Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

TECH NEWS

Sneak peek: Time Skylon

French brand soon to launch a new aero road bike - have a cheeky look ahead of time

Time Sport are about to launch a new aero road bike called the Skylon, and here it is. Details are scarce at the moment because the new bike has yet to be announced officially.

Every new road bike now needs to be approved before it can be raced in a UCI-sanctioned event so, detectives that we are, we keep an eye on the list of approved models of frames and forks to find out what is around the corner. Admittedly, putting on a deerstalker hat and smoking a pipe while we do it probably isn’t strictly necessary but it helps us get into the part.

According to that list, Time applied for approval for the Skylon in mid-May, and since then the the French brand has stuck a picture of the bike on its homepage and added a few more on its Facebook page. They also had the Skylon on show at L’Étape du Tour (if anyone who went got any pictures, feel free to wing 'em at us). Do a Google search and you’ll find more images scattered around the internet.

So, what do we know about the Skylon?

Well, the tag line on Time’s homepage says that the Skylon is “shaped by the air” so you get the impression from the start that it is designed with aerodynamics in mind.

We’d be massively surprised if Time didn’t make the bike using their resin transfer molding (RTM) process that they showed us when we visited their place just outside Lyon last year, or at least some version of it. 

Rather than using sheets of woven carbon fibre that are cut up and put inside a mould, Time weave their own carbon fibre, orientating the fibres for the characteristics they’re after and adding in other fibres to tune the ride, like Vectran which they use to absorb vibration. Go to that story for a detailed look at how Time manufacture their frames.

Time know that if they’re going to compete against bikes that are mass produced in the Far East they need to offer something different, and the manufacturing process is part of that.

The down tube looks like a mighty beast so we’re guessing that Time have tried to go for a high degree of stiffness here.

The fork crown is integrated slightly into the bottom of the head tube, presumably to smooth the airflow in that area and to minimise the bike’s frontal area. The top of the head tube appears to be slightly dropped too.

Those look like skinny but deep fork blades – a key characteristic of most aero road bikes.

The seat tube is cutaway around the leading edge of the rear wheel. That’s actually the case with all of Time’s existing bikes but it’s more pronounced here because the seat tube appears to have an aero profile. It looks like the seatpost does too.

The seatstays join the seat tube fairly low, which is a trick used by many manufacturers to reduce the amount of material stuck out in the wind, and they look to be very narrow indeed.

Rather than going for direct mount or shielded brakes, Time have stuck with standard callipers in conventional positions on the front of the fork crown and at the top of the chainstays. The cable routing is internal and the Skylon is compatible with both mechanical and electronic shift systems.

That’s yer lot for now. We’ll see if we can get any more info out of Time but it looks like they’re holding out for a proper launch. Still, that can’t be too far away. We’ll keep you posted.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

Add new comment

14 comments

Avatar
matthewn5 | 9 years ago
0 likes

And the bike (and tune) are both named after the Skylon, a futuristic feature at the 1951 Festival of Britain. Google it!

Avatar
Argos74 | 9 years ago
0 likes

I'm still working on the premise that it's a Battlestar Galactica reference.

Avatar
Notsofast | 9 years ago
0 likes

My LBS is a Time dealer and several (better off than me) clubmates have had builds done, tubeless American Classic wheelsets and SRAM Red seem the go to around here, the frames are bloody gorgeous up close, and all of us not riding slippery road frames now have an instant excuse when having an off day  1

Avatar
dave atkinson | 9 years ago
0 likes

Anyway, enough about bikes. Skylon is a cracking tune.

Avatar
The _Kaner replied to dave atkinson | 9 years ago
0 likes
Dave Atkinson wrote:

Anyway, enough about bikes. Skylon is a cracking tune.

Nice tune...very reminiscent (bassline) of Gomez- 78 Stone Wobble....

At least the bike's not called Dyl(i)on...

Avatar
Quince | 9 years ago
0 likes

They should have painted it fast coloured...

Avatar
Vinerman | 9 years ago
0 likes

Bike design, car industry and fashion industry are just ones to mention are suffering from : what do do now/next

lets face it everything has been done, be it color or design.

Avatar
notfastenough | 9 years ago
0 likes

I had high hopes for this when I saw the article, but first they dealt a blow to my hopes by showing us a frame in black, red and white (ooh how original! Gimme a break, there are OTHER colours!), then just killed them off entirely with a shot of someone so ridiculously talented that he can wheelie, not just one-handed, but wearing a smugly relaxed look as well.

Love and hugs,
Me.

Avatar
mrmo replied to notfastenough | 9 years ago
0 likes
notfastenough wrote:

then just killed them off entirely with a shot of someone so ridiculously talented that he can wheelie, not just one-handed, but wearing a smugly relaxed look as well.

Love and hugs,
Me.

But he's not wearing a helmet, think of the children!!!!!!

Avatar
David Arthur @d... replied to notfastenough | 9 years ago
0 likes
notfastenough wrote:

I had high hopes for this when I saw the article, but first they dealt a blow to my hopes by showing us a frame in black, red and white (ooh how original! Gimme a break, there are OTHER colours!), then just killed them off entirely with a shot of someone so ridiculously talented that he can wheelie, not just one-handed, but wearing a smugly relaxed look as well.

Love and hugs,
Me.

You never know, they might just offer other colour options...

It's funny that a few people complain about black, red and white bikes, but what colour bikes do I see most people buying?

Avatar
notfastenough replied to David Arthur @davearthur | 9 years ago
0 likes
David Arthur wrote:
notfastenough wrote:

I had high hopes for this when I saw the article, but first they dealt a blow to my hopes by showing us a frame in black, red and white (ooh how original! Gimme a break, there are OTHER colours!), then just killed them off entirely with a shot of someone so ridiculously talented that he can wheelie, not just one-handed, but wearing a smugly relaxed look as well.

Love and hugs,
Me.

You never know, they might just offer other colour options...

It's funny that a few people complain about black, red and white bikes, but what colour bikes do I see most people buying?

Hopefully so, and you're quite right that those colours sell, I'm just bored with it is all. I may have come across slightly angrier though!

Avatar
Chris James replied to David Arthur @davearthur | 9 years ago
0 likes
David Arthur wrote:

It's funny that a few people complain about black, red and white bikes, but what colour bikes do I see most people buying?

It's damn near impossible to buy an off the peg bike that isn't in those colours though.

Avatar
David Arthur @d... replied to Chris James | 9 years ago
0 likes
Chris James wrote:
David Arthur wrote:

It's funny that a few people complain about black, red and white bikes, but what colour bikes do I see most people buying?

It's damn near impossible to buy an off the peg bike that isn't in those colours though.

Maybe you're not looking hard enough? http://www.time-sport.com/velos-montes/zxrs_31.aspx OR http://www.trekbikes.com/uk/en/bikes/road/performance_race/emonda/emonda...

Avatar
userfriendly replied to Chris James | 9 years ago
0 likes
Chris James wrote:
David Arthur wrote:

It's funny that a few people complain about black, red and white bikes, but what colour bikes do I see most people buying?

It's damn near impossible to buy an off the peg bike that isn't in those colours though.

Actually ... as someone quite fond of black and red I have to vehemently disagree with you on that one. Yes, black is used a lot on off the peg bikes, but to me it always seems that most add a nasty splash of the ugly non-red colours, like blue, vomit green, and yellow.

It's all subjective I s'pose.

Latest Comments