Time Alpe d'Huez X Road Frame

Top quality frame road Time Alpe d'Huez X

Renowned for their craftsmanship and attention to detail, Time Bicycles have carved a place for themselves in cycling history by manufacturing their own carbon frames, weaving their own carbon structures and using Resin Transfer Molding or RTM to create pristine, precise carbon frames. The Time Alpe d’Huez X is their latest installment in the advanced road category, offering both a responsive ride quality with wider tire capacity. 

Technical characteristics of the Time Alpe d’Huez X

Though a super high quality frame, the Time Alpe d’Huez X bucks the integration trend of many other top brands, which require you to buy proprietary cockpits and seatposts. The Alpe d’Huez X instead invites you to build up your frame with whatever handlebar, stem and seatpost you would like. It can accommodate semi and fully integrated cockpits since it comes fitted with a DEDA S DCR Headset, which can give you the best of both worlds: a clean look where cables are neatly hidden but still easily accessible when needed. It also expands your options for stem and bar combos and sizes. The traditional 27.2 mm diameter for the seatpost allows you to pair this frame with any number of standard sized posts. 

For the frame material, Time engineers have woven BCS Carbon Fiber, Vectran, and Dyneema Enhanced together to find that perfect ride feel that will absorb road chatter while still offering a level of responsive stiffness that you’d expect from such a high performance bike. It feels sturdy and lithe at the same time, and is extremely resistant to impacts. That’s thanks largely to the Dyneema fiber that is 15x stronger than steel at the same weight.

Once they have woven their materials into a sock-like structure, Time uses RTM or Resin Transfer Molding which injects resin at high pressure between rigid external and internal molds. The resulting uniformity of the mold and pressure removes any air pockets and voids, which could be potential points of failure for the frame down the road. The BCS or Braided Carbon Structure itself adds to the overall responsiveness and quality of the frame as well since it allows the engineers to use continuous fibers that run the full length of a structure enhancing durability while keeping the structure light.

Time’s engineers have also future-proofed the Alpe d’Huez X by making it 2x and 1x compatible with a nifty Derailleur Mount Cover if you want to build it up without the front derailleur. It is compatible with electronic and mechanical groupsets, which again allows you to keep all your options open. The frame accommodates between 28-38c road tires, though they say it has been optimized for 32-35c. Those numbers keep it intentionally out of gravel grinding range, but definitely are sufficient to allow you to ramble a bit on rough roads and hardpack gravel without a worry. 

The Time Alpe d’Huez X comes in several astoundingly gorgeous colors and five sizes. It’s the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys long rides on a variety of terrains and appreciates exquisite craftsmanship at the same time.