Teased last week as a project of road racing icons Alberto Contador & Ivan Basso, the upstart Aurum Bikes brand debuts with a single lightweight carbon road bike named Magma.
Starting with the idea of a race-ready climber’s bike and adapting it into an endurance all-rounder, the Aurum Magma looks to mix the light weight and comfort of modern disc brake road bikes, with a touch of the neat integration of recent aero road bikes.
Aurum Magma lightweight carbon disc brake road bike
Aurum’s new Magma was developed by road cycling greats Alberto Contador & Ivan Basso to create their ideal all-rounder road race bike.
With inspiration as a climber’s bike, since that’s where the two most often excelled, the Magma set out to hit four targets: stiffness, comfort, aerodynamics & light weight.
But in reality, race-ready geometry was supposedly their starting point, as these ex-pro wanted to be sure that all riders would benefit from the same balanced handling characteristics.
Aurum Magma – size-specific design and balance geometry
As is typically the case, geometry was developed starting with the middle 54cm & 56cm sizes that Contador & Basso ride. But instead of just scaling that up, Aurum focused on getting the same 59mm trail figure across all six sizes (defined by frame stack: 50-61cm) based on 25-28mm tires and some small adjustment to head angle.
To do that the Magma gets two different fork offsets – 50mm on the smallest two frames, 44mm on the largest bikes – so everyone has similar handling. Even bottom bracket drop remains almost constant at 71mm BB drop (74mm for the smallest).
Stiff, Comfortable, Aero & Lightweight
For stiffness, size-specific carbon layups and downtube cross sections allow decreased stiffness in the smaller sizes, and greater stiffness in the biggest size, for a similar feel for riders of all sizes. Using the widest full-carbon BB385EVO bottom bracket standard also helps dial in power transfer stiffness.
The same size-specific shape & layup play into the comfort, too. Using thin seatstays that run all the way up to the very top of the seat tube allowed for a stronger structure and longer stay length to flex. At the seat cluster, the stays do curve out a bit to add a bit of flex just before it makes it to the rider. Use of a standard 27.2mm round seatpost also allows for more rider comfort.
The Magma is meant to be an aero all-rounder, so utilizes NACA-aerofoil / Kamm-tail profiles in the downtube. But, since air flow becomes more disturbed from the front to the rear of the bike, Aurum focused its aerodynamic efforts mostly on the front – including the fork, headtube & downtube. The reasoning also goes that since Contador & Basso pretty much always raced on a single bike across one-day races & stage racing, they wanted more of an all-rounder, rather that prioritizing aero or lightness independently.
Contador & Basso explained that they didn’t want to overly focus on building an ultralight frame, especially as more and more bikes compete to be the absolute lightest. With years of elite racing behind them, they recognized that the fastest bike up the mountain isn’t always the lightest frame. With that said, the Aurum Magma is still light – with a weight of just 850g for a 56cm frame.
Magma road bike tech details
The Magma looks at first to have completely internal cable routing, but a closer look reveals a unique external routing port just in front of the headset at the top of the headtube – dubbed the head tunnel.
Aurum made this conscious decision to ensure the Magma will work with any handlebar and stem. Pros know that every rider is different, and often times picky about what bar & cockpit setup they prefer, so the unique design allows normal external routing across the cockpit, which allows compatibility with any standard components. It’s the most tidy external routing we’ve seen:
The Magma uses modular alloy inserts to manage the internal routing and electronic drivetrain hardware. The bike features flat mount disc brakes, an internal 1-3/8″ tapered headset with stainless steel bearings included and optional 8mm or 20mm headset top caps. A hidden wedge-style seatpost clamp secures the 27.2mm post, and there is room for up to 30mm tires.
Aurum build options & availability
The new Aurum Magma is offered in three complete build options, focusing on premium components. Drivetrain will be either Shimano Dura-Ace or SRAM Red AXS, and wheels will go equally super high-end – either Lightweight, ENVE or Zipp carbon. Shimano/ENVE will run 9800€, Shimano/Lightweight 12,000€ & SRAM/Zipp 10,000€.
Two colors are being offered, glacial blue and black carbon – and a 4100€ frameset option will allow buyers to build their own super bike. The EU-designed, Asian-manufactured framesets also are backed by a lifetime warranty, with final bike assembly in Madrid.
The new Aurum Magma will be available on September 29, with direct online sales and in one single bike shop in Girona, Spain. On a side note… Contador has also confirmed that they are developing a super-premium gravel bike too…
