NeilPryde have unveiled a new top-of-the-range race bike at the Taipei Cycle Show in Taiwan. The BuraSL frameset is claimed to weigh “under 750g”, placing it up with the very lightest road bikes currently available. It’s due to go on sale in September as a 2013 model.
Late last year NeilPryde became the official bike suppliers of the UnitedHealthcare ProContinental team and those riders are have contributed to the development of the new bike. “The first samples were 680g but the team asked for more stiffness,” sales and marketing manager Mike Rice told BikeRadar. “Now it’s 720-740g, and stiffer.
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"We didn't want to just chase one parameter, to be able to say we’re the lightest – we wanted really balanced performance. The deal with UnitedHealthcare came a year sooner than we originally planned to back a ProContinental team but the opportunity was too good to pass up. We wanted to work with a team who'd give us really good feedback, who wanted to help improve the product, and UHC are exactly that."
The BuraSL frame is currently made from pure Toray 46-ton high-modulus carbon fibre, although it’s possible that an even higher grade may be added as development continues. It features dropped seatstays to add comfort, a very neatly integrated seatpost clamp, a PressFit BB30 bottom bracket for rigidity, and a one-piece boxed chainstay with carbon fibre dropouts. The junctions where the top tube meets the head tube and seat tube are cross-braced to add to the frame’s overall rigidity.
The BuraSL's head tube junction is cross-braced for enhanced stiffness
The bike you see in the pictures isn’t the full production spec as the final stages of development are still taking place. This one is built with Ritchey components and ENVE Composites wheels – as used by the UHC team – with a Shimano Dura-Ace drivetrain and a minimalist Selle Italia Teknologica saddle. No complete bike weight was quoted but from picking it up we’d estimate it definitely weighs no more than 6kg.
Customers will be offered Dura-Ace, Ultegra and 105 builds, with electronic shifting appearing in 2013. Four Mavic wheel options, from Ksyriums to Cosmic Carbones, can be mixed and matched with the groupsets. Pricing will be “above the Diablo”, which costs $3,250 for the frame, fork and seatpost. A UK distributor is due to be announced within the next month.
NeilPryde also showed a prototype of their upcoming time trial bike at Taipei, which will debut at the Tour of California