This German Bike Brand is the New All-City

Shop visit with Julia at Chariot Bike learning about a new German steel bike brand that is poised to replace All-City.
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[@jeffdible8171]

Russ, I hope you find a similar vibe in Spain. Promoting the independent shops is so very welcomed.

[@dianayount2122]

the walk, ride a lot everywhere in that part of spain. not a big deal

[@tomreingold4024]

Yes!

[@verezworkshop1483]

The culture here is a little different, but I think it’s changing. Gravel is getting huge, but it’s a lot of carbon and big brands. I know a couple independent brands too. I’m an American in Barcelona btw. Lived both bike cultures. Cool that Sour brand is in eu…. Since brexit I lament the loss of cool steel frames from UK.

[@Trico274]

@@verezworkshop1483 bla bla but not mentioning any of the brands, which was the point of the main comment

[@verezworkshop1483]

@@Trico274 you go ahead please. I like nordest and my friends brand Clementina. Old uk brands I liked orange and cotic blb. But I see a lot of folks now on Surly, couple stooge riders etc. I dunno why the hostility tho. Keep it friendly please or do as momma taught us and don’t say anything. Mal educado

[@jeffandersen6233]

I praise your interviewing a small shop owner and what bikes she stocks like the German made reasonably priced steel frame. I'd never find that in a big box bike store. Well done

[@carravagio16]

the shop owner seems really down to earth and i like how she honored her Grandma, would definitely check out and support that shop

[@ovash1]

The family history, and how it led to a mobile bike repair van and then a bike shop is fantastic. I also really love the fact that the shop and the owner, are very down to earth and welcoming. Thank you, Russ and Julia for the interview and shop tour, I wish you both continued success.

[@juliapoelstra3624]

I bet her grandma is so proud of her, even if they didn't get to know each other.

[@tomreingold4024]

The bike shop owner’s grandma rode across the country! And set the record. That is such a fantastic story!

[@JohnMcQueen]

There’s a book about it I happened to read last year. Can’t remember the name but it was very enjoyable. Cool to see her granddaughter carrying in the tradition!

[@gfelkner]

The book is “Once Upon a Chariot”

[@sour.bicycles]

Rad video! We love Julia and Erich at Chariot Bikes. We got to visit this past August for Made in Portland and we were so stoked on the bike shop and story behind it. Thanks Russ for covering Chariot and our bikes, and good luck with move to Spain.

[@SteveFullerBikes]

I like that the Purple Haze has a front derailleur cable stop brazed onto the bottom bracket. Nice touch.

[@PathLessPedaledTV]

Yeah. Saw that too.

[@garypatrick3001]

The Clueless frame has the same.

[@sour.bicycles]

We feel so seen! 🥰

[@cycnerd3617]

@@sour.bicycles Viele Grüße aus Aachen nach Dresden! Verrückt, dass ich dieses Video sehen muss um von euren tollen Rädern zu erfahren! Freut mich sehr!

[@anton40786]

yeah, sour! I heard about them, and they are from my hometown (now living across the pond). another brand from dresden with focus on steel and bikes from commuter to mtb or gravel would be Veloheld, so in case you make in Europe the way to Dresden, you might want to check those out as well...

[@SurpriseMeJT]

The Sour crumble is highly rated by the channel Hardtail Party.

[@robbchastain3036]

The whole show looks impressive, right down to the vintage cameras and the wonderful homage to her grandmother and wow, her grandmother was showing the way with cycling and social media in the 1940s, incredible. It is one thing to ride coast-to-coast, quite another to add the media and promotions element with press coverage of meals and mayors and all of that. And that's when cycling is at its best, I think, when the rider is able to pursue/accomplish personal goals while advocating and promoting the sport among a larger audience.

[@klarkolofsson]

Well said!

[@davidjfife]

Great to meet you guys! And to find out about another local shop! Hope you have enjoyed Bend. We sure love it here. Best of luck on the next chapter! Spain is going to be epic! (Two boys and two tandems)

[@JaronBarendse]

So cool to see a local Bend shop get some coverage! Never been here but will have to check it out.

[@jackiegammon2065]

What a great interview Russ! Always great to see other parts of the country and what may be happening there, and always nice to see other brands as well. Thanks Again!!

[@CanyonWanderer]

Great shop tour and wow, some pretty competitive prices on those lovely frames! Loved the cameras around the shop as well! I spotted a legendary Holga!

[@mesagoat]

salud to promoting small bike owners, the vibe is so refreshing! long live the innovative unique manufacturers, and bike guys like Russ, wit his big heart & energetic enthusiasm for bicicletas!

[@vitoonto]

I really like that Crumble!

[@charlie_halloween]

Definitely a stop we'll make next time we're in Bend. Thanks for sharing!

[@charlesblithfield6182]

Amazing shop. I wish we had one like it in our town. I like the careful curation of stuff on offer. DIY wood and cork helmet! Looking into the Sour bike frames. Right up my alley. As if I need another bike.

[@TheMountainDrifter]

Love to see some content on cool places like this in my home state! I'll have to stop by their shop next time I head through Bend.

[@ec63580]

Such a neat shop and pretty bikes! I’ll definitely have to visit her shop whenever I make it back down to Bend!

[@Mike-kr9ys]

Really good looking details on those frames. I like that custom touches can be ordered.

[@PeopleVoicesForObama]

Beautiful bikes. Thanks for the video. I spent sometimes in Dresden back some 20 years ago. Now I am tempted to buy of these bikes to remind me of the special time I spent there.

[@KOL630]

Great bike shop love the layout and all the cool products stocked. Awesome 😎 Sour bikes look lovely!

[@terryhollands2794]

I really liked the wood and cork helmet. Cool idea. 😂

[@bitchoflivingblah]

There's always something I love about the bikes on this channel - today it's that gorgeous Thomson stem, what a thing of beauty 6:20. I wish this shop was near me - this is a bike shop owner who knows her bikes and bits and you'd happily spend money there knowing you are getting quality, quality, quality for a lifetime.

[@garypatrick3001]

I waited over a year to get my Sour Clueless frame direct from Germany thanks to COVID related delays. Built it up with Ekar drivetrain/brakes and Hunt X-wide 4-season rims this spring and have been riding it regularly since. It hasn't disappointed. I'm now lusting after a Sour Pasta Party as the off-road companion.

[@sour.bicycles]

Thanks for waiting so long, that was an odd period for everyone! Glad you're enjoying your Clueless.

[@pudster2237]

What a great shop Julia. If I lived near your town I would be a client. Thanks for showing us Sour bikes Russ.

[@EBDultras]

..awesome to see this amazing small brand on your show!..

[@Scott-ShaggyBeard]

Sour is on my list for when I get an itch for another bike. Lived in Dresden for several years so that place has some deep feels for me. Glad to see the small shop and Sour get some notice! Little tidbit... there was a pub in Dresden (Neustadt) several blocks from Sour's headquarters called Purple Haze. I think it must have closed... a shame.

It was called "Flower Power." ;)

[@silence1872]

I just got a purple haze from sour. It rides and climbs like a dream and I can fit 2.1 mezcals in there. The custom colours are awesome! Go for raw matte ones, those a re like see through powder coating.

[@DefaultUsername156]

This videos is awesome. Thanks for featuring small shops. Those sour bikes look sick!

[@MrVwcrowe]

Those bikes look great. Nice little niche bike shop.

[@CharlieMetcalf]

That is an awesome shop and a very cool owner. Thanks!

[@nomadicyoutube]

I just made a mental note to visit this bike shop the next time I visit Bend.

[@Omnis2]

I just bought a used All City Space Horse gravel beater a couple weeks ago. Wish I had known about the Purple Haze beforehand. The rear yoke is a great idea. Hopefully it's beefed way up and real stiff because my space horse is wiggle city.

[@jannbo5029]

Super cool seeing Sour on here. My LBS here in Cologne builds a lot of them and they seem to be really well received by the folks buying them.

[@alexbpunkt1875]

Whats the name of your LBS in Cologne? I'd like to check it out.

[@jannbo5029]

@@alexbpunkt1875 Sore Bikes in Ehrenfeld

[@mathewmacpherson857]

Cool shop. Wish I lived there!

[@daniellarson3068]

That looks like a good bike shop and those high quality German bikes look like good value for the money. I think this video will help sell some of those bikes.

[@maxmeier532]

ultimately almost all the established brands produce in Taiwan, as apparently does Sour, so whether they are a german or US or UK brand...seems insignificant. I wouldnt even call them German or US or whatever. It's not like there is some Hans or Fritz welding these frames.

[@daniellarson3068]

@@maxmeier532 Did I mis-hear? I thought she said they originally outsourced to Taiwan, but moved production to Dresden. Frames may be robot welded either way. You do have a good point, however, seems like most of these big brands have frames built by Giant and the same SRAM or Shimano stuff is then slapped on.

[@garypatrick3001]

@@maxmeier532 Originally, Sour's bare frames were produced in Taiwan, then shipped to Germany for painting. As of mid-2023, all of of their frames are assembled in-house in Germany from Taiwan-sourced tubing.

[@sour.bicycles]

@@maxmeier532we produce all our frames right here in Saxony, just outside of Dresden in our own facility, by hand, one by one. We do all the powdercoating nearby to that with an external company that we've known/been working with for a decade, and do all the finishing work here at Sour HQ in the center in Dresden. When we started as a "skunk works", we were designed in-house and produced in TW, our production partner in TW helped us transition to producing in Dresden and still supplies us with parts like dropouts and yokes that we design here in Dresden.

[@ryanprentice6921]

I love the Sour Crumble I snagged from you guys a few months ago. Absolutely great bike.

[@sour.bicycles]

Glad to hear it! Love that frame omg...!

[@ryanprentice6921]

@@sour.bicycles just went out today and rode it in the mud. Had a blast!

[@LAR55C]

The green gravel bike look really nice❤

[@ParzivalHB]

Wow nice hidden gem of a bike shop and those steel frames are drool worthy.

[@byronspencer8101]

Omigod those mountain bike frames!

[@fatknobby]

Just got back from Bespoked. Sour had a proper booth with Pac-Man, Slushie machine and cold beers... good times & nice people

[@xaviermelendez2639]

Very cool shop!

[@SneakerKoenig]

I got a Purple Haze from the very first batch Back in 2019. This winter i will tear down the build (commuter with kids trailer) and rebuild it for long distance gravel events.

[@sour.bicycles]

LOVE to hear this!

[@george8214]

Great shop!

[@garyives1218]

00:12 It appears there's a lever for front derailleur, but no front derailleur? Is that a new feature to make large gear jumps? I'm interested in Eric's (?) photography books?

[@Saints66]

Cool shop👍

[@macho_burrito]

I feel like Wilde cycles carry the mantle of All City and should be more poised to replace them. Same founder too lol.

[@davidonformosa]

The story of Julia's grandmother sounds amazing. Id love to know more about her.

[@gerlachsieders4578]

Good thing too about you guys moving to the EU, you can finally do some reviews of the UK-based Fairlight Cycles, both the steel Secan and Faran-models are up your alley....

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

You are aware that the UK has left the EU ?

[@noahlapuz3853]

nice cozy shop

[@motormaniac444]

Been on my Clueless for over a year now. Can’t say I miss my Straggler much at all!

[@trungpham9531]

what kind of steel are the purple haze frames?

[@stevekelly6544]

When I saw the Video description I thought All City was being bought out by Sour- wish someone would buy it….

[@MrJonas2255]

I thought so as well, what does the title actually mean??

[@buriedintime]

That’s a killer shop.

[@thomaskuhn6541]

Steve over at Hardtail Party reviewed the Crumble about a year ago and absolutely loved it. Hard to find a quality steel frame, especially one that's not manufactured offshore, for that price.

[@sour.bicycles]

I may be a little biased, but I love that Sour Crumble. Great bike. Would ride 10/10.

[@kevinadams1049]

I think that's great content , this bike shop is selling bikes online and a bit of a collector , .. I like those sour bikes very much .

[@betantorachmat7064]

beautiful bike

[@roamingwolfpack]

Sour has some nice looking bikes and priced right!

[@92MrSandmann]

Please help. When disleksisk it's hard to know the name of the brand. It's not written anywhere in the diskription, also can't be read in the video anywhere.

[@sour.bicycles]

It's us! Sour Bicycles

[@davehause8571]

Steel frame, but which steel tubing manufacturer? Would be nice to know.

[@josh33172]

Nearly bought a Sour 2-3 years in a row, but I kept putting it off and eventually settled on a RAL Flaanimal5 Still pretty cool bikes.

[@sour.bicycles]

We're just happy to be in the same sentence as Rodeo Labs!

[@josh33172]

I've only seen one Sour bike here in Belgium at a Plug Plug gravel event!@@sour.bicycles Glad to see distribution making its way to the US!

[@nomadtrails]

Spotted, Lauf Seigla. My future bike :)

[@Daniel-yf9iy]

Beautiful bikes at a reasonable price.

[@atlenorheim4265]

what was the name of the german bikes?

[@kpmulcahy1]

So did Sour buy out All City? I don’t get it the title

[@PathLessPedaledTV]

As in taking the steel bike niche (nicer than a Surly, less than a custom) that All City had.

[@kpmulcahy1]

Heh. Well, you got me to watch the video twice trying to find the juicy details!

[@hugobci]

Listened to marginal gains podcast with russ today. Hope to see you show us the path less pedaled in Girona

[@user-pv8hf6di5m]

I didn’t know what to do with my pet turtle when he dies. Till I saw that bike helmet she made. 😳😂

[@maxmeier532]

How cheap is expert welders' labor in Taiwan and how expensive is it in Europe and the USA? Because all these steel frames have eye watering prices and I wonder how much more expensive would they be if made domestically (hence saving on import and not relying on QC in Taiwan).

[@ultraromance]

I did a triple take at the price. I can say that the batches of 30 frames and forks I get made in the USA come in over Sour retail for my cost, so they've found some kinda secret sauce!

[@sour.bicycles]

@@ultraromance the secret ingredient in the sauce is mayonnaise... as well as tapping into underutilized regional manufacturing infrastructure. Fun fact, we produce our frames in an old accordion factory!

[@polthedestroyer]

I know bike industry naming conventions can be really weird (for example the FLX Babymaker II, the Federal Ubermensch, the WTB Convict) but why "sour"? Does the word mean something different in Germany? Is it someone's name?

[@sour.bicycles]

Sweet and sour! The founders last name means "sweet" in German.

[@polthedestroyer]

@@sour.bicycles Got it.

[@charlcoetzee93]

Adventure nipples "cough" Totally using that term now

[@willlitty8358]

so cool!!!!

[@cvandonderen]

I’ve had a custom parted & painted Sour Clueless since 2020 (the advantage of being in Germany). It has a Surly fork, painted Berthoud fenders, SON lights, the lot. I really like it, but a speedy bike it is not.

[@alvaroruiz104]

@cvandonderen thanks a lot for the information about speediness . I am thinking about getting one enventhou not the fastest because I am focused in confort, Is it supple?

[@sour.bicycles]

Sounds like a fun build!

[@juliapoelstra3624]

Ugh. I wish I could see some of the sour bikes in Canada.

[@sour.bicycles]

Our frames are allergic to the cold! (jkjk) We are working hard on a dealer/distro in Canada... soon!

[@juliapoelstra3624]

@@sour.bicycles allergic to the cold? Me too, guys, me too....🥶

[@318isGood]

This video is sweet but the title is super confusing (borderline misleading)

[@318isGood]

Anyways, I do really love the small bike shop tours and enjoyed getting to know this smaller business better. I just thought All City sold or something

[@jastirn]

​@@318isGoodAll City is folding. Not sure what Russ meant by the title though.

[@maxmeier532]

what do you mean by borderline? Was there anything about All-City at all? It's a clip about a small bike shop that happens to sell bikes made in Taiwan.

[@ze_ep]

Title really needs to change before you get a nastygram from QBP. It is totally misleading. EDIT: much better!

[@318isGood]

I understand the similarities and I'm glad another steel manufacturer has sweet paint! I can follow the new title a lot better

[@andarenbici]

Nice interview. Do you mean filling All City's niche?

[@PathLessPedaledTV]

Yes.

[@sklegg]

I like pretty bikes too. There’s no shame in it 😊

[@siffoine]

Oh no, not the day when you want your bike brand’s site to be out of operation 😢

[@sour.bicycles]

We're really good at designing bikes, we are however not great at internet-things. We're back online now!

[@sotecluxan4221]

Better buy a decent frame, fork, and select remaining parts carefully.

[@philippmeister5984]

It took my three attempts to understand in which city Sour is located. I‘m German.

[@sour.bicycles]

Dräsd´n, freilisch! 😘

[@pratikpramanik7782]

What do you mean taking over All City?

[@hippiebits2071]

All City is discontinued.

[@elefantrising]

Those bikes are take my money bikes

[@Barry101er]

Looks like a great shop.

[@_MattyG_]

Wow she is great why did it take so long to interview! She is like a female Russ!

[@solarheat9016]

Do you have large panniers for cycle-touring. That is what I am in the market for. I don't see how you attach a rear rack to those bikepacking bikes. Are you sure they were designed for carrying stuff? How do I cross a continent self-supported with those tiny bikepacking bags? Rus, did you just say, "adventure nipples?" Sorry. I just need to vent my hate on bikepacking.

[@PathLessPedaledTV]

Don’t buy this bike.

[@michaelfuchs5611]

Made in Taiwan - a typical would-be custom made company. Who needs this? There a companies like Patria. They build their frames in Germany.

[@PathLessPedaledTV]

They build their frames in Germany dummy.

[@davidross8233]

I don’t understand how they can make bikes in Germany for that price.

[@cyclistefroisse9267]

German industrialists, unlike their European competitors understood what goodness there is in in Hinterland, decades ago. You can weld together bikes in Germany, send them across the nearest border and get them painted in Poland or the Czech Republic in a factory which sent back painted for in-house assembly. Your bike boxes can be cut in Estonia out of cardboard made in Finland and bikes themselves protected by packaging material made in Italy. Then, it’s a matter of organization, lean management, Just In Time (JIT) deliveries, bare minimum inventory and no parts seating on shelves for ages. If Rotterdam NL is cheaper than Hamburg, so be it, you ship them to the US and worldwide relying on Dutch logistics geniuses. Lots of stuff « Made in Germany » is very much made in Europe, assembled in Germany with a very german quality control.

[@sour.bicycles]

@@cyclistefroisse9267 This guy industrializes! Fun fact, our frames are welded in Germany, painted in Germany, and finished in Germany. All within a stones throw of Dresden, or in Dresden. Our boxes are cut and folded in Germany, and we ship from Germany. However! We would love to ship from somewhere else because shipping internationally with DHL DE is a headache... I'm going to add "Call the Dutch" to my to-do list, thanks! This isn't a rebuttable, to be clear, we're just proud of all the work we've done to be "lean and mean" *and* produce very much hyper-locally.

[@Ignash]

It's such a shitty coincidence that sour website is under construction now

[@sour.bicycles]

omg yes. We're really good at designing bikes, we are however not great at internet-things. We're back online now!

[@flashwashington2735]

Really! A city bike with that kind of gearing? Fixies have larger chainwheels! Yes, I want to be spun out before reaching high speeds. Not! Thanks for what you do.