Review: Rawland Ulv
In this video we hop on one of the most hotly anticipated bikes of 2017 – the Rawland Ulv. The Ulv is a genre busting bike that combines randonneuring, light touring and bikepacking all in one bike! We went to the announcement party of the Ulv almost a year ago and they have literally just landed at Velocult in Portland. They are a small production run, but we were lucky enough to throw a leg over one for a few hours to give you guys our ride impressions. Check out the video or if you’d rather read, here’s our executive summary.
Pros:
-Surprisingly lively ride for a bike that looks like a tank
-Low trail geometry makes riding with a front load stable even on rough terrain
-Dual wheel size, allows you to tailor your tires and wheel size for the terrain
-Eyelets for a rear rack, Anything Cage, traditional low rider and rando/porteur racks
-No toe overlap even in smallest frame size (54)
Cons:
-650+ tires can be a slog on extended pavement riding
-No front derailleur mount
-Very limited supply of frames
BONUS VIDEO – A LOOK AT THE RAWLAND DEMIPORTEUR
Very cool bike, I almost preordered one but it was a bit of a risk not having one hands-on. I look forward to seeing some around Portland.
That looked like Firelane 5!
Great review. Would love to see more coverage of 650b/650b+ bikes and gear! 🙂
There is a big downside to having the triple bottle bosses towards the rear of the fork – if the load is not fully secured or comes loose, it will get pulled into the wheel. When this happens, it will wedge in between the fork blade and the wheel and cause a pretty nasty crash.
I know several people that seems to be unlucky quite often with not securing their loads correctly or safely and this would be catastrophic for them to have this configuration.
That can happen with the bosses facing straight out as well. I’ve seen it a few times. As you say, it depends on the load, bad packing, equipment failure… It’s a possibility with both orientations but not a certainty. Rotating the triple-cage bosses toward the rear does two things: it decreases fork flop and improves handling; and it discourages [and makes all but impossible] overloading the fork with big/strappy/messy bags, which has been the case when I’ve seen this happen before. Less clearance necessitates lower-profile gear. Low-rider braze-ons are there for panniers to hold bigger loads.
hey Russ, great review on a great looking bike. can you comment on the size 54cm standover height and your height and inseam? 750mm from the website would be pretty tall for someone like me with a 30in inseam. thanks!
Hey there Sang,
I’m 5’8 with a 29 inch inseam and the bike was a good fit. The handlebars had a long ramp, so I would have preferred a shorter bar with some flare, but otherwise it was great. Laura is 5’9 but with a longer inseam and found it too small.
Hope that helps.
Russ
What’s her inseam cause I am 5’9 and 31 inseam
Russ, that’s quite interesting to know! I am 5’8″-5’7″ (probably the latter as one shrinks with age) with an inseam of 30 inches (measured according to what was asked for on the Rawland site).