RSD’s Middlechild, now on iteration V3, is a skookum example of the oldest design principle in mountain bicycling. I haven’t come up with a shortened form, so bear with the stylistically overlong song title, but it goes something like: build a bike that’s perfect for you, for where you ride, and then see who else wants to buy one.

In this case, the Middlechild was born for keeping the rubber side down in Ontario, Canada and compared to the more pedal-and-plunge BC hardtail brands it has a somewhat slacker seat tube angle, a slightly steeper head tube angle, and a few other faster-handling geometry considerations. That’s not to say, at all, that they aren’t an awesome frame for hardtailing here, there, or anywhere. They just pedal a nice middle ground with a more all-day, long-way bent.

Uniquely, you can grab the same frame geometry in three materials, classic steel, a pound-plus less weight for CA$100 fewer bucks in aluminium, or actually-a-little-lighter-than-the-aluminium-for-a-pile-more-treasure, but it’s Ti, titanium. All three options come stock with an excellent slider system allowing for 15mm of adjustment.

Anywho, clearly I’m a fan because I’m being carried away by what’s supposed to be a brief A.a.S.S. introduction. Duke’s Middlechild has some interesting details. The paint, for one. The dropout bolt upgrade immediately caught my eye. And the seat post {mast?} is clearly too fat for the frame?! On that:

“On the seatpost, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The post is a normal OneUp 240mm dropper but I have machined a delrin sleeve that slips over the post and rides on the shoulder below the seal collar and the top of the seat post clamp. This allows me to use minimal torque on the clamp as it’s no longer holding the post up, just keeping it from rotating. It keeps the post action smooth and fast, as the bushings aren’t being compressed by the clamp, and the post will never slip down. It also looks clean IMO. It makes changing saddle height a little more of a process, but I never change that anyway!“

Rather than keep typing, I’ll remind you that fresh entries to our one-speed haikuniverse are always appreciated, and it’s easy to include your own rig:

You write a Haiku

Submit it with a photo

Then, I say thank you

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Duke on the RSD Middlechild:

Uncluttered machine

Refined to perform one job

Untainted pleasure

For more of the MEATengines one-speed haikuniverse: About a Single-Speed

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If you’re interested in supporting the MEATengines community there are multiple ways to help out. You can submit an About a Single Speed or Bicycle Valentines piece, or fire me an e-mail if there’s some other ATB or mountain bicycling topic you’re passionate to write about. I’m interested. You can engage with a comment below, join the crew at r/MEATengines, or, if you have a couple spare bucks {ha!}, you can always buy me a coffee. Thank you.