Another company who have gone for a fully race-ready aluminium frameset is Canyon.

The German brand claim that the aluminium version of their Ultimate frame comes in at 1,200g, and back up their claims about performance by offering a Shimano Dura-Ace version of the bike with Reynolds Assault carbon clinchers for £2,599.

The geometry is the same as the Ultimate CF SLX, their super-light carbon bike, and is another alu offering that you could easily build into a featherweight race bike, with that Dura-Ace/Reynolds bike weighing a claimed 6.95kg. Other builds include a Shimano Ultegra bike for £1,499 and a SRAM Force 22 for £1,799, with Canyon once again exhibiting superb value for money, while the frameset costs £639. We’ve just built up an Ultimate AL SLX frame with Shimano Ultegra and Fulcrum Racing Zero wheels – watch out for the full feature.

A quick anecdote to underline the performance capabilities of aluminium. Back when Philippe Gilbert was still riding for what was then Omega-Pharma Lotto in 2010, he and some of his team-mates actually used the Ultimate AL frameset in WorldTour races, proving that there’s still occasionally room for aluminium even at the highest level.

Price: £639 (frameset only)
Website: Canyon