Baum DBM Ti Gravel Bike Drop Bars the Mountain Like It's Hot - Bikerumor

Nov 01, 2024

Baum Cycle’s latest DBM titanium gravel bike is actually a mountain bike, a drop bar mountain bike. Fully embracing the fact that modern adventure gravel bikes are pretty much just reworked old-school rigid mountain bikes, Baum goes full MTB with their latest drop bar bike. In other words… proper modern wide XC bike tire clearance, low gears to climb steep mountain grades, and a dropper to send it off sick jumps… even in the drops!

Baum Cycles calls their latest DBM “a gravel bike with MTB DNA”. Founder and CEO, Darren Baum loves riding the inevitably steep local powerline tracks from Baum’s HQ southwest of Melbourne, Australia. But those steep climbs and downhills are also more technically demanding than most gravel bikes can handle, so he wanted ever-wider tires to maintain grip and control.

“I normally ride in the Brisbane Ranges along McLean’s highway. Whoever McLean was, he didn’t know what a highway was. It’s got 20%+ pinches in it. I’ve wanted a bike to handle that kind of ride for a long time…. We’ve been doing it for the last 20 years.”

His solution is 29″ x 2.25″ or 2.4″ mountain bike tires and a proper wide-range 1x MTB drivetrain with a UDH. And instead of trying to just squeeze that into an existing bike, Baum created the new DBM from the ground up for maximum off-road capability. He kind of Frankensteined an XC rear end onto a gravel front triangle, then tweaked the geometry to balance the handling of the bigger tires.

“I did the working design drawings for this bike 8 years ago – I actually designed it at the same time as the Orbis [Baum’s disc brake road bike].”

Baum says lightweight XC race tires work best, and low-profile treads still feel fast like a “plus-size” gravel tire. It’s up to you how wide you want to go.

Baum will build the DBM with standard 12x142mm rear spacing to give you max 2.25″ tire clearance. Or go for a Boost-spaced 12x148mm DBM and get 2.4″ clearance like most modern XC or even trail bikes.

They created a new wider T47 bottom bracket shell and 3D-printed chainstay yoke to set the chainstays and chainline wider for the bigger tires. That does also mean you end up with MTB cranks instead of road/gravel cranks. But there’s still room for up to a 44T 1x chainring, so top-end speed is still there with a 10T cog out back and the larger circumference of the bigger MTB tires.

“The DBM’s geometry is specifically designed to deliver a road-oriented riding position, ideal for grinding over long distances. Therefore, the DBM has more bottom bracket drop (~80 mm) than a MTB because there is not the same need for obstacle clearance. The head angle [69°] is nowhere near as slack as a modern MTB either, but there is a longer top tube, shorter stem, and wider handlebars to compensate for the extra front tyre grip.“

Geometry is typically stock in 6 sizes (XS-XXL). But even then, how Baum finishes off your frame and overall build is entirely up to the buyer. Type of fork – rigid or suspension, accessory mounts, integrated routing, and much more are up to your imagination (and purse strings.)

Standard specs:

Optional upgrades:

The new drop bar mountain bike is available to order now in either frameset or complete bike builds. Baum DBM “fuselage” pricing starts at $13,450 Australian Dollarydoos (~$9150 USD). For that price you get the titanium frame, either Enve Adventure or Curve Seek 430FM carbon forks, Cane Creek headset, and a carbon Enve stem & seatpost.

The standard complete Baum DBM build runs AU$16,192 ($11k USD). That then also gets the same rigid carbon fork choice, stem & seatpost, plus a SRAM GX Eagle AXS Transmission wireless build and alloy DT Swiss G1800 wheels. Plus, Baum has a full range of other pre-configured complete builds and individual upgrades to adapt the dropbar mountain bike to your style of riding (and bigger budgets).

No official word from Baum about how long it will take to get a DBM for you. Still, they simply say that “lead time is subject to demand and availability“.

BaumCycles.com