Bowman Palace frame and fork

Neil from Bowman Cycles said: "Handling is the start point of every frame we design," after I'd taken to Twitter singing the praises of the Palace's high speed controllability and feedback. A brief spell in the turbulent slipstreaming air of a 50+mph artic summed up everything about the London brand's first frameset: balanced, stable and hugely responsive to the slightest touch. Above all, though, masses and masses of fun.

Ride

The Palace gets its name from the Crystal Palace criterium meets so it's no surprise that it is designed with that style of hard riding and racing in mind. The stiffness of the 6069 grade aluminium frame lets you get the power down and the acceleration is brisk especially form a rolling start where a few surges on the pedals gets you on the back of a group or going for the gap in traffic.

It's the corners where the adrenaline kicks in as you try and see just how fast and hard you can push the Palace into a bend. The short head tube is tapered providing loads of stiffness and that's noticeable in the twisty stuff. The front end feels solid and tracks absolutely spot on, feeling better and better the harder you push it.

The handling is quick without being overly skittish, though you've got to treat it with respect. If you need to change your line at speed the slightest input will do it. Over compensate, though, and you've got a tussle on your hands.

That's in no way a criticism at all; it's how a race bike should handle, bike and rider as one with a smooth change of direction from you changing the bike's position, with pin-point accuracy. Get it right on a fast twisty descent and it's a lovely feeling as the Palace banks from one direction to the next. It becomes addictive.

Don't think it's all power, power, power though as the Bowman will happily cruise along at a more sedate pace with very good manners. It is a stiff frame but not harsh like the alloy bikes of ten or so years ago. Nonetheless if you want to go for big miles it might pay to go bigger with the tyres and drop the pressure a bit. The Palace can take up to 28mm tyres for this very reason, a sensible design choice that shows Bowman see this as more than just a race bike.

With a claimed frame weight of just 1200g for a 56cm the Palace is no slouch in the hills either. The BB86 shell and oversized tubes running through it help lay the power down if you're attacking the climb or it's just at home being spun up there from the saddle.

Frame & Fork

Aluminium tube manufacture has seen massive progress in recent years in alloy composition and the processes used to form various shapes from the metal. It's given manufacturers more customisation which was only previously available with carbon to get the feel of the frame just right.

The frame is designed here in the UK by Bowman Cycles themselves and after plenty of in-house testing this iteration you see here had the button pushed on production out in Taiwan.

The Palace uses a custom triple butted 6069 tube set focussing on power transfer and handling stiffness in the front triangle as you can see by the oversized down tube, tapered head tube and the tapered profile of the top tube.

For comfort Bowman have opted for a 27.2mm diameter seatpost which should allow for a bit more in the way of flex than a 31.6mm version.

The seatstays are a pretty small diameter as well to bring a bit of shock absorption before it travels up to the rider.

The welding looks more noticeable than it normally would because the anodising leaves the welds a slightly lighter shade than the rest of the frame. I like the manufactured look of the frame and structurally it's doing its job; Bowman haven't had to put a rider weight limit on the Palace.

It's available in a 50cm frame up to a 58cm in 2cm increments with that size representing the top tube length.

Finishing Kit

Bowman supply the Palace as a frameset: frame, fork, headset and seat collar for £650.00. We normally get framesets to test ready built up by the supplier but we were given full rein to put what we wanted on this one.

With the whole crit racing theme in mind we went for a build that can take a few knocks and won't break the bank. At the heart is the 11 speed 105 groupset we recently tested. It's an absolutely cracking groupset for the money and including a 53/39T chainset and 11/28T cassette gives all the gears you're going to need for racing.

The dual pivot brakes now also accommodate up to 28mm tyres so work well with the clearances of the Palace frame.

The Shimano Press-Fit cups for the bottom bracket fitted smoothly and snugly into the frame as well.

The cockpit is an all Deda affair from their entry level alloy range. It all looks good and offers plenty of stiffness and comfort without costing the earth, about seventy quid online for the handlebars, stem and seatpost.

We went for narrow 42cm bars to emphasise the already quick handling of the Palace and it paid off.

Wheel wise we went for a couple of options, the Miche Full Carbon SWR's and the alloy Alturs from the same company. The carbon wheels did smooth out the ride a touch and made the Palace a touch lighter, but I found the Alturs' better stopping rim surface worked better with the Bowman's style of hard, late braking into the bends.

This little lot brought the Palace in around the 18lb mark; not superlight but competitive for the price and certainly gave the whole bike a solid, robust feel.

Competition

The obvious competition is Kinesis' well received Aithien, they're both the same price and similar weights and when it comes down to time in the saddle there is very little to separate them. I'd say the Palace has slightly tighter handling and feels much more aggressive than the Kinesis but the Aithien has the edge on comfort though you can go for the bigger tyre option on the Palace. Overall though it really is splitting hairs and it's a nod to the Palace that it matches the performance of a road.cc favourite such as the Aithien.

The CAAD10 from Cannondale is often regarded as one of the best alloy frames out there though it is left floundering a little when up against the Palace. The Bowman does everything just a little bit better, better handling, gets the power that little bit smoother and although they both feel as stiff as each other the CAAD10 is harsher.

Price wise, you're looking at about an extra fifty quid for the Cannondale frameset, if you can find one that is.

Conclusion

Well, what a frame. The Palace sums up to me everything that a proper race bike should be. That raw, uncluttered feeling of some metal tubes and sorted geometry creating a bike that just feels right.

At cruising speed it's mild mannered and very easy to ride and you can cover a lot of miles with very little distraction.

Push it right to its limit and it's a little bit like having a tiger cub in your hands, playful, friendly and under control with a firm grip but stop concentrating and the tables will soon be turned.

I love it. It makes you stay focused and when you just nail that line through a bend the feeling is one of perfection and elation.

As far as cost and weight goes its bang on where it needs to be to take on the opposition and the lack of a rider weight limit is a massive bonus compared to the Aithien.

If this is the future of alloy frames we're all in for a treat.

Verdict

Absolutely awesome frame that is a showcase for aluminium; one of the best high-speed handling frames out there