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It seems that despite the costs involved in working with Titanium that it’s getting cheaper – we’ve certainly seen more attractively priced Titanium frames in recent years than ever before.
Latest to step up to the rapidly expanding affordable Titanium mantle is Sunday Bicycles. They’re starting with two models, the £749 Silk Road and £1099 Silk Road Pro, with more models in development. Both models get the same 3Al/2.5V tubing, but the Pro gets double butted and profiled tubes and an integrated headset to set it apart.
The brand is the love child of Greg Roche, an Elite and seasoned racer. He launched the brand in answer to what he sees as a gap in the bike brand market at the moment: “You either get the very big brands telling you how light their top frames are and how many Pro Tour Teams they sponsor or you get the small guys telling you their products are ‘crafted’.”
According to their website: ” If you’re the sort of rider who chooses their next bike by going to the shop, picking a bike up and muttering something about its weight before rocking it backwards and forwards a bit with the brakes on, we’re sorry but you’ve come to the wrong place. At Sunday we’re riders. We start with the rider. We ask what they want to do on their bike, how often and where.”
Sounds good to us, and with full builds start from £1549, they already look good on paper. If you’re interested and want to find out more, check out www.sundaybicycles.co.uk, where you can purchase directly. Or if you prefer the old fashioned method of actually going to a ‘real bike shop’, visit www.cyclestore.co.uk. Expect to see them in more bike shops throughout the year.
We’ll be getting a closer look at the bikes soon and we’ll be swinging our leg over one for a test soon. Watch this space.
KFS-Special Vehicles / Sunday
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By way of proving the race credentials of the bikes, a new team, KFS-Special Vehicles / Sunday, has been launched, featuring Rob Sharman among its ranks. The team, comprising, James Stewart, Gareth Hewitt, Daffyd Dylan, Gary Hand and Greg Roche himself, will compete in all the Premier Calendar events, as well as the Elite Circuit series.
The signing of former Giro and Vuelta rider and experienced DS Harry Lodge as manager, together with team leader Robin Sharman and support from five other UK elites, means that the man behind the team, Ian Knight, is confident that they’ll be mixing it at the front of the premier calendar races: “I expect that we should be able to win a round or two and naturally we’d like to see our riders in contention for the overall crown in 2007.”
Besides KFS Special Vehicles, the team has a wealth of sponsorship contracts in place. Second sponsor Sunday Bicycles is a new UK company making high end titanium bikes, and is supplying the riders with Dura Ace equipped ‘Silk Road Pro’ models. In addition, Renault Trucks UK have provided vehicle logistics support, Jolly Wear the clothing through Halo Sports Management (Harry Lodge’s company and the company with which the riders contracts are held) and financial backing from ACGB (a business partner to KFS) and International removal business Reflex Move. Helmets, shoes and glasses are all provided by Specialized UK through www.cyclestore.com.
Ian Knight explains that 2007 is a critical one for the team: “I’m not going to sit here and say we’re planning to go to the tour in 2009. We’re not. But we’d like to become a platform for UK riders to get a leg up by competing at the highest level here in the UK and get a foothold in Europe if they want to. Assuming 2007 goes well, we’ll look to register continental in 2008.
The teams schedule reflects that vision – while the team will focus on the UK scene and the Premier Calendar in particular – Harry Lodge has already secured a place for the team at the UCI 1.2 ranked one day, Omloop Van Het Waasland on the 18th March – an event that boasts past podium finishes from Frank Hoj, Nico Eeckhout, Ludo Dierckxsens and Andy Capelle.
