Bicycles

Hypocrite gravel bike features a sand-casted pressure-formed aluminum frame

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Heavy Bikes' Hypocrite definitely has a look like no other
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden
Cutouts in the frame are customized to each customer's liking
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden
Heavy Bikes' Hypocrite definitely has a look like no other
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden
The Hypocrite packs a SRAM XX Eagle drivetrain
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden
The Hypocrite on display at the MADE show in Portland
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden
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When it comes to high-end, high-performance bicycles, most people look to materials like carbon fiber and titanium. Thanks to a technique utilized in the building of the Hypocrite gravel bike, however, aluminum can also fit the bill quite nicely.

Made by Minneapolis-based manufacturer Heavy Bikes, the Hypocrite recently turned a lot of heads at the MADE hand-built bicycle show in Portland, Oregon. Each bike's one-piece frame is custom-built utilizing partnering company Foundry Casting Systems’ "Pascal Process."

That process in turn utilizes a technique known as sand casting, in which molten metal is poured into a mold made of sand and a bonding agent such as clay.

In this case, an inert gas is then pumped into the 3D-printed bicycle frame mold, creating a positive pressure of 150 psi (10 bar). That pressure forces molten A356 aluminum into all the nooks and crannies of the mold, leaving the center hollow. Once the aluminum has cooled and hardened, the mold is broken open with a sledge hammer to remove the frame.

That frame is then T6 heat-treated, and machined. Finally, an Enve fork, stem, seatpost and handlebars are added, along with components such as Emporia GC3 Pro gravel-specific wheels and a SRAM XX Eagle drivetrain with RED eTap AXS wireless shifters.

The Hypocrite on display at the MADE show in Portland
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden

So, what's the point?

Well, Heavy Bikes president Charlie Murray tells us that the Pascal Process results in higher-density, less porous parts than traditional aluminum casting. This boosts the metal's tensile strength, meaning that the frame can incorporate thinner, lighter walls that are just as strong as those of traditional aluminum frames.

Of course, because the frame is cast in one piece, it also doesn't have any of those ugly tube-joining welds.

The existing complete bike weighs 23 lb (10.4 kg), although that figure should hopefully drop to 21 lb (9.5 kg) once the machining process has been optimized. The company is taking orders now, and hopes to begin production by the end of the year.

Cutouts in the frame are customized to each customer's liking
Studio Bike Photography @huffy808foto @dylanvanweelden

If you want a Hypocrite of your own, though, expect to pay at least US$16,000. Mind you, that price does include a professional preproduction bike fit along with customized frame cutouts and engravings.

"These bikes are rideable pieces of art," says Murray.

Source: Heavy Bikes

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3 comments
ARF!
hopefully they bother to reason that a few standardized base production model lines would be best to keep the bizz rolling, I would buy a utility-tourer frame for dailies & travels if they could make it sub $1K; even Apple realized that they needed more "generic" base versions of most of their product line, as people have long pointed out that was what the later Ipod Touch versions really actually was to the earlier iPhones.
A-A-Ron
Man! For ONLY $16,000 you can have an aluminum gravel bike with no suspension. It should be a breeze for your bike cleaner to scrub the mud from the dimples all over this rideable "work of art". For $10k you can buy a magnesium-framed electric motorcycle and still have $6k for a carbon-framed gravel bike.
Phạm Đình Nghiệp
Cash hunger, $16000 for this no-suspension bike.