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Burls Ti Courier When assessing any new frame, you have two questions to answer: how is it different from its predecessors, and how is it the same? In the case of the Ti Courier, the difference is immediately apparent -- the frame is built of titanium rather than steel. This means that it's rustproof, looks the biz, and is measurably lighter than the competition. So how is it the same? Well, some pundits will tell you that the use of Ti makes the Courier mellower and more compliant than a steel equivalent. Those of you who know about bike design will know that this is nonsense: good builders use their chosen materials to provide the ride they want. In the case of the Ti Courier, Justin Burls drew on his considerable experience to produce a nippy, stable frame with a nice stiff BB. You get a smooth ride, you can corner tightly, and if you push down hard when the lights change you won't feel the frame whipping like a piece of bamboo. The detail is pretty familiar, too. For instance, we wanted an industry-standard 120mm rear end. Since Ti tube is fatter than steel, that meant bending the chainstays for added clearance. This pushes up our production costs, but it means that you can use a vintage Campy gruppo if you want. In fact, all the tubes on the Ti Courier are sleeved or threaded for standard componentry -- your favourite 27.2 seatpost, 1 1/8 headset and English BB will be absolutely fine. And, since we want you to ride the Courier to work, we made the clearances pretty generous. 23mm tyres are no problem. The frame looks sleek. The surface is carefully finished, giving it a depth and lustre that you have to get close to to appreciate fully. Brazeons are limited to a single set of bottle cage mounts. Ti is a less forgiving material for builders than steel, and some of you will be aware of problems with mass-produced frames. Well, we aren't expecting any warranty failures with the Courier. The frame is handbuilt in small batches in a factory that has links with the aviation industry, and the Russians have a thing for non-ferrous metals that goes back several generations. The Courier boasts some of the neatest TiG welding we've ever seen. Check the gallery below to see what we mean. Sizing is a little unusual, because Justin prefers to measure centre-to-centre along the top tube, that is, between the centres of the seat and head tubes. This caused a couple of misunderstandings with batch #1, so we're spelling things out here. The 'small' frame, described by Justin as 52.5, has an effective seat tube of 47.6cm c-t. Confused? Original blueprint here: small. About forks: we didn't make any. We used to supply the frame with the excellent Reynolds Ouzo Pro, a carbon fork with a good track record. Then Reynolds stopped making forks/ We haven't sourced a successor, feeling that you might like to spec your own. FWIW, nowhere is it written that you have to put a carbon fork on a Ti frame... |
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