MASON CYCLES
Many might assume that Mason Cycles are a dropbar bike brand. Indeed, that’s the arena they’re best-known in, with eight ‘all-road’, gravel and adventure bikes in their range. And yet, at the core of Mason is a far more rugged heart. Dom Mason, who founded the brand with his wife Julie, is the brother of Damian Mason, of DMR fame, and the pair rode off-road from an early age. “We grew up building our own ‘tracker bikes’ – mostly 10-speed racers with cyclo-cross tyres and massive cowhorn bars,” Dom recalls. “Damian and I would ride in the woods, on jumps, and regularly destroy bikes.
After that, we became obsessed with BMX. My first MTB was a secondhand Ridgeback, and it was huge, so I set about cutting it up, dropping the top tube, rebrazing the seatstays and turning it into the long/low shape of the Konas that were then coming in.”
After years working with DMR and parent company Upgrade Bikes, Dom started Mason. He explains: “I designed all the Kinesis UK frames and bikes for almost 15 years, and in that time, I learned a huge amount. These experiences taught me what I didn’t want to do, too. I knew I wanted to work with very small and established makers in Italy, not to ship things across the world in containers, and to work with metal. I’d become passionate about pushing the use of metal tubing and joining techniques, rather than moving to carbon fibre. I did design some successful carbon frames, but as an engineer it kind of left me cold.”
Mason’s first MTB, the steel RAW, ended up being produced not on the Continent, but in Scotland. Dom explains: “We started it in Italy, and I have some lovely Italian-built sample frames here. But then the pandemic hit, and it became impossible for me to get out to the Italian workshops and see the process through, in the way we’d become accustomed to. I knew the
guys from Five Land Bikes in Scotland, and we’d spoken a few years back about the possibility of working together. Having seen the lovely work they were doing, I knew their welds were mind-blowingly good, so I got back in touch and we started working together on what would become the RAW.”
By mixing and matching tubing, sticking to their precision-led ideals and aiming for refined build quality, Mason have hit the mark with the RAW, which won our hardtail shootout when we tested it last year (MBUK 428). It’s proven to be a successful long-distance bike, too, with Mason riders piloting it to victory in off-road endurance classics around the world. “The RAW was really well received,” says Dom. “We worked very hard on the design, tubing and components, and picked the best possible frame-maker. But up to that point, we were perceived as a ‘dropbar bike brand’, even though we have mountain biking and off-road riding firmly at our roots.”
Dom has more ‘riser-bar bikes’ in mind. “Building on the success of this one, I’m interested in working with the makers of our Italian-built aluminium frames to develop an alloy hardtail, lighter and racier, possibly for a 100/120mm-travel fork. Fullsuspension also interests me, and I’ve often discussed collaborating with a friend, using their proven suspension design and a Mason front end… Maybe one day!”
“I KNEW I WANTED TO WORK WITH VERY SMALL MAKERS, NOT TO SHIP THINGS ACROSS THE WORLD IN CONTAINERS, AND TO WORK WITH METAL”