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Interbike: Moots Comooter - $8750
September 24th, 2008 by Tim Grahl 
If you’re talking high end commuter bike, you’re not going to beat the new Moots Comooter. Originally built for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, the Comooter got so much attention and feedback that they decided to add it to their production line.
This bikes spec list tops any others, as well as it’s MSRP of $8750.
Fork: Wound Up Cross, disc specific
Frame: Titanium
Head set: Chris King 1 1/8″ No Thread Set
Stem: Moots Open Road, custom face plate for light mount
Post: Moots Cinch 27.2
Saddle: Brooks Swallow, black leather
Bars: Moots Ti flat bars with 8 degree sweep
Crank: Campy Chorus Carbon, single 38T ring
Brakes: Magura Louse 160mm rotors
Front Hub: Schmidt Generator Hub, disc
Rear Hub: Rohloff Internal 14 speeds
Rims: DT Swiss x470, 32 hole front and rear
Tires: Schwalbe 38c Marathon, reflective sidewall, belted tread
Fenders: Honjo polished aluminum, full coverage
Lights: Schmidt EG front light, Busch @ Muller Dtoplight XS Senso (rack mounted)
Rear Rack: Tubus Cosmo
Moots is well known for their high quality Titanium frames and they went gang busters and cut no corners in putting together what they thought was the best commuter bike possible.
Here’s the pictures I took combined with their product shots… what do you think?
September 25th, 2008 at 12:00 am
For $8k, I’d better have an employer who is okay with me carrying this around on my back all day. It’d never leave my sight. And I thought the Civia was bad.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:22 am
What do you get when you cross a bicycle with a bag of onions? Well, 99 times out of a 100 you get a bag of onions with handlebars. But that ONE time you get a bike that brings tears to your eyes (apologies to Bette Midler). This thing is a gorgeous concept with zero practical application. I love it.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Really? $8750 for a commuter bike? I think the target audience for this bike is someone who likes to spread money around on their bed, gets naked and rolls around on it screaming, “I’M RICH! HA! HA! HA! I’M RICH! HA! HA! HA!” While they have logs of $100 bills burning in the fire place.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Nicely equipped, but… for the same amount of money, I can buy several other bikes, each excelling in a different facet of riding.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Really, well spec’d, but cummon. This kind of exorbitance was so three weeks ago.
September 25th, 2008 at 3:39 am
What… no Ti Chain Guard?
September 25th, 2008 at 6:56 am
It’s…uh…pretty — all silvery and stuff, like the silver spoon such an owner would feast on caviar with
Does it come with matching titanium handcuffs so the owner could keep it chained to his/her wrist?
September 25th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Too bad there isn’t a photo showing where the rear rack and fenders connect to the frame on the disc side.
My Seven commuter is similar, the rack mount was a problem area (probably because I have sliding dropouts), I ended up using a Detours seat post rear rack.
I also went with Lupine headlight and Dinotte tail light rather than generator lighting. I’m waiting on the Rohloff hub as I think they will bring out a lighter version.
September 25th, 2008 at 7:47 am
$8750 and they ran out of budget for a chain guard! Most American commuter bikes have the concept all wrong.
September 25th, 2008 at 8:36 am
I know this is probably a bit of a money-is-no-object halo product, but still.. OK I won’t comment on the price again. I like the fenders, lights, dyno hub, internal gears, disc brakes and cool details like the headlight mount on the stem. I think this would even be practical (though still pretty high end if it’s going to be locked to a rack regularly) if it had an 8-speed hub and a high quality steel frame.
On the other hand, how can I complain about Moots making their bikes out of titanium and building it with the best parts?
September 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Any banks offer good financing for bicycles these days?
September 25th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I saw the prototype at the NAHBS this year. When my wife and I saw it at the Moots booth, our jaws dropped to the floor. It was definitely a work of art.
September 25th, 2008 at 10:58 am
RE: Editorial in Providence
Fallacious logic bit of logic -
“Too many cyclists are clueless as to rules of the road — either for automobiles or for bicycles. This complicates matters for motorists, who are required to pass a written examination on rules of the road, and pass a road test to obtain a driver’s license. And young teenagers are required to attend a 30-hour driver-ed course, to boot. This is gross and unfair to motorists, whom we expect to share the road with bicyclists.”
1) Many Cyclists own and drive cars
2) Many motorists are equally clueless.
Just as driving laws vary
from state-to-state
so too does the rigor of the exams.
I have not had a written exam
when I renew my license in 14 years,
possibly longer.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Seamus, you lost me. What does this have to do with the bike?
September 25th, 2008 at 11:35 am
gear:
Topeak makes a disc friendly rack, it’s attachments to the lower part of the frame have long tabs that reach around the discs. Still holds the standard 20-25kg just fine.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I think they could have fit at least one more Moots logo on the bike. Maybe on the chainstay.
Nice bike.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:53 am
@ pablo commuter
that will increase the price to $8760. We cant have that!
September 25th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I am very curious as to how the Rohloff hub works. My commuter is a Titus FCR singlespeed and I am sick of the ’single’ part. eBay rocks for used titanium frames, btw.
September 25th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I love Moots bikes…..I like $8,750 more. I can’t think of one thing that would get this into my stable for that price. Hey Moots, where’s the sensible commuter?!?
September 25th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
When I saw the price figure, I started flipping through the pictures to see where they were mounting the electric motor assist and the Li-Ion batteries.
No dice, obviously.
For that kind of price, you’d think that there’d at least be some elegant internal cable routing.
The big problem with this bike isn’t that a customer has to be able to afford it. The problem is that the customer has to be able to afford it being stolen.
September 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Everyone raves about the Rohloff hub…and that adds $1000 or more to the price of any bike (I think the bare hub is in the $1100-$1300 range these days).
@Chester, your quote at the end there is great…I think that’s EXACTLY hitting it on the head!
September 25th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
For that price, it should be able to offer you breakfast and a big wet kiss every morning.
And also, an $8750 that doesn’t sport a Schmidt Edelux headlight?!?!? I’ll have none of it.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Um… wow… on a number of accounts.
Kind of puts the Civia in perspective. Realize, though, they’re targeting this at people who would consider a Ti bike in the first place…
Oh, and as far as the rack… if you click Tim’s pic of the Hub… I’m pretty sure they’ve connected to the frame rather than to the sliding dropouts. I could be wrong though.
I wonder which marathon’s those are?
September 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I echo the surprise of some others… No chain guard?!?
North America is really not getting the concept of a utility bike. Does one puts on gloves, special shoes or pants clips when they take their car? No, you take the keys, go to the car, and drive off. Now, it should be exactly the same with a bike.
But they seem to have the rest right, if only horrifyingly expensive…
September 25th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
“I think the target audience for this bike is someone who likes to spread money around on their bed, gets naked and rolls around on it screaming, “I’M RICH! HA! HA! HA! I’M RICH! HA! HA! HA!” While they have logs of $100 bills burning in the fire place.”
-Visions of Scrooge McDuck swimming through gold coins in his vault.
“I saw the prototype at the NAHBS this year. When my wife and I saw it at the Moots booth, our jaws dropped to the floor. It was definitely a work of art.”
-Rightfully so. At this price I’d be more likely to frame it than ride it!
September 26th, 2008 at 2:08 am
Is it me or does the Moots Comooter
strike anyone else as the human powered
equivalent of the concept cars at an Auto Show?
Is that really an avenue we want
the cycling community to pedal down?
Isn’t part of our current problem
conspicuous consumption?
September 26th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Seamus, good point…but only folks “in the know” (and that doesn’t even include most cyclists) would get it. EVERYONE knows that a BMW or Mercedes suggests personal wealth (or a willingness to be deeply in debt), but riding a Moots would go right over the head of the overwhelming majority of observers.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Wow. As a MOOTS owner and commuter, I hope all can admire this bike for what it is: a handcrafted work of art that is pretty close to two-wheeled perfection. Now I only just have to spend a few years saving….
September 28th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Oh, yeah, there’s no arguing that it’s not a work of art. It’s just way out of my league… but then again, I’ve never bought art…
Also, don’t get me wrong… I’d LOVE one of these… but there’s at least 5 other bikes that I really want… and I could buy all 5 of them for the price of this…
Maybe I buy them…
September 29th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Gorgeous. Like all high-end bikes that are sold frame-only, it can be built for much, much less than $8K — Moots will provide you as much as you want, but you can also build it off your own bike, ebay and craigs list. That’s not to say it’s cheap, though — the frame will still probably run $3K.
September 30th, 2008 at 9:00 am
For $8750 I can buy a really nice motorcycle,use it to commute and use the extra time I save not riding the bus to ride the road bikes I already have. $8K for a commuter bike? LOL
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
The price tag is perfect! This is the sort of stuff we need to see. Sure many of us (if not all) will never own one of these. But then again we all ride the bikes that we ride for a reason. I ride a $500 self-built GT because I simply do not have the money for more. But if I had that type of disposable income, damn right I would drop $9000 on a bike like that.
So, what about the affluent banker that rolls to work in his BMW/MERCEDES/HUMMER… the car that shows how well he/she is doing. Well, this sort of bike is targeted to that market. And we should all be cheering that this type of design is around.
If this expensive bike makes it into the hands of a CEO that has decided to sell his symbolic SUV in exchange for some other symbol of affluence (This bike) then rock on! commuters gained one more to the mass!
seriously, this type of design is good. It creates competition in these niche markets that we all hope explode in the next few years.
I say congrats to Moots for stepping forward and recognizing that person “A” earning $500,000/yr now has another way to show his/her wealth. by bike!
October 13th, 2008 at 12:24 am
You can get a Moots commuter for less but it won’t be COMOOTER. The Comooter is being sold as complete only. If you want a Moots commuter but don’t want to pay the $8750 order a Psyclo-x with rack and fender mounts. Also the upward curved TT and scalloped seat binder are exclusive to the Comooter. You also have to take into account that it’s built to last with low maintenance.
October 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
question:
why does a dog lick his b@lls?
a) because they taste good
-or-
b) because he can
pandering to blatantly elitist consumerism- disgusting.
whatever the reason moots chose to produce this thing, it is a clear display of bad taste… all of the beautiful craftsmanship and giblets aside. they could do so much better, yet they consistently fail to do so by choosing to take the easy route over and over again (i.e. still using cheesy shims on their bars, p.o.s. aluminum smoothie, etc). the flaming downward spiral continues unabated ever since Kent left the place, imho.
btw, i myself am an owner of one of their bike products. just had to put it out there before the flamefest begins.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I will buy one of these babies and add it to my stable of other incredible highend two wheel wonder toys - as soon as my broken neck heals!
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
To piggy-back on what sped said a couple of posts up, you can indeed go the crosser route — I just did — but if you were to build it with a nearly identical build kit, you’d be pretty close to $8750 anyway.
I have to say, I saw the bike at the Rocky Mt. Bike Show yesterday, and while it is undoubtedly beautiful, the rep seemed awfully non-chalant about its cost. Then again, I suppose you’d need to come off that way to have any hope of people taking you seriously — he did confirm that there have been orders (of course), though I didn’t ask, and he didn’t say, how many.