No22 Bicycle Co’s new coupler system gives you a travel bike with virtually no visible frame break. Even better, they’ve made it so you can run your Di2 wires and hydraulic brake hoses through the split without having to rebleed your brakes during reassembly!
If you’re looking for an ultra clean road, mountain, or gravel bike that’ll fit in a suitcase (or a trunk), this is the most functionally modern design we’ve seen yet! Here’s how they did it…
No22 Stealth Frame Coupler System
Until now, virtually every travel bike would run its shift and brake cables outside the frame, and use thread-together cable splitters to decouple the lines near the frame’s break. Hydraulic brakes were few and far between on travel bikes, mainly because there aren’t many good options for splitting the hose without introducing air into the system. And thus, then needing to bleed the brakes.
The most common frame coupler is the S&S system, which uses a threaded sleeve on the outside of the tubes to lock them together. It works fine and has decades of service to prove it.
No22’s new design puts the coupling system inside the tube, using finely machined interfaces that join together so as to prevent twisting or movement in all axes. A single 6mm hex bolt locks it together.
Not only is it sleeker, it’s about 150g lighter, too. But the biggest advantage is they designed it to fit both a brake hose and Di2 shift wires inside. Simply put the junction box near the split and you have an easy way to disconnect the wires at the frame break.
The Brake Break hydraulic brake hose splitter
Part two of the solution is their new Brake Break. Designed to split apart with out losing any system pressure or introducing air, it drastically simplifies the separation.
The design means no more removing the rear caliper and hose from the back half of the frame just to safely travel with it. They say the design’s been proven in the motorcycle world, so it’s not new technology…just new to bicycles.
Awesome! What’s it cost?
No22 can integrate their new low profile, stealth frame couplers onto any of their bikes. The upgrade costs $1,250 and includes the Brake Break.
Check our pre-NAHBS-that-never-happened interview with co-founder Mike Smith, where he teased this, along with some other great builds and a little history of how they got started.
