the competition front. That’s good for riders/consumers though! lots of great option to choose from right now.
We will get started and figure out how to run our business smoothly in the US market, but we have plans to expand outside the US going forward.
I’m fortunate enough to have been able to gather 20 years of experience in the bike industry before starting my own adventure. One of my friends from Taiwan owns a distribution/logistics company with warehousing all around the world, so once we get rolling we will look to expand outside the US market.
Cheers,
Mark.