NeilPryde has just announced their new lightweight road bike, the Bura SL.
Designed to be as light as possible without sacrificing stiffness, the Bura SL is aimed at the performance end of the spectrum and climbers in particular. Fortunately, there are a few concessions to comfort, too.
NeilPryde says they looked at many other lightweight bikes and noticed bottom bracket and headtube stiffness were sometimes compromised to drop grams. To remedy this, they designed the Bura SL with massive chainstays and heavily shaped tubes with internal rib reinforcements. The seat tube is slightly asymmetric to give it the most surface contact area with the BB, too. To save weight, the PFBB30 shell and headtube are all molded carbon without any metal inserts or cups. The cable stops are machined carbon, and the dropouts are full carbon fiber, too.
The result is a pretty good looking bike that, while not the lightest road bike frame we’ve seen, comes in at a respectable 750g max (claimed) for a Large.
Thin seatstays give it a bit of compliance over the rough stuff.
A recessed seatpost bolt keeps things super clean and smooth. An external reinforcement bridge bolsters the headtube and seat/toptube junctions.
Pricing and builds are TBD. It’s been tested by and should find its way under the United Healthcare pro team this year.
