Torus Ti29 – BikeRadar

It doesn’t take a genius to decipher what kind of bike the Torus Ti29 is – it’s made from titanium and it rolls on 29in wheels. It’s a quirky antidote to full suspension path bikes with traditionally fast handling -. A stunning quantity of give regardless of the rigid forks.

Frame and tools: customized kitted

Burls Bicycles developed the bike with Clee Cycles, titanium tube sale whose race crew use Torus merchandise in cross-country and marathon events. The Ti29 is a pretty racy number, the sharp dealing with angles feeling very a lot the half when you’re making an attempt to cover as a lot floor as possible.

Clee Cycles constructed our test bike to showcase a number of the lightweight equipment it’s capable of feature on its custom constructed bikes. The Russian made, plain gauge tubed frame is constructed to just accept a 100mm suspension fork, but our check model got here with a Torus TiF36 titanium inflexible fork equal to an 80mm suspension fork.

The inflexible fork is made from the identical plain gauge titanium tubing because the body

Usually, inflexible forks are punishing on the palms, especially those who use carbon construction, tapered steerers and bolt-through axles, transferring every millimetre of impact to the fingers. These TiF36 forks keep the same Ti-3Al-2.5V plain gauge tubing as the body, together with outdated-college quick release dropouts and 1 1/8in steerer. The titanium Torus handlebars are held in place by a light KCNC aluminium stem.

The entrance end comes with a 44mm head tube, fitted with a semi-integrated headset for 1 1/8in steerer fork. Fitting a more typical tapered headset would successfully lengthen the top tube, slackening the steering, and so for the Mk2 the pinnacle tube’s been shortened and stiffened, making fitting a tapered fork easier without affecting the geometry, and aiding steering precision.

The Ti29’s geometry is on the traditional cross-nation facet. The 72/73-diploma head and seat angles are designed for quick, agile dealing with, whereas conserving your hips ahead enough for efficient power switch to the cranks. The steep head angle is countered somewhat by the impressively lengthy 511mm (17in) efficient high tube, which gives additional, nerves-decreasing stability at higher speeds.

The geometry numbers are conventional cross-country: steep and lively

Our test machine got here constructed as a singlespeed, with the sliding rear dropouts enabling us to tension the chain without operating a tensioner. The driveside dropout comes with a constructed-in mech hanger, ought to you wish to add gears, and there’s a full complement of cable stops on the frame.

Clee Cycles fitted a Goldtec elliptical 33-tooth chainring, partnered with an 18-tooth sprocket on the rear. The idea behind the elliptical ring is that during the most highly effective part of your pedal stroke extra chain is pulled through. Throughout the weaker section of the stroke, less chain is pulled via, effectively reducing the gear.

Whether you want them comes down to personal desire, however on a singlespeed, they could make sense – you want to maximise your power, and titanium bar tubing decreasing the gear by the weaker spots of your pedal stroke is sensible. Chain tension varies by the chainring’s rotation, however we had no points dropping the chain.

Our check bike was finished off with Hope Race Evo X2 brakes, with skinny KCNC rotors. Headset, stem spacers, seat clamp, chainring bolts and cranks also come from KCNC, while you perch upon a Velo Senso saddle.

Ride and dealing with: minimalist flex

There’s quite a lot of hyperbole that can be spouted concerning the journey qualities of titanium, phrases reminiscent of ‘vertically compliant’, ‘zingy’ and ‘rides like a magic carpet’ are often wheeled out. We’ll do our best to keep away from those then.

Jumping on the Ti29 the obvious thing you notice is the burden, or fairly the lack of it. This minimalist build round 8kg. With the Stan’s ZTR Crest wheels running tubeless, a Schwalbe Racing Ralph on the back and Nobby Nic on the entrance, it doesn’t really feel sluggish.

The Mk1 Ti29 we examined isn’t a vastly stiff body, especially when compared with an aluminium or carbon race bike. This does take a few of the sting out of the trail, and when combined with the 27.2mm titanium put up, you’re in a position to remain seated for longer on rougher terrain.

The flip side is that, particularly around the underside bracket, it’s considerably twangy, missing the really strong feeling you get from a bike with a chunky downtube. It’s worth noting that a Mk2 frame has simply develop into obtainable (£1100) with a slightly ovalised down tube at the bottom bracket, rising the weld space and theoretically the stiffness too.

The Torus’s flexy titanium fork inevitably steers slightly much less instantly than ones made from stiffer materials

While we’re usually complementary of stiffer forks and bars, on the inflexible Torus the flex current works to its advantage. There’s not much in the best way of suspension occurring here, save for the little bit that’s offered by the tyres, however the vibration damping from the bars and fore-aft flutter from the fork saves your arms from a complete pummelling. Steering directness suffers over other stiffer inflexible forks, however the one points we had were when hitting off-camber sections at speed or in mid-bend compressions, the place the entrance finish felt just a little too twangy and didn’t want to carry its course.

In summary, the Ti29 isn’t a bike we’d jump on for heading to steep techy trails. If you liked this post and you would like to receive more data relating to titanium tube sale kindly take a look at our own website. But if we needed to cowl miles rapidly and efficiently, with a component of hardtail comfort, it’s an entertaining and decidedly completely different experience.