Bicycle Frame Customised

Features

Design – Aero Endurance
Construction – T700 Toray UD Carbon Fiber with Nano Carbon Wrap
Graphics – Limited Edition Bespoke Kit-One Custom Big Ring Graphic
Weight – 950g (51cm Frame)
Fork: 380g
Seapost: 250g
Handle Bar :1pce Aero Carbon Wing Style Handle Bar/Stem – 375g
Bottom Bracket: BSA English Thread 68mm
Frame Package:includes : Frame, Fork, Seatpost, Headst, Hanger
Headset: Top 1-1/8” Bottom 1-1/2”
Sizes: – 50cm, 52cm, 54cm, 56cm
Package Size: 830mm X 170mm X 675mm

 

Overview

Aero Endurance – was the design ideal that we created the frame around, generally we all want Aero and we all want some comfort a “no-brainer” to combine the two frame strategies, to make one frame design that is Aero and not bone shattering rigid, nonetheless when out of the saddle slinging the pedals hard it will accelerate hard and be highly responsive.

Aero is particularly important, as you push-up into the mid 30km bracket the greatest thing to overcome is the air we push through, if the frame was aircraft we would be talking about the control surfaces, we worked hard to streamline all the surfaces of the bike and the major components like the seat post and one piece wing style aero handle bar /stem combined with seamless cable integration throughout the entire frame and Handle bar structure – this is the next level! This makes for less resistance and frees-up extra watts every ride, every time, every condition – extra speed with less effort.

Compliance – vertical compliance is important to reduce impacts, vibration and jarring from the road, layering of the carbon and controlled amounts of flex/vibration through the frame and components is specifically engineered in the tubes structures.

Over the last 30years it been my pleasure to sell bikes under 4 of the biggest and best international names to the 600 plus bike shops across Australia, so when I say this frame rides better than all my expectations its comes with some experience. If you need a bike frame that comes with Million dollars of marketing buy something else by all means. At the Big Ring we rather put the money into quality, value and extraordinary over the top limited production graphic, if that ticks a few boxes for you read on and consider.

 

Utilizing Quality Carbon Fibre and Construction Methods

To optimize the use Carbon Fibre, we specifically shape each tube, every tube profile in the frame has different stresses to cope with, strategically controlling the outer shapes allows you to dramatically improve how that one specific tube can respond and cope with loading from the rider and the road conditions, then understanding how each of these tubes work together to transfer stress and harness the wattage output from the rider.

Couple the tube shaping with multi-layering of carbon sheets with specific directional control, using different blends of carbon to further enhance the structure and performance of each tube shape within the frame set, you start to get an insight to amount fretting that we have done. The options available to the frame engineers are truly endless for tuning the ride of frame and how it reacts and feels when you are pumping the watts through the cranks and carving through corners.

Square tube shapes like our down tube counteract bending the best, while round shapes are more beneficial when it comes to controlling torsion. Each tube in the frame set encounters a variable mix of bending and torsional loads, a carefully crafted combination of these elements blended seamlessly into each other creates the best of mix of controlled flex and controlled twisting.

Balance is what you ARE looking for between these attributes of a square and an oval tube shapes to attain an ideal balance of stiffness, weight and aerodynamics.

Sophisticated Fine Element Computer modelling is used extensively to ensure that fundamentally the amount of stress that the frame can endure is significantly more than what’s needed. How the frame copes with a multitude of fatiguing repetitions to the point of destruction, extreme loading while cornering making sure it can track straight and true, hard braking, frontal impacts, seat mast stress, the list of testing tortures is long but all are very important. Once all the must haves covered the human element comes into play how does feel?

Fun Factor – is all important to us here at The Big Ring – it’s got feel lively and put a smile on your dial and literally beg you to spin and chase those pedals harder than ever before – the human element.   

 Build Process

Is a segmented method, some tubes are done as one single connecting tube, others are a combination of tubes with junctions, by not doing the frame as one piece it allows for more intricated/individual layering and directional fibre control over each tube section and better control of the compression and moulding of the carbon in the curing process. The picture below shows a cross-section of socket join the composite glue in highlighted in purple. Many of the top frames in the world are built this way.

Each tube in the frame set is shaped and sized differently to have the best reaction to the diverse stress it is being subjected too, tube profiling in combination with carefully controlled layering process for every tube design within the frame set is very important, as gives us the ability to fine tune riding characteristics of the fame set with more lot more feel and accuracy than a 1pce frame monocoque design.

Pre-impregnated carbon sheets are layered following our specific direction into steel mould, a high strength, high pressure bladder that is the basic shape of the mould is then positioned into the mould. The high strength mould is bolted closed and heated until the pre-impregnated resin liquifies then Air is pumped into the mould until a extremely high pressure is maintained.

At this stage all the liquified resin is compressed through every layer of the varied multi direction layer-up and all the excess resin is squeezed out of the mould. Excess resin is excess weight, it has no benefit structurally, any sign of excess resin is a sign that frame may not have been moulded correctly. Any air bubbles or un-compressed sections within the tube structure can lead to a weak point, this segmented process of our frame construction ensures that each and every section frame is perfectly produced with no hidden problems.

Also by having smaller individual sections the QC process is more thorough, as close inspection of all the internal moulding can be done. Where the segmented frame pieces are joined it is a very precise socket join where one tube is stepped and fits inside the other, specific composite glues are used permanently bond the two carbon surfaces and the join is double thickness – It’s stronger at the join than if it was a straight tube.

Our manufacturing partner who produce frames for multitude of brands in many different styles and designs,  they produce ten’s of thousands of Carbon Frames in the course of one year, as a result of this they get to see what frame designs and construction work best. Over the last decade they have amassed such body of experience they really know what works and what doesn’t they have seen it all.

When we work with our frame partner we get the benefit of all their experience from the last decade, they help us put our design ideals into context and help us improve the real world production results that logically improve the frame design with a mutually beneficial manufacturing process.

We use a mix of standard modulus Carbon Fibre and High Modulus Carbon fibre – the strength characteristics are quite different between the two, if you build a frame totally out of High Modules carbon it will be very strong and stiff but it will be too rigid and give you brutal ride – you can make walls thinner and get more feel out of a high modulus carbon but then it starts to get potentially brittle. So, you see why a High Modulus and Standard Modulus Carbon fibre construction is best.

 

AERO

The frontal area of the bike is the most important, secondary is seat post junction section.

The fork is specifically integrated into the lower crown of the head tube pushing back into the down tube this gives a more of a seamless transition with the down tube with a trailing edge the improves air flow even when rocking the steering of the bike. The Fork itself had smooth bolder round profile much like modern wheels tapering down to the dropout to improve airflow. The internal spacing of the fork legs are wider enough to deal with 28mm tyres and give more room for wheel to spin through casing less “Air-Jam” and wheel drag.

The top of the head tube crown comes with 3 specific Aero Stack Frame Spacers which are recessed deeply in the top tube and the top of the head tube crown, this greatly improves integration of the handle bar assembly for better air flow.

The Handle Bar assembly is made from the ground up to complement this frame set, ensuring you get the optimum interface of the 1pce handle bar & stem and frame.

This done for many reasons:

cable integration
component integration
correct handle bar angle for optimal streamlining and comfort
tuning the handle to have the perfect amount bar flex to complement the frame for optimal comfort and performance

This is the next level when it comes modern frame design – a bar assembly designed to work specifically with your ride – this level of detail is normally only reserved for some of the most expensive rides in the market place.

The cable routing on this Aero Endurance bike has been a major consideration to get them out of the wind and to give smooth routing with less cable friction, while also future-proofing your frame as much as much as possible so it will work with all the gear and braking systems on the market.

The Seat Post has that super clean flat finish on the top tube junction with a completely hidden clamping assembly this as good as gets. The seat post has the correct internal sizing and profile for battery mounting if required and the round internal seat tube profile coupled with minimal Aero profiling is nice comprise give Aero but also have good compliance to help smooth out the bumps.

The available braking options have various levels of Aero ability and how they interface with the frame, the Aero V-Brake is has the best Aero advantage with Disc Brake being 2nd because of its low position and its close to frame Direct Mounting system, Direct Mount Caliper with the dual post mounting has a closer mount to frame with scalloped sections for improved streamlining it the third best option while traditional side pull caliper is the least Aero in 4th position.

Endurance

Body positioning is a pretty standard road position (not time trial) the top tube length is a little bit longer in some cases but this is all part of the consideration of the standard 110mm stem length which is part of the one-piece Aero Stem/Handle Bar Wing system. (note the standard 110mm stem length is consideration in all the top-tube length of all frames size).

This Handle Bar looks like it’s all about aero which it is, but we utilize a different layering process compared to the frame as the range of stress that the handle bar and stem has to work with is different. We can tune the handle bar assembly to have substantial amounts of vertical compliance, considerable more than standard handle bars assembly’s that are 2pce design.

The 1pce Aero Stem and handle assembly works as one-piece allowing for more tuned vertical flex – and vibration dampening. The other advantage is the 1pce bar and Stem construction is it’s seamless transition between the handle bar and stem which is more aero and lighter, more importantly the handle bar and stem doesn’t need to be over built in the centre clamping position which allows the 1pce assembly to work more as one tuned single piece that is a natural extension to fit the design ideals of the frame.

The Seat post is not over the top in its aero profiling and is more of endurance shaping with round internal profile that is designed to considerably have more tuned flex than most adjustable Aero posts.

The frame also has shaping and layering to promote more comfort – the squashed triangular profile of the top tube resists torsion but promotes some vertical compliance smoothing out the road .

The lower style seat stays are more aero than a traditional high position seat stays, the lower seat stay design also makes for a compact rear triangle that is laterally stiffer, the cross section of the seat stays through  80% of their length is squashed oval profile this improves the vertical compliance greatly while still being Aero and torsional strong for spirited acceleration.

The frame design fits up to 28mm tyres which on rough tarmac or gravel roads can make huge difference to comfort and control, most riders will option 25mm which will also improve comfort/endurance and are now generally consider faster by most cyclists. The extra room around the wheels/tyres also improves aero as the wheels have less inference and drag as they pass through the frame.

Custom Graphic

With 22 radically different frame kit inspired graphics to choose from, you not only have more inspirational options, the choices are considerably more exclusive because of the limited made to order program that The Big Ring offer.

The frame graphic complements The Big Ring Kit-One Apparel range but also stands alone as some of the most outstanding frame graphics bought in to production. The Unsponsored rider can look more Pro than Professional with this level of matching it just pure graphics and quality product.

With every frame order, your name (or nick name) cab be custom emblazed on the bottom side of the down tube on the opposite side to the crankset to take the personalization just that one step further

You have the choice to order the frame in one of the 4 brake designs commonly available in the market place, this is a major advantage as it makes it so much easier to utilize your current your existing group set and wheels to work with Aero Endurance full carbon frame – less hassle and less cost.

Everyone has different performance expectations when it comes to brakes, they just slow you down after all – but depending where and when you ride that may have more importance. Read on below if you are not across the features and benefits of the different Brake Sets on offer in the market place and how they work with new and existing wheel sets designs.

Kit- One Aero Endurance Frame Bottom Bracket Configuration

The Big Ring Aero Endurance Frame is engineered to use a BB-86 Bottom Bracket platform it measures 86.5mm wide. The BB-86 it is simplest and most reliable platform currently on the market and adopted by most of the major component manufacturers. The BB-86 also allows the frame to engineered with a large diameter Bottom Bracket housing which makes for additional strength in the crucial high stress area, reducing the torsional movement here makes an enormous difference to directing your wattage to the rear wheel.

The design of this bottom bracket is characterised by low weight and low Q-factor while the larger diameter bearing gives greater durability.

Basic tECHNICAL drawing of the bottom bracket design

Frame Material

T 700 – Carbon Fiber

 

 

 

 

Nano Carbon Fiber Wrap under the microscope

The Big Ring Kit One frame uses T700 Carbon Fiber because it consistently delivers predictable even molding under pressure more so than the other blends of Carbon Fiber. Bicycle frames have complicated and complex shapes and require more subtlety because of the varied loading and stresses they encounter.
The importance of Carbon Fiber that is easier and more consistent to work with cannot be overstated. You can push the envelope with even higher grades of carbon fiber but quiet often they will not give same level of vertical compliance and durability as the T700 and from a production point of view you risk not getting even compression of the resin right through all the layers of carbon fiber, T700 reliably delivers every time, High modulus carbon fiber is used in high stress areas.
To finish off the frame receives a wrap of very expensive high end Nano Carbon, this binds the whole unit together, this material is made up of millions of continuous Nano fiber strands up to 1km long, which bond together in multitude of directions, this improves the frame strength dramatically in many ways, the chances of crack developing are reduced by 50%, fatigue resistance is improved by 200%, and impact protection is improved by 50% – This additional wrap takes this frame to the next level and is not commonly offered in production frames.
Advantages Nano Carbon Wrap:

• Improved interlaminar fracture toughness
• Improved impact resistance
• Improved fatigue life
• Improved flexural strength
• Improved interlaminar shear strength
• No decrease in flexural stiffness
• No decrease in glass transition temperature
• Reduced ply delamination
• Enhanced resin toughness
No Additions:
• Virtually no added weight
• Virtually no added thickness