It’s still early days for Ministry Cycles and the Psalm 150 frame pictured here is the first usable prototype, but Currie has plans for a limited run of twenty production frames that will be available in the near future.
• Intended use: Trail / enduro
• Travel: 150mm rear / 160mm front
• Frame material: CNC aluminum
• 29″ wheel size
• 3VO suspension
• Interchangeable dropouts
• Head angle: 65°
• Seat angle: 77.7°
• Reach: 480/490 mm (adjustable)
• MSRP: to be determined
• More info: www.ministrycycles.com
Psalm 150 Frame Details
Why not welded tubes or molded carbon fiber? “I’m looking for a manufacturing method that can scale while allowing customization, flexibility and agility,” Currie replied before going on to say that it also gives him more control over the manufacturing of his bike, especially by compared to following the same route as others eventually led to “big bike factories”. The department aims to produce more frames than most small builders could weld, but turning to carbon fiber creates all sorts of challenges, especially when it comes to timelines and, heaven forbid, wanting to make a rapid mid-cycle update from production to design.
All of this got Currie interested in CNC machining, but he explained that it required outside help and a lot of homework: “When your goal is to make more than a handful of frames a year, you need to build a team and systems I eventually found a great engineer, Jordan Jackson at Certa Design and Engineering in the UK, to work out the shapes and do the FEA so we were sure we had a solid foundation. best way to glue, and the different adhesives, and finally finding a factory that could machine the frames – at a time when aluminum was at record high prices – it was one hell of a learning experience. bike for a long time, but almost none of it came to fruition. Making this frame meant tearing up the playbook and finding new ways of doing things.
“I’m working on a checklist that I created as a series of slides on my laptop because I’m quite compulsive that way, but as long as you’re careful and deliberate, the process has everything. drama of super gluing two Lego blocks together–only with an industrial-strength adhesive similar to what they use on airplanes and cars.There are a few Henkel products that have truly exceptional and nearly identical numbers when it comes to aluminum. I’m still researching, but the prototype was bombproof, so I’ll probably keep everything exactly as I have it now.”
I will argue that the result is one of the most stunning frames out there, with angular lines and a machined finish that set the Psalm 150 apart from almost everything else on the trails.
3VO suspension
The 150mm-travel Psalm uses a dual-link layout called 3VO which is an evolved and tweaked version of what Jamis has had on their full-suspension bike for years. “The new 3VO suspension is simpler and has a stable, progressive leverage ratio,” Currie told me. “It actually goes back to my original design from years ago, which only used two links but was a bit too progressive for the old-school air dampers.” Currie had been using a prototype version of this extra-progressive linkage setup, called the Prog Rocker, on his personal Jamis Portal for a few years, and the Psalm uses this layout combined with a high-volume air shock.
This iteration of the 3VO suspension is also simpler than previous versions, with two links instead of three, and Currie emphasized how important it is that his bike pedals well. “Unlike many designs that cheat on center of gravity location or gearing, the 3VO suspension has well over 100% anti-squat even when you’re in the largest rear cog, and even if you choose to use a 34-tooth chainring,” he explained on the ministry’s website. “When it comes to climbing, very few systems can match the efficiency of a 3VO bike. When it comes to balancing sensitivity, responsiveness and efficiency, nothing comes even closer.”‘
Geometry
At the other end of the bike, interchangeable dropouts allow it to choose between a 435mm or 445mm rear end. The latter offers a bottom bracket drop of 37mm, at least on its first prototype, while the former raises the bike by 7mm.
The seat angle is 77.7 degrees, and Currie was pleasantly surprised by the prototype’s climbing performance, especially since it still weighs a few pounds more than the final bike: “Going from a faster and stiffer 130mm carbon XC bike to this beefier 150mm bike with a 65° head tube angle, I was willing to lose some climbing ability, but this thing climbs some I’m 77.7 degrees on this bike, and it climbs so much better it’s just ridiculous.
And after?
If you want your own Psalm 150, you can find a pre-order link on the Ministry Cycles website that will allow you to make a deposit, but Currie limits the first set to just twenty images and admits they will be expensive: “I I wish I could work around that, and eventually I think we can, but right now they’re incredibly expensive to make. We’re working on the revised frame right now, and there are a lot of things that could delay production as well, so we’re talking a deposit fully refundable at any time.”
“The mission is really to do things for people, based on what they want, not to do a bunch of things and then try to convince people that they want them. I have very opinions fixed on geometry and how a bike should ride, but it really comes down to connecting with people and listening. That’s what I want Ministry Cycles to be really about.
Want to know more? I sat down with Chris Currie, industry veteran and founder of Ministry Cycles, to talk about the birth of Psalm 150, public development and lifecycle, design flexibility and more. Chris also started Speedgoat, one of the first online retailers in the 1990s, and spent over a decade in the marketing trenches of Stans, giving him a unique perspective on the cycling industry and the future.
THE PINKBIKE PODCAST // EPISODE 145 – MINISTRY CYCLES ON ALTERNATIVE MANUFACTURING, EXECUTIVE BONDING AND BUSINESS STARTUP
September 22, 2022
Aluminum, glue and online sales.
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