Genesis Bikes have updated the Volare 953 Team frameset used by Roger Hammond’s Madison-Genesis squad ahead of the 2015 season.
The latest iteration of the Volare has been developed alongside Reynolds and once again uses the Birmingham-based firm’s flagship 953 steel tubing. The headtube has been updated, combining two existing standards into a new unit with a 44mm lower diameter and 43mm upper diameter.
“Designed to offer compatibility with tapered fork steerers, the headtube utilises the bare minimum diameter required to clear the fork steerer,” said Genesis product manager Albert Steward. “It’s lighter than the straight 44mm diameter headtube used last year and is easier on the eye.”
Genesis have also worked with Reynolds to refine the toptube, with the result a brand new tube produced exclusively for the Volare.
“The lovely part of working with Reynolds is that if they don’t have the tube you’re after they almost certainly have the know-how and tooling to produce it (or something damn close!),” added Steward.
“From a side-on perspective it gives that wonderful skinny-profile look of steel tubesets of old, but stood over the bike it looks purposeful.”
The toptube, combined with the ovalised downtube, oversized seattube and 86.5mm PressFit bottom bracket, is designed to give the Volare Team, which has also had a new lick of paint for 2015, the stiffness required for the technical circuits of the Pearl Izumi Tour Series, where the frame will be most frequently called into action. The carbon fibre Genesis Zero, introduced last year, is more likely to be used in stage races, including the Tour de Normandie, where the team will open the 2015 season, the Tour de Yorkshire, with Madison-Genesis one of four British UCI Continental teams invited to the inaugural race, and the Tour of Britain.
Keith Noronha of Reynolds said: “Working with the Genesis designers has always been interesting as they challenge us to refine the initial concepts, using feedback from the Madison-Genesis. This is a very useful way to correlate theoretical properties from an engineering viewpoint, and turn them into a race-winning application.
“The Reynolds production people will fascinated to see how the 2015 frame developments transpire and prove steel still has a competitive place in the pro peloton.”
The bike ridden by the Madison-Genesis team wears a full Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset, paired with Shimano Dura-Ace wheels wrapped in Continental tyres. The finishing kit and saddle come from Shimano subsidiary, PRO.
The Genesis Volare Team is available to the public as a frameset, paired with an ADK carbon cibre fork with a claimed weight of 360g, for £1,999.99. A version of the frame made from Reynolds 853 steel tubing costs £899.99, while there are also five complete bikes in the Volare line-up, ranging from the £999.99, Shimano Tiagra-equipped Volare 10, which has a chromoly frameset, to the £3,399.99 Volare Stainless with Shimano Ultegra Di2.
