Premium track bikes are expensive. As per the UCI rules, equipment used in competition needs to be available to purchase.
So you can buy a Hope HB.T track bike frameset, as used by Matthew Richardson to break the 200m world record, from Hope, but it will cost you £30,000. The V-IZU TCM2 frameset ridden by the Japanese team at the Paris 2024 Olympics has a price listed at €126,000.
New Zealand-based Velobike Innovation is looking to offer a more affordable alternative, with its new Altias Fusion track bike frameset. It says it’s designed for Olympic-level performance, but in a frameset that’s competitively priced and accessible to the wider cycling community.
Starting at £5,300, the frameset’s price is comparable to many premium road bike framesets.
According to Glenn Catchpole, the founder of Velobike Innovation: “The Altias Fusion is the bike I’ve always wanted for myself. It combines all the best features of a traditional track bike while leaving room to embrace more progressive ideas in the future.”
Velobike Innovation describes track cycling as the Formula 1 of cycling, where countries spend millions on frames with cutting-edge features and ”if you don’t turn up with competitive equipment, you will be disadvantaged”.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the track bike arms race featured an array of exotic and very pricey equipment. However, just yesterday, the UCI revealed price caps for track cycling equipment for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, although the proposed values haven't yet been made public.
Velobike points out that track bike design typically revolves around interchangeable components such as wheels and cranksets, while it says that its approach with the new Altias bike is to develop components designed to work together for maximum performance.
So the new bike system will, in the future, offer interchangeable forks, cockpits and aero components to suit the needs of specific track events.
Velobike says its approach also aims to futureproof its design, so that it can adapt to future developments and rule changes.
Specific design features of the Altias frame include a geometry that positions the rider as aggressively as possible, without contravening the UCI’s regulations. That’s paired with front-end components that can be swapped out, for example to reduce drag in a time trial or increase power delivery in the Keirin, and which can be custom designed for individual riders.
The Altias Fusion track frame will be available in size L from October, with three other frame sizes, S, M and XL, to follow in early 2026. Prices for the track frame start at £5,300 / $7,200 / €7,700, with the frameset available exclusively via www.altias.co.
