Soul Cycles: Versatile Hardtails for Trail Riders and Dirt Jumpers
Soul Cycles earned its place in mountain biking through adaptable frames rather than an enormous catalogue. The bicycle brand historically associated with ridesoul.com offered the Dillinger 29er and Hero dirt-jump frame, giving riders different starting points for custom builds. Its most interesting feature was flexibility: choosing gears or singlespeed, and shaping a bike around the riding you actually wanted to do.
A Small Brand with a Build-Your-Own Approach
Contemporary coverage identifies this Soul Cycles through its mountain-bike frames and former ridesoul.com website. That identity matters when researching a name that can produce unrelated results. Bikerumor’s June 2013 profile described a small company focused on affordable, versatile products, with the Dillinger and Hero forming its frame offering at the time.
The range extended to rigid forks, eccentric bottom brackets and seat clamps. Those supporting parts fit a practical theme: riders could assemble and alter their own bikes. The historical coverage establishes that approach, but does not establish present-day availability or support.
The Dillinger: One Frame, Different Drivetrains
The Dillinger was an aluminum 29-inch hardtail. In its 2009 Dillinger review, MtnBikeRiders documented interchangeable geared and singlespeed dropout options, an eccentric bottom bracket, and compatibility with both disc and V-brakes on the reviewed version. The reviewers assembled it with a suspension fork; Soul also offered a rigid alternative.
Why the Eccentric Bottom Bracket Matters
An eccentric bottom bracket lets the crank position move within the frame’s bottom-bracket shell to adjust chain tension. For a singlespeed build, that makes the mechanism a useful comparison point against frames requiring another tensioning arrangement. The Dillinger’s appeal was therefore more specific than simply having large wheels: it accommodated different drivetrain choices.
Generation matters, too. A 2010 report from Guitar Ted documented a third-generation Dillinger with disc-only braking and revised cable routing. An older frame’s brake mounts should therefore be checked directly rather than inferred from another year’s review.
The Hero: A Different Riding Priority
Bikerumor identified the Hero as a dirt-jump frame with sliding rear dropouts, geared and singlespeed options, and alternative rear-axle arrangements. Compared with the trail-oriented Dillinger, its purpose gives shoppers a clearer distinction than the shared brand name: jump riding and trail mileage call for different starting points.
For anyone exploring a used example, confirm the model, generation and included dropout hardware before planning a build. Browse the Soul Cycles brand page with that distinction in mind: the brand’s documented character lies in adaptable mountain-bike frames, while the details depend on the particular frame in front of you.