Wandering through central London recently, LCS passed by the Covent Garden
situated ‘Cyclefit’ and popped in. On show amongst the Serottas,
Gliders and Colnagos,
and not forgetting Zipp wheels, were two new Cyclefit-designed bikes, one in
titanium and the other carbon.

Glider Tupelo

Cyclefit has grown quickly and now boasts a large clientele that includes Roger
Hammond and Nicole Cooke, and as part of their development they introduced their
‘Glider’ range a little while back with the ‘Eastway’ criterium bike (A homage
to a much-missed cycle circuit). The Gliders are designed and the build overlooked
by Cyclfit’s Phil and Julian.

click to see in BiggaVistaVision

The previous Tupelo was fabricated in steel, but the 2008 version is titanium,
which by volume is 44percent lighter than steel. Phil and Julian at Cyclefit
consider that titanium; ‘boasts sci-fi properties that don’t hail from
this planet. It can’t rust, doesn’t fatigue and is difficult to
dent or scratch. Titanium is by far the strongest and therefore safest material
to make a race frame from.’

The frame is made at Serotta’s
Saratoga Springs factory to Cyclefit’s designs. Serotta control all the tube
processes themselves. Each Tupelo Ti tube is swaged, butted and shaped in house
at Serotta using 3AL2/5V grade aerospace grade titanium; this titanium alloy is the most widely used in the cycle industry for its favourable combination of strength and workability.

Frame geometry is unchanged from the steel Tupelo –Cyclefit use a 2º
slope on the top tube to give the rider the option of riding with the handlebars
a little higher, whilst still maintaining the appearance to of a horizontal
traditional top tube.

– Glider Tupelo
– Only made from titanium.
– Measured frame-only weight – 3.2lbs (56)
– The Tupelo Ti drop-outs are CNC’d from billets of 6AL.4V titanium
– Hand-polished at the factory to a full satin finish.
– £1475.00 (frame only)

Gpm- Grand Prix Montagne

Phil Cavell at Cyclefit says that the Grand Prix Montagne; ‘was the most difficult
of the Glider models to conceive and build.’

Phil continues; ‘It would never be enough to simply replicate our CycleFit geometry
philosophy on a generic carbon platform.’

The bike has been conceived to mount an assault on five Alpine cols in one
day if needed. And the next day double as the perfect race instrument.
The GPM is constructed in northern Italy using radically shaped Dedacciai carbon
tubes that are mitered together and carbon wrapped for a seamless carbon finish.

The GPM uses a slightly shorter chainstay than the Tupelo or Boxer for faster
turn-in and a slightly longer top tube to swing with a race sensibility.

– 1.35KG Frame only
– £1499.00 (frame and fork)

click to see in BiggaVistaVision

Website – www.cyclefit.co.uk
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us, [email protected]