Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Eurobike 2012 - A2J 5Kg carbon custom built superbike takes a bow

Want a 5kg carbon superbike hand built in Sweden? Best start saving, eh...

Got lots and lots of money and want something really light and sexy and hand-tuned just for you? Course you do. Well now you have a new option: A2J cycles, hand built just for you in Sweden.

Jon Gunner, the man behind the brand, should know a thing or two about making things out of Carbon and attracting a moneyed audience, given that he's technical director at Swedish super car manufacturer Koenigsegg. Bikes are a passion though, and he's partnered up to produce the bikes in Sweden too; the frames are made in Linköping before being finished in Viken and finally assembled in Stockholm. "I'm trying to build the bike I wanted but couldn't find anywhere," says Jon.

A2J currently have one frame design in production that's available in three different basic layups: a really stiff one, a really light one and one that's in between. But they'll adjust their layup to suit you specifically; each bike is built by hand so they can put the material just where you need it for your riding.

"We can take a rider's data and tune any of our basic layups, for instance taking a rider's weight and power output to tune the characteristics of the frame," Jon told us. "A frame takes around 60 hours to make, with the super lightweight ones taking the longest. We weigh every individual bit of carbon fibre to make sure we're building the frame to spec." Frame weights go as low as 640g, with full builds from about 5kg. The current frame design will probably be limited to 50 frames, after which A2J will introduce new designs; they're working on a TT bike as well as a new road frame.

A2J recommend that you buy their frames as a complete bike, as they like to take a system approach to the build to make sure that everything works together. The bikes on display were built up with a mix of Dura Ace Di2 and exotic German carbon bits from the likes of Scmolke and THM.

Okay, you've probably guessed that a Swedish-built custom 5kg carbon monocoque bike ain't gonna be cheap, so we'll lay it out for you. A basic spec bike (one of the three standard layups with Di2 and less exotic finishing kit) will leave you with a €15,000 hole in your savings. Add custom layup and posh carbon bits and you're looking at €20,000. They're taking preliminary orders now if your appetite has been whetted. Head over to www.a2j.eu for more details.

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

Add new comment

5 comments

Avatar
Dr_C_Ampagnolo | 11 years ago
0 likes

Ohh, that is so COOL! I would sell my children just to try lifting that bike!  3

Avatar
ped | 11 years ago
0 likes

Nevermind the brake, the main photo shows a static bike in the small ring, crank arms at 'twenty to two'. How did this happen? I fully expect a2j to be issuing road.cc with a cease and desist before the image spreads further.

 3

Avatar
antonio | 11 years ago
0 likes

Desperate for new lottery (winning) numbers, will consult 'mystic meg'.

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 11 years ago
0 likes

beauty is in the eye of the beholder stewleatb - I think it looks cool, although take your point that the 'handmade' look isn't one that immediately recommends itself to you in a brake

Avatar
stewieatb | 11 years ago
0 likes

That carbon brake (2nd pic) is feck-ugly.

Latest Comments