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.
If this bike isn’t called the Travel Grinder then I quit.
The idea isnt knew as stated but the initiative taken to bring it to the Bike industry – cudos !!! for thinking outside the box. @No22 bikes
Dry break isn’t even new to bicycle world. Formula has been using them for several years.
In the first para I think you mean “break” rather than “brake” and also “rebleed” rather than “rebelled”
Thank you, John. We’ve fixed it.
There’s a couple typos in the opening paragraph.
Thanks. We’ve fixed it.
Really cool system, really great company, and really terrible timing to put out a new coupling system when nobody in their right mind is flying.
Is this the new version of the Santana Z Coupler? I think Paragon mentioned they’d be machining them, releasing this month.
Nope, just totally copied from the Santana Z Coupler. Innovation!
I wonder when we’ll see this hydraulic brake hose splitter being used in the current crop of full internal integration as I guess this will make transporting bikes much easier
Definitely hoping No22 makes the hydraulic hose coupler available aftermarket. It’d be a boon to all hydraulic-brake bikes I reckon.
I remember a couple of bike tech companies having announced a similar technology before (FSA was one, if memory serves?), but it never really got introduced to market.
It’s not a proprietary coupler. It’s just an AN-3 dry break you can buy plenty of places, tapped to take Shimano fittings.
The inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlxmlOjcDRQ
Travel Gravel? That was our intended way of presenting it at NAHBS.
I would love to see this brake line split tech used on TT bikes. swap out a tt cockpit for a road cockpit and have 2 bike in 1
This looks remarkably like the Santana Z-coupler. Pretty slick design.
It has to be, I think they’re doing themselves a dis service by not naming it).
Beautiful execution and design.