I thought I ought to write some words – http://www.ragleybikes.com/our-products/td-1/
LATEST NEWS
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TD:1 page updated
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TD-1, the internet and the £ vs $
After meeting up with Mark Lynskey the other day, we can reveal that our new frame, the TD-1, will be completed in a couple of weeks, and shipping to us, by air, for the first lucky customers. Which means we really ought to tell you what it is, so we can sell some.
An unashamedly specific design, the TD-1 is a “rigid only” 29er. Meaning you can’t run suspension forks on it.Well, I suppose you could, but it would handle awfully. It’s designed around a 440mm fork – which is a common size for 26in wheeled bikes – but a 29in wheel fits in there just fine. Typically 29in bikes run 470-490mm forks, and so by running the shorter fork, we can lower the handlebars by 30-50mm. Which means a more racey position. What’s that? You don’t like a low racey position? You want a suspension fork? Well hey, I guess this isn’t the frame for you.
But, if you’re fed up with bars-in-the-air, bouncy forks, and just want something pure and rigid and fast, then here’s something for you. Race proven too – our races Dave and Jase got 2nd and 3rd at the ludicrously tough Strathpuffer race earlier in the year, riding their pre-production prototypes.
And as we mentioned Mark Lynskey up at the top, and though we do have plans for a steel version (and it will be a high end steel version, as this is a race bike, not a plodder), and might even throw some 7046 at an alloy version, it’s obvious that this first model (as we seem to often do around here) is a titanium model made by Lynskey Performance in the USA. It features their sliding dropouts, a horizontally ovalised top tube, a curved seat tube (better tyre clearance in short stay mode, and better front mech positioning too. We even got two bottle cages on the small frame, and so though mtb-forum-grumps reckon the “Seat tube mounted bottle looks like it will rub the frame.“, we don’t think it will.
Over on mtbr, we’ve been having a “bit of a chat” about it too. Though after doing the conversion to US dollars (as most posters there are American), someone from the UK got a bit upset about us selling it “cheaper in the states than it is here”. The sum is simple:-
UK Price = around £1200
Without VAT – divide by 117.5 and multiply by 100 = £1021
Into Dollars multiply by 1.49 = $1526Actually, it’s just occurred to me that depending on when Hotlines paid for them, we might have to hike the price up a bit, as we pay for them in dollars, so if the pound falls, then it’ll cost us more. But I think we’re not too far off there… And the example of “how stuff costs 17.5% less” for folks outside the EU is still true.
Right – all that before 7:15am in the morning, and I’m just drinking Taiwan Oolong Tea – no coffee. So excuse any missthakes. Cheers!
Oh yes, that’s a point – sizing…
3 sizes – 16, 18, 20. 18in has a 24in top tube, 4in head tube, 72 head, 73.deg seat. 16in is half an inch shorter, 20in half an inch longer (and has a half inch longer head tube). Usual sizing rules apply (5’10″ to 6’1″, you want an 18in – bigger or smaller than this, and you want to go up or down a size). BB drop is 2.5in, and chainstays sit around 17.3in fully forward with a half inch backward movement possible for bigger tyres/chain tensioning purposes.
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Brant on the Blue Pig, on Wideopenmag, At Cycle Show 09.
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MmmBop’s are CLOSE
The blue ones are painted. The green ones get painted next week. Anyone that’s pre-ordered will get theirs air-freighted in, and should see them mid October.
Can’t believe it’s taken so long, but others can’t believe we’ve done it so fast. Here’s the first full production 18in frame that we built up for an MBUK test.
Nice to see that, just as I planned (honest) a Cane Creek Double X Flush headset thing (an internal 1.125in headset that fits in a 1.5in headtube with a zero stack) works with a 2010 Revelation and lets you run 150 forks with the same axle/headtube height as 140s.ragley
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Blue Pig production frame pics
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Stonking Review of Ragley Ti in Singletrackworld magazine
Just about to hit the news-stands, there’s a fantastic review of the Ragley Ti in the latest issue of Singletrackworld.
We’re working with them to bring you a nice little PDF sampler so you can see the details. More soon, or get it in stores from any moment.
Also “in the press” in the next week or so:-
BLUE PIG – reviewed in What Mountainbike (as part of a frames test)
RAGLEY TI – reviewed in MBUK (as a shootout against other Ti bikes on the market).
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Production Blue Pig photos
Click to go to the photogallery.
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How strong is the Ragley Blue Pig frame?
You might have heard about the new CEN regulations that are coming into force for mountainbikes in the near future. They are to protect customers from dangerous bikes, but due to an odd fatigue test – with high forces, there was a rumour going around that steel frames weren’t going to pass, or would be horribly heavy.
We put a lot of time and thought into the construction of the Blue Pig frame to ensure that it passed this new test. And in doing so, having to sit down and think about how we design and weld steel frames, we’ve made something that’s better than any steel frame I’ve done before.
Now, it’s pretty clear than the more you do something (like designing frames), the better you get at it (as you remember what broke before and where, what didn’t break, what flexed, what didn’t). But designing something to pass the new CEN regs was tough, as lots of people in the industry were getting awfully upset about it.
Even as late as the Taiwan show, I was taken to one side by one manufacturer and asked to join a group to push for the standard to be lowered, to make it easier for steel frames to pass.
As I’m incredibly grumpy, quite bad with people, and just like to sit in my shed in Calderdale, I carried on anyhow, as I enjoyed the engineering challenge of trying to get something through a tough test without simply throwing lots and lots at metal at it.
What we did with the Blue Pig (and I say we, as it’s me and my factory, the engineers and welders there too), was to look at the three tubes at the front of the bike (headtube, downtube, top tube) and really analyse what was going on during riding, and during the tests that they were using to simulate riding. We examined videos of frames in testing, and quickly realised that there was a whole heap of flex going on in the headtube area, that was concentrating stress on the downtube/headtube joint.
By picking some new tubes, adding some reinforcement to stiffen the headtube area, increasing the downtube diameter, decreasing top tube diameter (to introduce some flex to dissipate the load) using our standard 0.9mm/0.6mm/0.9mm tubeset, we were able to get a frame to exceed the CEN test, even when fitted with solid steel “test forks”.
All this might be quite dull, and I might have lost you on the second line. But the deal is this. The Ragley Blue Pig passes stringent standards that aren’t even law yet, to ensure you get a tough reliable frame that will last. Sure a 5.5lb weight is more than some, but we think most of that extra weight comes from our chainstay bridge (which we love for tyre clearance and chainsuck issues), and our dropouts (which let us run lighter rear stays for better rear triangle compliance and cleaner disc brake mounting).
Anyhow – here’s the test details in full.
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Ragley Ti now IN STOCK AND AVAILABLE
All sizes are now in stock – 16, 18, 20in, and available from Ragley dealers. Ragley dealers can be found here. And if you’re a dealer and not signed up yet, but want to hear about our cool offers and what it takes to get on board, the contact our distributors Hotlines.shedfire
