TRANSPORT

Only aluminium

A bold and fancy new German project Frace F160 is a bike that's been milled entirely from a block of aluminum.
15 July, 2020
Thanks to the latticework of holes on every tube, there is no mistaking that the bike's frame is made of one piece of material and it is a solid construction.


The bike starts its life as a 70kg slab of 7075 aluminum, which quickly transforms into the mainframe. All the waste that can be produced when making a frame and cutting the material then gets used for other parts. All in all, 8 individual segments are machined and then connected using titanium screws to form the final bike.

7075 aluminum is not weldable so it's not a material we often see on bikes, however it has many unique qualities that are perfect for bike design – it is corrosion resistant, durable and stiff, which allows the bike's engineer, Bernd Iwanow, to take so much material out of the frame.
This is Bernd's first bike project and it has taken two years to come to completion. However, the result we get not is surely worth it. Beautifully and wisely designed, the FRACE F 160 bike gets the precision and high quality in every part.

"The idea for this bike came up at the beginning of 2018. Together with our designer Adrian Madaj, we then created a detailed concept and worked on the geometry until January 2019. By May of this year, we then milled our first prototype and started the test phase," comments Bernd.

The engineer itself says that the bike is produced " for the love of aluminum and for the love of CNC milling". It is uniquely made for "everyone who is looking for the extraordinary: With a FRACE bike, high-end design meets uncompromising riding experience."

Frace will be initially limiting production to 30 pieces per year. According to the sources close to the designer, eFrace version is already being planned and developed.
Banner image: pinkbike.com