David Rosen has wanted to build a full-suspension mountain bike since 2012, the year his bike company, Sage, got started. Now, after more than a decade of dreaming and three years of designing, prototyping, and testing, he’s finally pulling the curtain back on the first Sage titanium full-suspension mountain bike.
The new bike doesn’t even have a name yet
To be clear, the new XC/downcountry bike is still just a prototype, and it doesn’t even have a name yet. Known as Project FAF, the bike is still undergoing last-minute tweaks before it hits production.
“This is the first bike I didn’t design by myself,” Rosen told me over the phone. “This time I got an engineer who does CAD modeling, and he knows kinematics because he was a product manager for another bike brand.”
The FAF, designed with 120/115mm of suspension travel front and rear, utilizes a single-pivot flex-stay design to keep things simple and easy to maintain. “I shaped and ovalized the chainstays and the seatstays in different directions,” he said. “I use different diameter tubes to make it flex. I’m actually leaning into the flexibility of titanium as a damping characteristic for the flex stay itself.”
The result is a bike that Rosen claims is incredibly stiff and responsive both up and down the trail.
3D-printed titanium components finally allowed Sage to build the bike the brand wanted
Rosen wrote online that the more widespread availability of 3D-printed titanium parts finally unlocked Project FAF for his Portland, Oregon-based brand. Each frame utilizes six 3D-printed titanium parts, including the dropouts, chainstay yoke, bottom bracket cluster, and seatstay bridge. The 3D-printed parts are produced in Oregon and feature a raw, unpolished texture that stands out from the smooth and shiny titanium tubes. Rosen says it would be possible to polish the parts, but he likes the contrast between the polished tubes and the industrial finish on the parts.
It’s at this point that I should mention the projected cost of a Project FAF bike frameset: between $10,000 and $15,000. And no, that is not the cost of a complete bike.
“This is not cheap to produce,” Rosen said. “The amount of 3D printing that’s on here, the method that we’re using for the 3D printing, and then the titanium tubing, the welding, the labor, all of that sort of stuff, it adds up.”
The actual cost of the bike won’t be known until the final design is locked in and production begins. A frameset is set to include a shock, seat post collar, and axle, or buyers can opt for a complete bike if they prefer. Rosen expects to offer two main build options: one with a SRAM drivetrain and RockShox suspension, another with Shimano XTR components and Fox suspension.
The Project FAF bike will feature high-quality Grade 9 (3/2.5) US-sourced titanium tubing mated with the Grade 5 (6/4) 3D-printed titanium components. The bike’s custom-designed shock linkage is made from aluminum alloy.
Titanium and USA-made full-suspension mountain bikes are having a moment
The Sage Project FAF announcement follows the introduction of the Viral Optimist 145, another full-suspension titanium bike that retails for just shy of $15,000. Reeb, Stinner, Foes, and Lenz, along with a few smaller custom builders, have made a name for themselves offering metal, full-suspension bikes produced in the USA. And Ibis recently announced that their new Ripley SL carbon fiber mountain bike frames would be produced in the US.
Just a few more tweaks to go
Rosen says he’s in the final stages of validating the geometry across all sizes and ensuring the rear triangle has proper tire clearance. “It is really good and really close,” he said, though some of the geometry numbers will likely change a bit from their published values once the bike reaches production.
Another last-minute change is moving from an IS brake mount to post mount. Initially, Rosen chose an IS mount for a clean look, but that was before SRAM introduced the new Motive and Maven brakes which feature larger calipers. With a post mount, the Project FAF bike will give buyers more choices when it comes to brakes.
Buyers can reserve the new bike by placing a $1,000, non-refundable deposit. The Sage website makes it clear that the final price of the bike is not set, and that some of the specs may change between now and when production begins. Rosen anticipates the first deliveries will begin in the first quarter of 2027.
With some details about the frame and build offerings still unknown, Rosen is willing to do whatever it takes to make customers happy, even if that means customizing builds or frame finishes.
“This is a halo bike,” he said. “When somebody orders a Bugatti Veyron, they get whatever the hell they want. This [bike] is a Bugatti, so you can get whatever you want.”
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