NAHBS 2013: Engin Cycles’ Debuts Ti Bikes w/ Head-to-Toe Stealth Di2 Cyclocross Bike, New Dropouts & TRP Hy/Rd Spotting

Engin Cycles builder Drew Guldalian used NAHBS 2013 to kick off his titanium bikes. In the works for two years, they’re now available for order in road, mountain and cyclocross frames.

The  ‘cross bike is showing a new completely new stealth Di2 option that runs the wiring into the stem, through a 4mm hole in the top of the steerer tube, through a widened split in the headset compression ring and a 4mm hole in the nut, then through a 4mm hole in the thickest part of the steerer tube, just above the lower HS bearing. Yes, they took proper precautions not to weaken the fork, including taping the front and placing an alloy back plate inside to prevent carbon blowout during drilling. They also offset the lower hole by 45° to the hole at the top of the steerer that accepts the wire out of the stem. This option is only available with tapered starters, but what’s really cool is that any and all options from Engin carry no upcharge.

Beyond the new material, he had plenty of other new options to show…

The control box is hidden in the stem, and the battery is in the seat tube.

At the back of the bike is their all new disc dropouts. They use a truss like design that removes any material that’s not necessary and not a bit more. The double chamfer takes a few extra grams out without diminishing strength. The ends are the same height as the stays’ tubes, maximizing surface contact and stiffness (and making the transition to round tube super clean).

It also gets a unique bolt-on derailleur hanger. The 7000-series alloy hanger is kept completely separate from the dropout so the interface of the wheel with the frame wouldn’t interfere with the hanger in anyway. The benefit is the ability to make a larger, stiffer hanger that is less susceptible to damage in a wreck. They’re looking at finding drilled out breakaway bolts so all you’d need to do is replace two cheap bolts rather than a hanger and derailleur.

It drops down then goes forward to make extra clearance for the disc brake caliper, and they’re able to easily fit a 4-piston brake with room to spare.

Drew’s a fan of Shimano, so the brake mount side is shaped to mirror Shimano’s brake adapters. Visually it creates a small shelf that looks completely integrated.

The new hanger also makes direct mount derailleurs look a little more natural.

Engin’s Ti bikes are $3,750 and, as mentioned, includes any option they offer, including the completely stealth Di2 wiring.

Also in the booth was a tandem 29+ fat bike built for the owners of Paragon Machine Works, which means it got a lot crazy new parts that won’t show up elsewhere for a little while. The first bit is their new 1.5 tapered steerer tube piece, which will be offered to builders soon.

The other is the chainstay yoke (also used on Retrotec’s winning mountain bike), which allows for a triple chainring to fit with a 29×3 fat tire and still have the chain clear the tire in the granny and big cog.

New dropouts (red) are modular with options for 135×10, 142×12 or 150×12. The latter is used here and offset 15mm to the drive side. On the left, they’ll have dropouts for either ISO or DM brakes. Just change the dropout and install what you need…or have your custom builder spec the right bits.