More known to us for almost a decade of carbon frames, Hong Kong based Chiru Endurance Bikes seem to be turning over a new leaf with a new titanium bike they built for ‘UltraBiking’. In their mind that essentially breaks down as ultra-long distance endurance adventure touring where you stray far from the beaten track. Their solution to head off on an adventure is the new Chiru Divider, a big wheeled, fat tire titanium bike with a carbon fork (or a Lauf) and propelled by a belt-powered Pinion gearbox…
Chiru Divider titanium Pinion adventure bike
Chiru’s UltraBiking means you need to be able to carry all of your gear, be able to tackle any terrain or road/trail surface encountered, and keep going with limited mechanical support. The bike’s first major goal – the grueling 2017 edition of the French Divide with 2,200km, 35,000m of elevation on the non-stop north-south crossing of France on trails. And Chiru founder Pierre Arnaud Le Magnan did just that finishing for the overall win in 9 1/2 days last week.
Frame details
Their first thought for that was to build a titanium bike that could survive the rough life (and abuse) out on tour. With that Chiru built the Divider to be able to run either 29er tires or 27.5+ if you want to go super plush & grippy.
Then add in a Gates belt drive and a Pinion gearbox, and it should be a bike that needs no maintenance for thousands of kms away from civilization. That makes the Divider the first bike Chiru has built with a Pinion transmission & belt system.
The titanium frame itself gets a tapered headtube to work with whatever fork you want to add. They propose either a 100mm suspension corrected rigid carbon fork that lets them add another touring bag under the downtube, or go for a Lauf fork to soak up more of the bumps out on the trails.
The frame uses hooded slider dropouts for belt (or chain) tension and gets a break in the driveside seatstay to install the belt. The slider drops also mean the rear axles is modular. This one is set up with a Boost 148 thru-axle, but pretty much anything else is possible there too.
Titanium already has the reputation for a forgiving ride, but with ultra long distances, the dropped seatstays should offer ever more give to ensure comfortable off-road touring.
No word yet on pricing and availability, but we hope to catch up with Chiru at Eurobike to find out more.
