Adding to what is an impressively diverse bike lineup from a “clothing company”, the new Standard Ti Road and Ti Rando bicycles have more than a year of testing and development behind them.
Now, on top of cyclocross, 29er mountain and a fat bike, plus the steel rando bike introduced with them at Interbike 2014, these two fill in the line to offer wonder material frames for skinnier tires. Both will retail for $1,900 for the frame, with a pre-order special of $1,700 through February 16, 2016.
A basic carbon fork is available on both, with a choice of either QR or thru axle dropouts on the Rando, and QR only for the road but with the option to upgrade to a painted-to-match ENVE 2.0 road fork on the road bike.
The Rando’s geo is more all-day, super stable that’s good for gravel, fondo and basic endurance riding.
It clears up to 44mm tires and fits a whopping four bottle cages on some frame sizes.
It, along with the road frame, sticks with QR, so we asked why:
“We’ve been subjected to so many new standards, we thought sticking with the tried and true quick release was the best way to go on these bikes,” said Ryan at Twin Six. “With thru axles, you’re gaining a lot of stiffness when torquing the bike, but in a straight line it just didn’t make enough difference. And we still see people racing it in the pro peloton. But mainly, we all have so many wheelsets we’re trying to swap between bikes, so we wanted to keep it within reach of most people and let them use the wheels they already have.”
The frames are made in Asia, but in a different factory than their steel frames. Ryan says they worked for a year and a half to find a domestic builder, but just couldn’t find anyone able to meet their demands and keep costs in check.
So, why buy a road bike from Twin Six?
Twin Six’s designer and co-owner Brent Gale says the Standard Ti Road bike is a classic looking disc brake road bike at a great price with thoughtful details. Things like low mount disc brakes and internal brake runs for a sleeker appearance. On the Rando, you get external full length brake hose lines using their cable management system from the other bikes, and sleek little rack and fender mounts. Both get oversized head tubes.
The road bike’s geometry is crit and road race ready, or for fast centuries.
The rear triangle will fit up to 30mm tires, but they say most road disc forks max out at 28mm clearance, so that’s their recommendation.
No rack or fender tabs on the road frame.
Both frames will retail for $1,900 after February 16th, with delivery slated for April 2016. Add a carbon fork for $300, or $350 for the Rando’s thru axle option. Upgrade the road bike to the ENVE 2.0 custom painted by Spectrum to match the titanium finish for $700. All three come in 51/53/55/57/59 sizes.
The Rando’s fork does not come with fender or rack mounts, but other aftermarket forks do have them if that’s a necessity.
