Cheers ST,
It’s been a while since I’ve checked in to talk bikes.
Excited to be able to announce Stromm will be launching our new Raktt road frameset and welcome any questions you may have following the launch.
-SD
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its the 10th where is it!!!
I’ve been looking forward to this since you announced it. I wish I could be at Sea Otter to see it in person.
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Welcome back SD!
Looking forward to this one…
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Neat! Looks really nice, and that article has a few more pictures with different angles.
Whitepaper from Stromm’s website, for those who haven’t seen it: Stromm RAKTT Whitepaper.pdf - Google Drive
Got a few questions, if you can answer them:
- Obviously there isn’t much visual mass around the bottom bracket (compensation triangle area) compared to some other modern aero bikes. Did you find that this wasn’t as important (say, with water bottles on the bike), or is it a compromise to tweak weight/stiffness/ride quality?
- How easy will stem and fork removal work with the bayonet fork setup? It does seem a little more promising to avoid splitting hydraulic cables compared to through-headset/steerer routing in some other bikes. I’m particularly picky with riding a 61cm frame, which really doesn’t fit many places with the bars still on. But it’s a 2016 Felt AR with eTap, so it’s super easy to pull the fork and put in a smaller Post Carry case. Not looking forward to a step back in ease of travel.
Couple of minor things you may want to fix on the website, though. The different sizes are inconsistently labeled. The availability has 48/41/54/56/59/62, and the geometry chart is at 49/51/54/56/58/61.
We are using this area to fill with water bottles. Using a large compensation triangle here then raising the bottles negates the gains.
The stem comes off independently of headset adjustment. You can build the bike with “slack” to allow the bar/stem to come off and be placed alongside the frame for shipping/packing.
You can change the stem height without having to remove the hoses or even adjust the headset.
I thought I’d just give a shoutout to the Stromm folks. I know all three of them and have worked or raced with them. They are all super solid people and they have created a cool bike.
Truth be told, when Stephen told me it tested 10 Watts faster than an S5 I was a bit skeptical. But once seeing the bike I was like “yeah I see it”. I’d be surprised if this is not the most aero road bike out there. It’s not for everyone, but if you want to fastest bike around when elevation is minimal, this one is probably it.
For clarity, I am friends with the Stromm folks (as I am with many people in the industry) but have no other incentive in posting this.
We will host a tunnel test where we plan to demonstrate our own findings but invite all the press as well as any other brand to test against us.
We will pay for the tunnel test; the rest just need to show up and we’ll see who comes out on top with the cameras rolling.
I’ll also be demonstrating how much faster the Stromm frame is than a UCI legal TT frame like a Shiv, plasma, speed concept, P5, etc.
SD
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