Introducing the OB1, one bike for every road

It’s a big day for us.

We are thrilled today to announce the OB1, a high-end road bike that shreds gravel and loves to travel.

The OB1’s sleek road bike design hides clearance for fat gravel tires and mounting points for racks, fenders, extra bottles, and bags. It’s the dream bike you'd build for yourself if you had direct access to the top factories behind the world’s leading brands. And it travels right from the factory to your doorstep, skipping all the middlemen to bring you an unheard-of price.

Here's why we think you'll love it:

• A versatile carbon frameset: The OB1's sleek design features an endurance road geometry, clearance for wide gravel tires, a full suite of mounting points for gear and accessories, and a reinforced layup that includes our unique SteerSafe steerer tube insert.
  
  
• Your choice of carbon wheel packages: Choose between our lightweight carbon 700C aero-wide or 650B ultra-wide wheel packages, built to last with wide offset carbon rims, DT Swiss' venerable DT350 star ratchet hubset, and 28 cold-forged and bladed J-bend spokes with brass nipples per wheel. Or get both packages together.
  
  
• Freedom to customize: Choose between standard or dropper (+$199) seatposts and a full range of cassettes, chainrings, stem, handlebar, and crank sizes. Mix-and-match between standard frame and bar tape color options or select the matte black carbon option and have your favorite painter turn it into a rolling work of art.
  
  
• Premium alloy components: The OB1 features SRAM shifting & hydraulic braking, a light bombproof hollow-forged crankset, an ultralight forged stem and seatpost, and an interlocking two-piece BB386 bottom bracket shell with double seals.
  
  
• Ergonomics for real humans: With taller headtubes, flared compact handlebars, and shock-absorbing touch points, the OB1 is made for all day epics.

Sound too good to be true? Check out our blog to see how we made it happen, or dive into the specs to learn more about each component and why we chose it.

Pre-sales open in a few weeks exclusively for those who join the online waitlist. Invites will be extended in order of sign-up date.

How we built a high-end carbon dream bike

• Direct from the factories. Traditional bike brands have layers of middlemen in their supply and distribution chains. We skipped them, partnered with factories that produce high-end components for the leading brands, and ship direct to your doorstep.
  
  
• Every component matters. We don’t spec placeholder parts. We don’t compromise on quality to shave a gram or a buck. Every part on the OB1, down to the bolts, bearings and seals, is selected for the optimal balance of performance, durability, and serviceability.
  
  
• Made-to-order. We don't produce a ton of bikes and leave them in an expensive warehouse. Instead, we schedule your bike into our next production batch when your order is placed. In other words, wait a few weeks more, and you get a premium bike at half the traditional price. We think it's well worth waiting for.

Check out our blog for a deep dive into our model and approach.

About the Founder

Randall R. Jacobs is an industry veteran and former "pack-fodder pro" XC mountain biker who has served as an advisor to some of cycling’s leading innovators. He began his career in bike shops and went on to architect supply chains for Fortune 500 companies, develop product and market strategies for Specialized Bicycles, and spearhead the OpenBike bicycle technology platform.

For more information, please contact press@thesis.bike or visit our Newsroom.

About THESIS

THESIS is a high-end direct-to-consumer bicycle company based in San Francisco, California. In 2018, the company launched the OB1 “one bike for every road”. THESIS skips the middlemen and works directly with the industry’s top factories to create a customizable high-end carbon bicycle with carbon wheels starting at $3299. To learn more, visit https://thesis.bike.

Note: Updated Feb 2019 to reflect latest product details.