You knew when you planned the ride it would be a long day - a route stacked with grinding climbs and twisting descents, terrible roads with a good amount of who-knows-what-else thrown in. These rides aren’t most people’s idea of fun, but they sure are memorable, monumental, challenging. Is that why you keep going? You suck down another coffee and pull on your shoe covers to hold the weather at bay, it’s going to clear out and warm up in a few hours... Probably. Grab your Avant and do a quick check before rolling into the morning mist. No other machine could better help you endure the hours of rough, exhausting conditions ahead. It’s going to be a long day - and you love it.
Challenges are personal. For some riders cycling itself is the biggest reward. Others want to feel the nerves of the peloton in a road race and test their legs and skills against others. But there are those of us who are looking to distance ourselves from the pack, to tackle challenges that are bigger, harder and more testing than any Sunday group ride.
For this we need a bike geometry that reduces fatigue and is designed to save energy - A bike that is perfect for Gran Fondos, cobblestone epics and marathon rides that require maximum endurance and control. We have learned the difference between a bike that merely handles these conditions and one that excels in them is small, but Avant is designed to maximize those traits that make a superb endurance bike. For you to ride quickly over four climbs is a great thing, but it might mean very little if there are two more giants to come.
Orbea Avant Road bike Frame Highlights
Lower weight helps with climbs and makes us feel better every time we lift our bikes, but it’s primarily a more comfortable frame that will help you ride all day long. Reducing material lowers mass, but carbon structure, tubing shapes and frame design are elemental to building a comfortable frame that helps reduce muscle fatigue. Avant’s Dynamic Structure provides a smooth, light ride without bulky compromises like tubing inserts and elastomers. The natural flex patterns created by the carbon layup and minimal bulk of the top tube and seat stays deliver a dynamic, smooth ride and it can be tested. And at the end of a long day it could mean the difference between climbing one last col and climbing off your bike.
Another part of this enhanced comfort comes from the semi-sloping top tube of Avant. Frames with sloping top tubes can be very smooth because the longer seatpost required is quite compliant. Taken to an extreme, a compact frame is not as torsionally stiff, so Avant maximizes efficiency by using a semi-sloping design, balancing stiffness, weight savings and comfort.
A comfortable frame with slender forms in the upper half of the structure also needs to transmit your power from the crankset to the rear wheel. The large majority of torsional and lateral loads are handled by the lower spine of the frame. The headtube, downtube and chainstays are shaped to resist twisting and transmit power to the rear wheel. There is no doubt about it, large cross-sections and resistance to flex in the bottom of the frame transfer your watts to the road and create a sensation that power transfer is instantaneous.
Beyond the ride characteristics of the frame, the fork is an excellent place to further tune the feel of the bike. The Avant fork uses a shallower, rounded blade profile and longer fork legs to increase frontal compliance by 10%. This intentional front-to-rear flex improves shock absorption and allows the wheel to track rough roads more closely without compromising the torsional stiffness that affects handling. You will appreciate this comfort when you are riding with comfort over bad pavement that is causing your riding partners to slow down. The increased axle-to-crown height is offset by shorter headtubes to maintain stack measurements.
A Geometry That Goes the Distance.