With our acclaimed "point and pedal" geometry, our frames are built by some of the best builders in the industry.
For us, CrMo is still our material of choice as frankly, there's nothing that comes close to it in performance and value? What about Ti, you may say. Well, Ti's all well and good and still a wonderful material but the 'advantages' over high end steel are negliable. OK, so it's marginally lighter and it's corrosion resistant. Well, the steel super-alloys like Reynolds 853 and Columbus Spirit/Life are so different from ordinary Steel, about the only characteric they share is they contain iron. These steel super-alloys are one of the reasons why there's still vintage steel frames being ridden today that command premium prices after 30-40 years. Now that's a frame for life!
Our Sirius frame has just had it's first 'major' upgrade in 5 years and frankly, it was a challenge to figure out what to do. There were reasons we made the choices we did back then and we confidently stood by them. Tubing choice, geometry, intended usage were all carefully considered after considerable research, riding and prototype development. For the technically oriented, take a look at the tubing schedule on our technical page.
Why the changes?
Perception is a powerful thing and is often what shapes our choices. Reynolds 853 (among few others) justifiably has a high reputation, backed up by technology, race-results and heritage. It's proven.
The first incarnation of the Sirius used 'No Hype, Just Pype' - a custom drawn, heat treated, double butted 4130 CrMo with a strength comparable to Reynolds 725 (which happens to match the low-end strength of R853, pre-welding). It was and is more than strong enough for it's intended use. However, our US and Japanese distributors wanted a branded tubeset which is why we built the frame in R631.
Today, 5 years on, component technology has made some big advances - as has the skill level of the rider - and we know that a well designed hard tail can take the fight to the trail as well as any short/mid-travel full suspension frame. The hard tail is here to stay so why not build it with the best materials avalaible - it's going to be around for a long time.
Why so cheap?
Regional pricing sucks! It p's us off that bikes and components are cheaper in the US/Canada/Asia than they are in the UK so we're going to be fair. Furthermore, a frame is only part of the bike and we realise that the self-build option is expensive. We're trying to help you out here!
We've been selling frames all over the world since the day we started and our customers like our honest-to-goodness prices! We intend to keep it that way.