End of an Era….Saying Farewell to the Classic Space Horse
above photo by kdeven
Sometimes, sometimes...
Sometimes in life we have to say good bye to an old friend. An old friend, who opened up our world to new possibilities, was our companion down so many long and winding roads, who traveled over life's bumps and potholes, who never let us down, helped us get home safe, and was always down for whatever.
Today we officially bid farewell to our good lil' buddy the Space Horse. Well the one with rim brakes anyway.
It was a damn fine bicycle, and one who's importance to All-City and in our customer's lives cannot be overstated. When we built this bike in 2011, there were a lot of naysayers, however we wanted to take our riding experiences ever further and so did the All-City faithful. We knew we needed an ideal platform to roam free, explore our city, our county, our state, our world. And so, the Space Horse was born to handle just about any task that the rider asked of it. To be a foundational bike as folks transitioned from their fixed gears and single speeds into the whole world of cycling.
If you wanted to go for long road rides, it had your back. If you wanted to shred some gravel races, it was an ideal platform. If you wanted to tour, no problem,it could handle the load. Single speed, fixed gear...It could do that too. It was the perfect jumping off point for a generation of riders who wanted to push their limits ever further. For those of us who already had a stable of bikes it made us realize that even if you have a bike for every thing, you still need one bike that can do anything.
In our opinion, it was aesthetically and functionally, absolutely perfect.
It still is.
However time marches on.
We now have a new version of the bike with disc brakes. It is not as simple, but it does have better stopping capabilities and is in line with modern standards. It's a great bike, but in our opinion it isn't quite as beautiful as the canti brake version. There's just something timeless and elegant about the lines of a traditional rim brake machine that is undeniable.
We're here to inform you that the Space Horse rim brake and Pony Express (flat bar version of the Space Horse) models that currently exist out in the world, on our dealers floors, and in our inventory are all that there will ever be. We're shutting it down and switching our efforts completely to the disc model. Not likely a surprise to anyone, but we want folks to know that if they covet this machine they need to jump on it now.
I myself still have my beautiful blue Space Horse upstairs in my attic. I ride the disc version now, but that bike is my all-time favorite gravel racer and commuter. I love it, and can't bear to tear it down. It's too beautiful, too light, too lovely, too damn perfect.
If you are of the opinion that rim brakes are awesome, or you appreciate the clean lines and beauty of the original, get it while it's good my friends. This is a classic steed that will forever retain it's value.
In addition to what might be on your local dealers floors, we have both silver and green framesets as well as complete bikes in silver for $1150 MSRP. It is the end of this particular era, and the deals, as they say, are popping.
And now to give our buddy the proper send off it deserves we implore you to hit play on this classic Boyz II Men jam and take a scroll through a few of our favorite Space Horse photos.
#teamspacehorse
*apologies to the photographers whose names have been lost to time, hit us up for credit*
photo by Tom Robertson
photo: Josh Parrish
photo by John Watson
Photo by John Watson
Photo by Kyle B Kelley
To all the members of #teamspacehorse, hope you ride them into the ground over the next 20 years. It's what that bike deserves!
rick
What about the ease of maintaining rim brakes? Why move so much of the brand to more expensive bikes? It is a big jump from $500 new and used bikes to $2,000 disc brake bikes.
JOHN
The 2012 Spacehorse was my first adult bike. I chose it because I had just read Grant Petersen’s “Just Ride” and it really resonated with me, and the Spacehorse looked like the perfect bike for me, and it was. I rode it all over, my favorite weekend activity was loading up some food and just exploring all the back roads where I lived.
Later I dabbled in some competitions, the Spacehorse took me through my first 3 Triathlons, 2 Centuries, and a gravel race. Eventually, I got a few other more specific bikes, but it didn’t mean the Spacehorse was less capable. It now wears upright bars and a rack and bag and faithfully serves as my commuter, I ride it everyday during the week, and it is like an old friend.
Thanks AC for a great bike!
Jeff
Why not offer both versions, since this model is so popular? Discs are ugly, heavier, not as easy to maintain, and put more stress on the frame. Stopping power is overrated when cantis already offer plenty. “Time marches on,” but common sense apparently doesn’t. I’d seriously consider a Space Horse with cantis, but not the new version.
Jeff
@jeff
The canti version simply stopped selling. People and shops voted with their wallets.
Leave a comment
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.