Moots redesigned an adventure bike called the Routt 45, shown here with Porcelain Rocket bags. © Cyclocross Magazine
Routt County in Colorado is filled to the brim with national forests and state parks. It also houses Steamboat Springs, home to Moots. In tribute of the dirt roads and bike trails Moots has discovered in their home county, they have named their newest adventure bike lineup Routt, which also serves as a wordplay with discovering new “routes.”
Although the Routt sports a few differences from models past, riders intimately familiar with Moots will liken the Routt with the older Psychlo X, and with good reason. As a part of Moot’s efforts to appeal to the adventure riding market and distinguish their lineups, they have rebranded their Psychlo X along with making some changes to the geometry for longer days in the saddle. In the end, the Routt still sports the short chainstays for the snappy, racy feel of their performance cyclocross bikes.
Looking for a model with more of an endurance feel? Moots has you covered with their Routt 45, which they displayed at Interbike 2014.
Moots’s Routt “45” is named for the 45cm chain stays leading back to their iconic dropouts. © Cyclocross Magazine
The chainstays were lengthened to 45cm, offering a more stable feel and allowing a 700x41c sized tire with plenty of knobby tread to fit within. Both models have a lower bottom bracket, making them suitable for the gravel trails and roads a rider sees on their daily commute (or the stuff they can lose themselves in on a weekend adventure).
The top tube was shortened, while the head tube was lengthened and slackened, which is the kind of geometry suitable for the longer adventure races out there, such as the Dirty Kanza 200, or just taking the rig out for a bikepacking trip.
The Routt is a rebranded Psychlo-X with changes to the geometry, although the Routt 45 is a completely new model for 2015. © Cyclocross Magazine
The Routt 45 is built with Moots’s 3/2.5 Pi Tech titanium tubing. It is currently available in seven stock sizes: 50cm, 52cm, 54cm, 55cm, 56cm, 58cm, 60cm. While Moots strives to create a custom feel with their stock sizes, especially in their three offerings between 54cm and 56cm, they also offer actual custom builds to accommodate most riders. For those wanting to feel even more upright to take in their surroundings, Moots is also offering the option to customize the frame with an additional centimeter on the head tube.
The Routt 45 has a slackened head angle with a shorter top tube for those longer days in the saddle. © Cyclocross Magazine
Although they don’t have a set price for the full build shown on display, a comparable full model with Ultegra Di2 will go for a little above $8,000, and this includes the internal routing for the electronic shifting. The other options include the frame with Enve disc fork at $3960, the frame with Moots cantilever fork at $3850, and the frame by itself for $3,390.
Moots would like to see the Routt 45 as the Swiss Army Knife of the cycling world, and they also provided a few more options, including a disc post mount, fender eyelets, third water bottle mount, rack eyelets and 142 x 12 through axle.
The Routt 45 has a slopping top tube from its lengthened head tube, and the rear seat stay clearance has the ability to comfortably fit a 41c tire and squeeze in a 42c. © Cyclocross Magazine
For more information: moots.com
