U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix
Disc brakes do a few positive things for riders. First, they make it possible to brake later and with more confidence. Second, they make weather, wet or cold, less of an issue. The result is a bike you will descend on more quickly and will ride on more days of the year.
It is easy to miss the key differences between a disc road bike and one built for rim braking. Not only is the type of brake different, but the spacing of the rear end, essentially the axle width, is wider. Because disc brakes free us from tire width constraints, most riders will choose clearance for wider tires, and thus the bike's chainstays will get slightly longer.
The front end of the bike also sees some adjustments. Head tube angles will change to keep those wider tires from overlapping too much with your toes, and thus fork rake will need to be adjusted to make the bike handle properly.
Designing disc brake road bikes is about much more than simply changing the location of the brake caliper. The stopping forces associated with disc brakes are torsional, rather than symmetric, as with rim brakes, so the construction of the disc dropout needs to be stronger than a conventional dropout and the asymmetry that results needs to be counterbalanced with other aspects of the frame, like chainstay diameter and wall thickness, as well as seat stay diameter and compliance.
Another thing to consider is weight. Stronger dropouts and heavier brake calipers make disc bikes heavier than the performance road bikes we've built over the decades. So, we've also developed new build techniques to reduce extraneous weight in the frame, so that the weight cost for going disc is offset to some degree and the bike remains competitively light. Advanced tube butting techniques, more aggressive machining of the tubeset, and some clever parts choices are the ways we deliver a lighter disc road bike.
The Axiom S frame is our simplest, most rugged road frame. This bike comes with the industry standard Shimano Ultegra 8020 gruppo, mechanical shifting with hydraulic braking. Add in Mavic's line-leading AllRoad disc wheels and you have a solid road disc machine that will give you years and years of service.
The Axiom SL frame is the refined centerpoint in our titanium road line-up. We've outfitted this bike with SRAM's Force AXS group set with wireless shifting, hydraulic brakes, and Chris King built wheels. This is an investment grade titanium disc road bike, light, durable, and low service.
We've outfitted this bike with SRAM's Red AXS group set with wireless shifting, hydraulic brakes, and Industry 9 Disc wheels. This is a real cutting edge titanium disc road bike, extra light, durable, and low service. This bike competes happily with any top-of-the-line carbon road bike, but adds high value features like strategic comfort, custom geometry and long-term durability those bikes can't replicate.