Supporting a future cycling community
It’s that time of the year again – pardon the pun – when the vast majority of cycling fans around the world will be tuned to the Tour de France. Yes, either at home on their TV sets or at the roadside or scratching their heads as to how they might get to the roadside to watch the greatest cycle race on earth! There’s French interest again, too, with the young Paul Seixas at only 19 years of age and already being built into a future icon of France – and why not. Dreams are what makes the world go around.
For us, here at TIME Bicycles we look back to the days of Paulo Bettini, Tom Boonen and of course, the legendary French rider Thomas Voeckler, who whilst riding the iconic TIME VXRS bike rode it valiantly across the mountains of the Alps and elsewhere, to defend the yellow jersey for 10 days during his legendary breakout at the 2004 Tour de France. Yes, 22 years ago, this small but mighty cyclist kept French hearts alive, with TIME on his side.
Inspiring the future cycling community
These days, as well as continuing to build some of the best carbon road bikes in the world, here in the heart of Europe – at our factory near Bratislava – our focus is still ‘Le Defi’, still ‘The Challenge’, whilst the focus of team supported cycling is towards helping to create and to inspire the future cycling community. It’s in helping to support those young riders who still dream of achieving the heights of Tommy Voejkler, a cycling legend and icon for me, that I recall meeting several times.
The first was during a closed and small select media presentation at Nice in 2018, sitting next to him and then chatting at the informal lunch that followed. I still pinch myself today, meeting a cycling hero of mine. Next, during the 2018 Tour of Yorkshire pre-race events, in a VIP tent we stood together with others, sipping sparkling water and some others, sipping champagne. I’d watched him too, in 2014, as he swooped through Swaledale in the TdF peloton, and my family and I cheered on our hero.
Hera Project elite women’s race team
This past week though, it’s not the Tour de France that has taken my own attention; it’s the National Circuit Series (races) at Otley and then latterly at the nearby spa town of Ilkley. It’s as a guest of the new and exciting Hera Project women’s elite race team who are currently lighting up the U.K. women’s race scene with their exciting and pioneering development program, dedicated to achieving gender equity in cycling. Founded by team manager and UCI Director Sportive Christine White, the Hera Project provides real-world mentorship, professional racing opportunities, and career development for female riders and also for support staff who are still fighting to break into the international cycle race scene.
Despite the recent positive changes to women’s cycle racing by the UCI, Hera Project riders typify the hard work and dedication that riders and others give in order to chase their dreams. During these two U.K. elite women’s race events, I spoke with Hannah whose day job is as a veterinarian nurse and fits in training between treating the health of animals. I spoke with Amy Scott, a former pole-vaulting track and field athlete. With El, a driven individual, full of life and determination, and a person who typifies the chaotic life of an aspiring cyclist, having had to rush to the start at Ilkley, after a busy day teaching primary school.
I spoke with Sophie who told me about her near-fatal training accident only last year, when she lay in a hospital bed for 10 days, before undertaking the long road to recovery. Her drive is inspirational, whilst she still carries the hidden mental scars of that horrific traffic collision. And, I spoke with the quietly focused and determined racer, Daisy who lets her cycling talk for her as she achieves 2 x top 10 placements this week, having changed her own focus from mountain bike cross country to the roads of the U.K. and hopefully to venues elsewhere in the cycling world race scene.
Yes, each of these young riders has their own particular dreams, and thanks to the support of our CEO, Tony Karklins who personally ensured that TIME would support this worthwhile program, these athletes also have TIME on their side – they have our world leading aero bike, the TIME Scylon. And, as I stand by the team setup at Ilkley and catch the evening light bouncing off the polished red framesets, and I watch the riders as they head towards the start line, I’m already proud of this young team. And, I’m immensely proud of the skilled artisans at Gajary near Bratislava, who create these works of cycling art - and whose engineering skills bring the Scylon to life.
Aiming for the stars is a worthwhile occupation
When we released the new TIME Scylon only last year, we had ‘Le Defi’ at the centre of our focus. To some extent, too many carbon race bikes are too similar these days. Many of them actually come out of the same factories and simply have a different paint choice and set of decals. There are very few brands that own the whole process, from idea to test ride. TIME has always been different, and as we approach our 40th anniversary, we wanted the Scylon to follow this tradition.
Our engineering and design team led by Scott, Sid, and supported by our orchestral conductor of engineering and artisans, Juraj at our factory, spent many long months working through designs, calculations and processes to deliver the ultimate carbon aero bike – the TIME Scylon. And it’s Hannah, Ele, Amy, Daisy and Sophie who are now racing it into their own cycling dreams for the future and creating a new cycling community for TIME. Yes, aiming for the stars is a worthwhile occupation. It’s what we do at TIME every single day as we strive to develop the best carbon bikes in the world, and to deliver the perfect ride for all cyclists.
The TIME Scylon – A legend reborn
SCYLON is the ultimate expression of what we believe a modern, high-performance road bike should be. Engineered for aerodynamics, speed, and precision handling, the all new SCYLON features advanced carbon fiber technology, full cable integration, ultra-efficient power transfer, and clearance for 32c tires without sacrificing our legendary ride quality and durability. No gimmicks. Pure speed.
Our engineers led by Scott and Sid, spent almost 2 years agonizing over every detail of the new SCYLON because balancing aerodynamics, weight, and stiffness is challenging: increasing tube sizes adds weight, and narrowing frontal areas can affect performance and ride quality.
As part of our mission to push performance further, we set out to reduce weight by exploring new materials and refining our construction techniques.
Objective: Reduce weight by exploring new materials
Result: Achieved a 100+ gram weight reduction per frame size
We wanted a bike that performed faster in the wind. Engineered for pure speed. We committed to maximizing speed and efficiency, by focusing on refining aerodynamics through advanced shaping and cutting-edge CFD analysis.
Objective: Improve aerodynamics via shaping & CFD analysis
Result: Achieved a 12% aerodynamic improvement
As part of our mission to advance all six key performance characteristics — weight, aerodynamics, stiffness, strength, ride quality, and craftsmanship — we set out to refine our Braided Carbon Structure (BCS) technology.
Objective: Advance BCS technology to maintain stiffness and strength
Result: Pedalling stiffness maintained, torsional stiffness improved by 9%
And, at delivery to you, the cyclist: to Christine and the riders at the Hera Project, we created our fastest TIME bike ever. A bike that Tommy Voekckler would have been proud to ride into yellow. On the 15th of July this year, the Tour de France will share a stage finish at Nevers, the town where our founder Roland Cattin begins his journey of engineering excellence and carbon bike innovation. And, whilst we were founded in the heart of France, we are now shaped in Slovakia and ridden by cyclists everywhere, each with their own cycling dreams – some big, some small. What brings them all together is a desire to ride the world’s best bikes and to seek perfection in their own personal way.
TIME never stands still
Continuing into an exciting future and onto the next 40 years, we accept the challenge to remain at the forefront of our industry, producing the world’s best carbon road bikes. And we accept the challenge to build a cycling community based on excellence. We’ll be following the Hera Project closely and supporting them with our Scylon. We’ll watch and listen as they give us invaluable real-world race feedback that will help us to continue that drive forward, whilst supporting a future cycling community – a women’s cycling community that finally rides and races with parity. And one which races on the world’s best aero bike – the TIME Scylon. Yes, our focus for the future is on developing young cyclists, and in helping them to achieve their own dreams. It’s by having a focus on grassroots cycling at its very best – supporting the Hera Project: Hannah, Ele, Amy, Daisy and Sophie as they quite rightly aim for the cycling stars!
