The Velocite family is growing. Meet the newest bike in the line up, the light weight Geos. The design goal of the Geos was always to create a light weight climbing bike, yet a climber that didn’t sacrifice any stiffness due to lack of material.
Obviously, designing a truly light and stiff bike is a tall order, yet there are many manufacturers who claim to have done it best so what, if anything, sets the Geos apart from the rest?
Find out after the break…
First of all, when Velocite claims it is a lightweight bike, what does that really mean? For Velocite, that means it is somewhere around 1000g. It isn’t clear if this is for the frame only, or if it is for the frame set you see below. If it is just for the frame that would mean it’s light, but not that light especially when you consider obscenely light bikes like Cervelo’s Project California, and most recently, Cannondale’s SuperSix Evo which are both right at 700g for the frame.
However, the edge does go to Velocite when it comes to pricing, considering you can buy a fully equipped Geos for less than the price of just an R5ca frameset.
The frameset, which includes Velocite’s own TLCS31 seatpost (167g), Bora S monocoque fork, headset, and a seat post clamp will retail for $1799, while a SRAM Force, 3T and Velocite component equipped complete bike with Velocite’s 38/38T tubular wheels with Vittoria Corsa CX tires will be $4999(currently only available with Mavic Ksirium Equipes for $3,829) . Just in case you are wondering, the complete bike comes in around 13.4 pounds. Yes, that is pretty darn light for $4999 complete.
In order to make the Geos as stiff as possible, Velocite elected to use a BB30 bottom bracket, and like a few other manufacturers, have designed a frame without aluminum inserts for the bearings. Instead, the bottom bracket and headset bearing press directly into the frame, a move that eliminates the possibility of a BB sleeve from disbonding from the frame, while lightening it up at the same time.
If you were to compare the BB shell of the Geos to some of the egregiously wide junctions that some carbon bikes are sporting these days, you may think that the Geos couldn’t be as stiff as the competition. However, Velocite claims that rather than adding a huge amount of material around the BB shell in move to “make it appear as though it is more stiff, and that a bicycle frame does not bend at the bottom bracket, it bends around the bottom bracket,” they have increased the stiffness and size of both the downtube, chainstays, and seatstays to maximize stiffness.
Accompanying the bottom bracket in a quest for stiffness, the headtube unsurprisingly is a 1.5 to 1.125″ tapered affair. Just like the bottom bracket, the integrated headset bearings are pressed directly into the carbon. Clearly, the derailleur cables are exposed as you can see the integrated barrel adjusters, which appear to be smartly designed in order to keep the cable housings from rubbing through the carbon. Not seen, is the internally routed rear brake track, which if anything like Velocite’s other bikes, Velocite claims the inside of the tunnel is smooth so there is no need for liners in order to run the cables.
Rider comfort has not been forgotten as Velocite claims their multi-modulus carbon fiber layup will dampen unwanted road vibrations. In addition, due to the sloping geometry, they expect most of the seatpost to be exposed hoping for the compliance of a long post to soak up any of the residual unpleasantries.
