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TECH NEWS

Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso launch Aurum Magma carbon disc-brake road bike

Designed as an all-around road racer, the Magma is “the ultimate racing road bike”

For those of you that followed pro road racing from around the turn of the century until around 2018, you’ll probably be familiar with the names Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador. Both were Grand Tour riders, contesting the overall classifications in races like the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. Since retiring, the pair have now teamed up to create a bike brand called Aurum and their first bike is one aimed at racers looking for a machine that can do a bit of everything.

The Magma is disc-brake only, has on-trend hidden cable routing entering the frame at the top of the head tube along with a geometry that keeps BB drop and trail nearly identical across all frame sizes.

2021 Aurum Magma 4

We've already seen a lot of this bike, but details have been scarce. The brand's Instagram page has been very popular, posting pictures of a bike covered in a shape-concealing wrap and Contador himself rode this in his Everesting world record attempt.

Finally, though, we have details about what Aurum is calling the "the ultimate racing road bike."

Alberto and Ivan say that they agreed that the frame “must be balanced in its handling: comfortable and compliant enough for long rides, yet stiff while climbing out of the saddle.” They also say that it needed to be “reactive at its front end when cornering to track every tight corner with precision, yet stable to inspire confidence on even the fastest open descents.”

Aero

2021 Aurum Magma 2

Aurum says that the Magma has NACA airfoil tube shapes. This apparently makes it nice and slippery in the wind tunnel, but data to support these claims hasn’t been made available to us.

“Magma has been designed using advanced CFD software and wind tunnel tested to help Aurum to fine-tune the computer-generated tube shapes to real-life conditions. A subtle but important aero feature of Magma is the Head Tunnel, how the headtube channels the brake lines inside the frame, directly from the handlebars, an aero efficient solution chosen for being both light and easy for cockpit assembly and adjustments.”

2021 Aurum Magma 9

The head tunnel allows the brake lines and any Di2 cables to be routed under the stem before passing in front of the upper bearing. The front brake line then passes into the fork via a hole halfway down the steerer tube. It is certainly a clean design, but Aurum doesn’t state what impact this has on aerodynamics.

2021 Aurum Magma 8

Aurum says that it is at the front end of the bike where you’ll find the aero tube shapes. The head tube, down tube and fork legs all feature NACA airfoil shapes with the trailing edges of these tubes truncated at different points depending on frame size.

Comfort

2021 Aurum Magma 6

Interestingly, the Magma doesn’t follow the 2020/21 tech trend of dropping the seat stays, instead of using a classic design where the top tube almost flows into the seat stays in a style reminiscent of the older Cannondale Supersix. Dropping the seat stays is a tactic often used when manufacturers want to add in a little more rear-end compliance but Aurum says that the thin design of the seat stays, along with “a special directional carbon layup” provides “vertical compliance to the rear triangle for increased comfort over long rides.”

This feature, they claim, also helps with cornering grip as “the vibration damping on the rear triangle helps to keep the tyres on the ground.”

Weight

2021 Aurum Magma 5

At “just 805g for a naked size 54,” this isn’t the lightest disc brake road frame that we’ve seen, but it certainly isn’t a lump.

Aurum says that multiple carbon grades and orientations have been used depending on the part and size of the frame. They are calling this Experience Carbon Technology, or ECT for short, though we don’t have details on what carbon has been used.

Stiffness

2021 Aurum Magma 1

Aurum claims that the Magma frame is tuned for size-specific stiffness to keep the ride feel the same across the range. “The downtube dimensions of every frame size of the Magma have been scaled individually for a proportionate stiffness level.” The result of which, they say, is consistent riding characteristics.

The tubes join at the BB386EVO bottom bracket and both the down tube and seat tube both flare out to sit as wide as possible at the bottom bracket junction. Aurum says that the tall and widely-spaced chain stays combine with the wide down tube and seat tube to “create a strong structure for maximum drivetrain efficiency while allowing to fit tyres up to 30mm wide.”

Frame features

The frame features a BB386Evo bottom bracket, uses a 27.2mm seat post, is compatible with electronic and mechanical drivetrains, is flat-mount disc only, gets 12mm thru-axles and uses a tapered 1-1/8” to 1-3/8” headset.

2021 Aurum Magma Geo Chart

There are three builds available, each just as premium as the others. You have two Shimano builds, both centring around a Dura-Ace Di2 disc-brake groupset. One comes with Enve SES 3.4 wheels and Enve finishing kit while the other comes with Lightweight Meilenstein Evo disc wheels and Lightweight finishing kit. One SRAM Red AXS build is available with Zipp 303 NSW wheels and Zipp finishing kit. You have a choice between the Glacial Blue or Carbon Black paint on all builds. Framesets cost around £3720 and full builds are from £8890, depending on conversion from Euros which is what will display on the Aurum website. The bikes are available to buy now, but look set to take a few weeks to deliver.

aurumbikes.com

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13 comments

Avatar
Organon | 3 years ago
0 likes

Isn't that literally the Aqua Blue Sport logo? Time to dig out the defunct team kit.

Avatar
Derk Davies | 3 years ago
0 likes

The idea of a big hole/cut out around a headset bearing dosn't seem good. If you hit something head on there might not be much to stop the top bearing breaking out by the looks of it. I was really looking forward to seeing this too.

Avatar
Rapha Nadal replied to Derk Davies | 3 years ago
2 likes

Yeah, I'm sure there hasn't been any R&D, prototype testing, deliberate breakage tests etc etc.

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pwake replied to Derk Davies | 3 years ago
1 like

Not sure concern for my headset would be my top priority if I "hit something head on"; concern for my head maybe!

Avatar
jacknorell replied to Derk Davies | 3 years ago
2 likes

An impact where that's a consideration will scrap the frame regardless of any cable openings

Avatar
Judge dreadful | 3 years ago
0 likes

Looking at the spec lists for built bikes. The cost of the Shimano version with the lightweights, must be mostly groupset and wheelset. The frame must be about 50 pence's worth, so what is the frame made of? Cheap Chinese crap I'd imagine, I can't see how it can be even half decent material, given my fag packet calculations.

Avatar
shutuplegz | 3 years ago
5 likes

I wonder why they didn't combine their names when naming the bike brand - 'Bastador' has a certain ring to it!

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peted76 | 3 years ago
1 like

I like the front end wiring.. looks like a neat option which isn't too complicated.

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mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes

Is that third photo from a test to see what happens when it gets sprayed with pepper spray during the Tour?

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jollygoodvelo | 3 years ago
0 likes

It's not that on-trend, look at those seat stays.  3

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Liam Cahill replied to jollygoodvelo | 3 years ago
0 likes

Front end on-trend, rear end is like an Oceana disco room throwback party. 

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Christopher TR1 | 3 years ago
0 likes

I do like Vitus bikes. Good value too.

...oh, hang on...

Avatar
BigChin replied to Christopher TR1 | 3 years ago
0 likes

Vitus? Don't you mean Carbonda, the Vitus supplier? Oh, hang on....

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