Culprit Cycles’ founder Joshua Colp sent over images of his aero road bike with some pretty fantastic notes, among them that it’s possibly more aerodynamic than the Specialized Venge (something he plans to verify in a wind tunnel in the near future) and that it’s equally at home with disc brakes or TRP’s aero cantilever brakes.
The frame was originally developed while Colp was working with Trigon for the past six years, then intention being that they’d manufacture. The front triangle was designed for one of Trigon’s road bikes about a year and a half ago, but the rest of the bike was designed specifically for this model using Colp’s own molds. He says he also holds the patent for the fork’s shape and design.
So, how does it work?
The frame is designed to run hydraulic disc brakes (there’s no room for the lever arm on mechanical disc brakes inside the rear triangle, so hydros only), or TRP’s TTV aero road brakes. Regardless of your choice, the bike remains sleek to both eye and wind. The wheels are currently an open mold design, but he’s working on his own rim design as well and plans to have them available for sale with the bike in January.
At the top is the bike with the discs, and above with TRP’s brakes.
The complete bike as you see is 7.4 kg built up with slightly heavy disc brake hubs and 58 mm carbon clinchers, the new SRAM Red and TRP parabox braking system. Production bikes will be a bit lighter, Colp says he’s fine tuning the layup before full production begins later this year.
The TRP brakes fit under the chainstays. Rear spacing is 130mm, perhaps the only thing that could hinder people on the fence about disc brakes since most brands seem to be going with 135mm rear hubs. After reconsidering, Colp says the frame will be 135mm rear with alloy inserts to size down to 130 for standard wheels. Smart move.
A small fairing will fill in the recess for the TRP brakes when it’s run with discs, maintaining a smooth appearance.
The Croz Blade will come in a whopping 30 possible paint/logo/finish combinations. Base paint colors include raw carbon, yellow, red, white, magenta indigo or fuschia. Same color choices for decals, then a choice of glossy or matte clearcoat finish. Matching components will be offered, too, including his highly adjustable seatpost (check the saddle rail mount’s massive fore/aft range!).
Pricing will be announced at Eurobike. Colp says he’s setting up two US support centers to facilitate consumer direct shipments of complete bikes. He chose this method because of the wide range of color options. Components will be available through a distributor/IBD network eventually (he’s looking for partners), and he already has a lightweight UCI approved standard road frame under the Culprit brand…and some other pretty slick stuff that we’re not allowed to mention yet.
Colp is originally from the US, but moved to Taiwan when he turned 23 when he started consulting for Taiwanese bicycle manufacturers.
