Franco Bicycles decorated Inno Racks’ booth with bikes, showing off a killer limited edition Honda Repsol Moto GP inspired paint scheme. Franco’s known more for their lightweight carbon bikes, but it was this new U.S. made steel road bike that had them rushing us over.
The Franco Grimes is, in their words, something to satisfy everything they wanted in a steel bike…something fun to ride that was more at home on the dirt and fully capable of a multi-day bike packing trip. The frame is True Temper 4130, designed in California and built in Portland, OR, then returned to CA to be built.
A 44mm headtube allows either straight steel or tapered carbon forks, like the new TRP cyclocross fork shown on the read and black bike.
Di2 builds run the wires internally.
Rack and fender mounts let you add whatever you want, and clearance for 42mm tires support the load.
Paragon’s Polydrops open it up to QR or thru axle, and TRP’s fork uses 15mm thru axles up front. The bike goes on sale this summer, framesets start at $1,485.
