“Built to efficiently and comfortably handle long days in the saddle, the Atalaya doesn’t confuse flex with compliance and draws on its designer’s long experience with titanium to masterfully combine comfort with responsiveness. Hidden and removable rack and fender mounts, as well as provisions for mechanical and electronic drivetrains, make for a versatile platform that that doesn’t look out of place however you use it. And, like all J.Guillem frames, the Atalaya is backed by a 100-Year Warranty.”
“The Atalaya is a bicycle that doesn’t just enable big rides: it inspires them.”
Marc Basiliere of Lindarets.com (importer of J Guillem frames into the USA and inventor of the RoadLink) covers this gorgeous titanium frameset in detail at the recent Wild Horse Gravel (http://rollmassif.com)
Check out the entire range of J Guillem frames and complete bikes at http://lindarets.com – an important note to add since the video was released (in the interests of disclosure). J Guillem frames are welded in China and finished in the Netherlands.
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Beautiful cast BB, but it’s press fit…
Tom,
That much is true, but the extra 20mm width it gives us more space to work with, for a wider down tube junction and to tuck the rear wheel in. Every shell is sized at J.Guillem and they’ve never had a creaking issue.
I understand the bad rep that PF BBs have and the preference for a lot of riders for threads, but Ti holds its size and shape better and as such is much better suited to press fits than carbon. And don’t forget, we’ve all had creaky threaded BBs too.
Marc L,
Two questions, first can you speak to the overall impact to ride quality, versatility, longevity and maybe even rationale around the cast titanium bits? I’ve not seen any US Ti builders using bits like this. They sure look beautiful!
Second, do you have frame weights for these? Thanks!!!
Andrew,
Sorry for the delay- was out at an event today and without internet access at while camping! But get ready- I’ve been thinking about this since seeing your message last night.
The rationale behind the cast elements is that it allows for added complexity in a way that other approaches don’t. You could machine a head tube with the cable ports, but it would be a complex part and more expensive once you got beyond a handful (or go quick/dirty with a straight 44mm tube, which is inexpensive and makes top and down tube miters much easier). Similarly, you can 3D-print some really complex parts, but that approach doesn’t pencil out once you’ve hit moderate quantities as the per-unit cost for 3D printing is largely fixed and the parts come out needing a fair amount of cosmetic finishing. The cast bottom bracket assembly on the Atalaya, for example, echoes the approach a number of companies take in carbon (dropped and thinned drive-side stay) without having to weld a bunch of stubby tubes together or accepting the loss of lateral stiffness from a flat plate.
The main reason you don’t see many cast elements is tooling cost. When others who have designed and built frames for other brands see the Atalaya their response is generally along the lines of “holy crap- they put a lot of time and money into tooling.” Because J.Guillem sells a good number of frames in Europe, the cost per unit comes down and the castings can be justified. They do add a bit to the price, but the benefits come in the form of strength, ride quality, integrated cable routing, and (of course) aesthetics.
Weight-wise, Atalaya frames with the Ti derailleur hanger and required hardware start at around 1,825g- about half way between steel and carbon and roughly 100g heavier than competing models. The Atalaya does pass CEN-ISO frame testing and at the end of the day both Jan-Willem and I would like to sell bikes that will be in use in ten or twenty years from now, under their first owner or passed on to another.
Marc,
Thanks for the very detailed and helpful answer.
The Atalaya is now high on my list of candidates for my next gravel rig.
Andrew,
Awesome! Happy to chat bikes whenever. Feel free to reach out via the website if you have any other questions.
Gorgeous stuff. I will note that I’ve never had a creaky threaded bottom bracket, and I’ve never known of or even heard of anyone having one either.
Ron,
Thanks! I had the Tomir 29er out today and it was the first time I’ve ever had unsolicited seatstay compliments.
As far as creaks go, maybe I’m just hard on stuff. My personal was making an awful noise last weekend and when I pulled the XX1 cassette off the top cog fell off the rest of the block 😮