If you’ve been following the Foundry Cycles brand (or had one of their Router 29ers on order!) you’ve perhaps noticed that they haven’t delivered.
Brand manager Jason Grantz says they went through all of the preproduction testing, final production-model testing and everything was rolling along nicely. Then, as the shipment came in they received a call from their manufacturer saying that a high percentage of head tubes were “out of round”. He says that virtually every head tube on every carbon bike is imperfectly round, but at a certain point they won’t properly hold a press in headset. Such was the case with their first container load, so the model was scrapped in favor of expediting production of the Broadaxe. Grantz says their development was ahead of schedule so it presented the best solution for crappy situation.
Originally slated as a 2014 model, the Broadaxe is a racier version of the Router with a few key improvements…
The frame is less angular than the Router. The two big changes are flatter seatstays to give it better vertical compliance and Syntace X12 rear thru axle.
Brake post mounts remain inside the rear triangle, bottom bracket is BB92 to give it a wide pedaling platform. The chainstays are pretty stout and are a fairly short 17.2″ (438mm), and the head angle is 71.5, which should give it pretty tight handling. The dropped chainstay design is to reduce chain slap and provide a bit of protection for the rear derailleur.
Adding to the comfort factor is a seat tube that’s tapered from 34.9mm at the bottom to a 27.2″ at the top, letting you run a narrower seatpost. This generally translates into a bit more flex from the seatpost to take the edge off.
The frame is high-modulus carbon fiber with a monocoque construction. Claimed weight is 2.2lbs (1010g) for a 17″ and the bike comes with their “10 year no hassle warranty.” Grantz says it’s an absolute rocket, something we’ll put to the test when we get our test bike in July.
