AXALKO frames - Nice Spanish Wood Bike Frames

[MitchJi]

Hi,

http://www.axalko.com/empresa_eng.html

AXALKO BAT frame was born of a long R&D project carried out by a team with an extensive industrial career in different areas of wood transformation, and with a narrow link with the bicycle world, both for competition and for touring.

Quality is a priority in each work tackled by our team. For the design, calculation of resistance and the construction of AXALKO frames, it has been essential to join the most advanced technology with the experience and the trade of our craftsmen of wood.

Wooden bears enviable mechanical characteristics. This is due to its tubular-structured fibers, which provide resistance, lightness and high vibration absorption power; and to its unbeatable natural aesthetic features.

Wooden and technology has been mixed in AXALKO BAT, to delight bicycle and nature lovers.

http://www.axalko.com/tecnologia_eng.html

AXALKO represents a step forward in the world of the bicycle by a patented system. Our system optimizes the ratio between resistance and lightness of the frame. On the one hand, the micro-laminated structure of the frame allows for the most competitive parameters of resistance and stiffness. On the other, its hollow structure makes the final structure really light weighted.

The used materials and their process of mechanization are carefully controlled to guarantee these parameters. Cutting-edge glues and resins guarantee an optimal strength.

As with the carbon bikes, AXALKO is provided with a treatment of polyurethane of two components to protect the frame from water and slight impacts.

http://www.axalko.com/cuadros_eng.html

When bicycles were first discovered, wood provided the frame for them. Then, it was substituted for materials that favored resistance and robustness at the expense of other aspects, such as weight. But the development of the industry and the dramatic increase in people cycling made manufacturers search for materials that could provide both lightness and resistance. This was the situation when racing bicycle manufacturers first introduced more exotic materials, such as carbon fiber and titanium. Once competitive parameters of lightness and resistance had been reached, the focus shifted to aspects such as the design or the beauty of the outline. This was the moment when bicycles went back to their origins. Wood, in combination with technology, re-entered the word of cycling.

Most of the manufacturing process is handcrafted, so that we can care for the utmost detail without neglecting the technical part. As you may know, AXALKO BAT is a product that targets the great fans of route cycling, for whom lightness and resistance are a must.

The superb qualities of wood (its natural character, surface and microporous texture.) and the various possibilities arising from the combination of different types of it, make of wood a unique material whose fineness and magnificent mechanical properties are there for the delight of the cyclists.

http://www.axalko.com/multimedia_eng.html

Click on the pictures to see them in detail.

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Some video of the build process but the accompanying audio is in Spanish:
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