Frames
Let’s be honest: the frame is the heart of your bike. Electronic groupsets and carbon wheels are fantastic upgrades, but the frame is usually the most expensive and the most ride‑defining part of the whole setup. You can swap every other component over time, but the frame is the foundation everything else hangs from. It should be the best it can be — or at least the best you can sensibly afford.
Below are some of the key factors that genuinely influence how a frame performs.
I've listed a few areas that can genuinely impact how a frame performs.
Tube Shape
All those lines, curves, and profiles aren’t just for show. They all contribute to how a frame behaves. NACA profiles, Kamm tails, squoval tubes — these shapes do far more than look interesting. Whether the goal is comfort, stiffness, or aerodynamic efficiency, the small details in tube shaping can have a surprisingly big impact on performance.
Construction
Metal frames are typically welded, but even then, things like butting and hydroforming influence the final ride feel. Carbon construction is even more varied: bonded tubes, lugged designs, monocoque moulds, multi‑piece assemblies — and not all methods are created equal. Cost plays a role, but it’s not the only factor. Construction techniques alone can dramatically tune a frame’s ride quality and characteristics.
Materials
Steel, aluminium, titanium, carbon (we’ll politely leave bamboo to the niche crowd). Metal frames may live in the shadow of carbon fibre these days, but they absolutely still have their place.
And carbon? Not all carbon is the same. Different grades — and there are many — offer different ride qualities. Add in elastomers, resins, graphene, and other modern additives, and you’ve got a huge range of possible outcomes. Materials matter more than most people realise.
Aerodynamics
This is where most performance‑focused riders get excited — and rightly so. Cycling is, at its core, a sport of speed, and aerodynamics plays a huge role in that. We’re not aerodynamicists, but we understand enough to cut through the marketing and focus on verifiable, independently tested data. If you want a fast race bike, we’ll make sure that’s exactly what you get.
Weight
Nobody walks into a bike shop asking for the heaviest bike available. We all want something light — dragging extra grams up hills isn’t anyone’s idea of fun. But there is a point where chasing weight becomes a compromise, and that point is different for every rider.
Manufacturers don’t always make this easy. Claimed weights are often… optimistic. Frames are weighed without paint, without hardware, or in sizes nobody actually buys. You get the idea.