Small German frame shop Konstructive had a few new bikes to show both outside and inside at Eurobike. The second generation of their lightweight disc brake Rhodolite (we saw the first last year at the show) gets updated with thru-axles for the new year. While the bike has a race character, Konstructive developed the frame and the varied tubing shapes throughout to give optimal power transfer and bottom bracket stiffness, with a degree of comfort and predictable geometry that make it an all-day, all-weather machine.
Jump past the break for some more details, plus the new steel hardtail all-mountain Tanzanite and some variations on their carry-over models…
Designed as the future of road bikes, the Rhodolite v2 keeps the quick race handling of the previous model, and still manages a frame of just 850g (56cm) with the new thru-axles. Complete disc brake builds typically run below the UCI 6.5kg threshold with a SRAM Force build, even for larger sizes. (The bike comes in seven standard sizes.) Since their bikes are made-to-order for each customer, the final spec is up to the buyer, as is the possibility even for full custom geometry.
The new Tanzanite is Konstructive’s take on a modern all-mountain hardtail. With a raw finished CroMoly frame, the bike gets a long sloping toptube, short chainstays (425mm), and a curved seattube for aggressive trail riding. Frame weights are around 2300g for large sizes (four standard sizes available), and the raw frames can get a number of decal treatments before getting clear coated, with custom paint jobs also available through the Konstructive Custom Dream Bike program.
The 27.5″+ Tanzanite uses a 44mm headtube for tapered steerer compatibility. It gets widely set chainstays with a machined yoke to clear plus-sized tires. It even uses modular rocker dropouts for either singlespeed or replaceable derailleur hanger geared setups. While most builds go with 1x drivetrains, the round seattube makes the frame compatible with front derailleurs, and braze-ons are included for all options, including dropper posts, all externally routed. We were even told that a carbon 27.5+ Tanzanite trail bike would be available for 2016.
The Iolite is typically a carbon 29er hardtail. But showing off a bit of their broad capabilities, Konstructive expanded the mountain range with this 24″ version for some very lucky kids. The 24″ Iolite Kids uses a similar layout in the front triangle, but had to go with a completely rethought rear-end to make everything fit. It even gets a tubeless setup thanks to new 24″ ZTR Crest rims from Stan’s. Like all of their bikes this one was designed and developed in-house in their Berlin HQ and constructed in Europe by their frame building team.
The standard Iolite is a pure race bike, and carries over unchanged with a large frame weighing in at 1050g. The rear end gets Konstructive’s flattened and joined chainstays, light thru-axle, and chainstay-mounted brake. The round tubing on the bike uses an especially hard surface layer that makes it much more durable than most carbon bikes to stand up to mountain biking abuse.
Lastly Konstructive had brought out their Zeolite disc cross bike as well. The bike sticks with more stable off-road handling then the Rhodolite, by way of more traditional cyclocross geometry. But it does build off the same stiff platform focusing mostly on power transfer, for a quick race bike both on the asphalt stretches and when the track gets rough.
