On Sunday afternoon, Alec Donahue, Kathryn, Carl and myself met up in a lonely parking lot deep into New York State. Al and I were muddy and tired from our recent Cyclo Cross battle, the final NYCross race of the season, but our work for the day was not done. We piled into Carl’s sturdy steed, overnight bags at the ready (which for Al means a jacket) and set off on the long windy road of I-87. Our destination: Canada. That’s right, we spent the bulk of Sunday evening driving up North, ‘until the weather feels just right,’ as Carl so quaintly put it.
Guru bikes, awesome? Yes.
We trekked across the border, smuggling over some fruit, and made it into Montreal. We parked the car and wandered for a while, searching for dinner, finally ending up at a Vietnamese Pho restaurant (its across the street from the exotic bookstore and next door to the erotic dance revue). We ate our fill and then retired for the evening, for we had plans for the next day, big plans: infiltrating the Guru Bike Factory. Before the next day was done, we would indeed make it inside, we would document our finds, and possibly learn the true definition of ‘monocoque’.
You may have heard of Guru before, possibly mentioned on this very blog. Carl has been a fan of Guru bikes for years. All their frames are available in custom geometry for no additional charge. This is good for clients as they get a bike tuned to their weight and riding style that actually fits. This is good for Carl as there is no reason to fill a shop with bikes, eliminating the dreaded, “sell them what we got on the floor”. We’ve been told that Guru bikes are made completely in house. Most manufacturers these days have their frames built overseas. Some of the domestic manufacturers are really just cutting and gluing tubes made elsewhere. What exactly does it mean to layup carbon by hand? How/why is the lightest production carbon frame on the market, the 747 gram Guru Photon, made in Canada? These are questions we needed answered and we had to see it to believe it.
We ventured there semi-early in the morning, and were met up by Robert, one of the original partners of Guru. He showed us inside and up the stairs, where we were greeted in customary Canadian fashion, with a hot cup of espresso.
See this? This is Guru trash, in Asia this is what they make bikes from.
(Well maybe not Canadian fashion, but it was still pretty cool.) He wasted no time in getting us right into the inner workings of the Factory, explaining as we walked some of the differences between bikes made in Asia and bikes made “here” (at Guru). Many of the Asian made bikes on the market are molded in two separate halves and then formed together. This leaves a seam with minimal fiber overlap, were failures can occur. Guru prefers to build their carbon sections all the way around, not only eliminating the single long seam, but also orienting the fibers in the way they have determined are best.
The carbon used by Guru is American made, fabricated by Newport Adhesives and Composites Inc., in Washington. Newport provides carbon fiber products to the aerospace industry. Not only are the bikes made in North America, but so is the Carbon. They treat their carbon pretty well too.
Mmm, carbon popsicles.
Robert explained as we all glanced furtively at the giant walk in freezer in the carbon cutting room, the carbon needs to be stored at negative 20 degrees in order for it to stay fresh. Apparently, Carbon has a shelf life, after which the resin starts to break down. Don’t worry though, you don’t need to keep your bike in the freezer. Once the carbon has been laid up and baked, you don’t have to worry about having a melting bicycle popsicle.
So what’s the big deal about unidirectional carbon? Well, as we saw when we entered the lay-up room, and saw Francis (not me, the guy doing the laying, don’t worry it confused us too) carefully placing the carbon around a pair of seat stays at pre-set angles.
Why yes, please wrap it, I would like my seat stays to go.
This allows different parts of the frame to be strengthened in different ways depending on the force that will be exerted on it.
We kept our ears open though, for at any moment we could see the Photon. It could be lying in wait for us through the next door, behind the next curtain.Robert had teased us earlier with a glimpse of a Photon downtube as he was explaining monocoque to us. (Monocogue means one piece by the way, not two halves molded together.)
"So this is monocoque, oh and it's also a Photon downtube."
Guru also has a very interesting way of getting their carbon molds ready. They use an 8-piece system to put their frames together, which is much more labor intensive, but allows them to make virtually any fully custom frame to fit the smallest and the tallest. To get these pieces just right they start with rubber balloon animals. Well, ok, they’re not balloon animals, they are actually custom rubber molds made to replicate the exact piece they are creating. For example say you want to create a bottom bracket mold, well then you just take the rubber chicken bottom bracket mold (I’m pretty sure it’s made from a rubber chicken) and you fill it with little beads. Then you vacuum all the air out and start laying carbon around the rubber. Voila! Instant bike piece, made to order, just the way you like it.
The process isn’t done yet though, as this was just the second room of the factory that we had been allowed to see. (Well actually they were pretty cool about letting us take pictures, but we think it’s neater if people thought we ninja-ed into their factory.) After the rubber chicken-bead process, the fully laid up carbon is then pressed into a specific mold, crafted in the factory for the piece.
Rubber chicken? Nope, bike part mold.
The beads are sucked out, and then the air compressor is used to blow up the whole structure while it’s closed in the mold. The carbon-cake is then taken to the main room of the factory, where it’s placed in a carbon oven where it bakes at about 130 degrees Celsius until it’s golden brown. Resin channels catch the excess resin as it flows out of the mold from the heat. Those drippings are then later used to make the gravy.
Once the fully molded piece is sand blasted and ready to roll, the pieces are pressed together in a jig using aerospace glue.
Assembly jig, way cooler than puzzles.
Any seams that might show through the paint are wrapped in carbon, but the way the bike is pressed together is actually quite beautiful. The pieces fit together like one of your grandma’s cat puzzles. Solid.
We were in the main room of the factory now, but we still had yet to see a Photon. We had seen plenty of Geneos and Cronos, and even a Magis or two, but the Photon was conspicuously absent. Part of that, we found out, is because the larger sizes are still in testing, being poked and prodded by the best of the best to ensure optimum power transfer, comfort, and lightness (and to be sure that the lightest production frame doesn’t break).
These frames are not done yet though, far from it. They still need to be sand blasted again, and then they head off to painting. Like everything else at Guru, all painting is done in house, and what a good job they do.
Hanging up like stockings on the mantle.
Nothing at Guru is stickered on, and they take the extra time to put multiple layers of paint, and masking, on the frames to make the logos. After they are buffed and clear coated the frames look crisp, smooth, and professional. We started to get a little jealous, but wait!
From Canada with love.
There’s one that’s coming straight to us!
After enjoying a delicious lunch courtesy of Guru, we said our goodbyes and made our way to the Guru Factory Store in Montreal proper. We had heard, that perhaps we would be lucky enough to finally glimpse the Photon. As the day drew to a close and the weather became increasingly chilly we parked our vehicle, after having successfully (mostly) navigated the streets of Montreal in front of the Guru Bikes Factory Store. Carl grumbled at the parking meter for a while, but after a few short minutes we were inside, and there it was, the Photon, all built up and just nonchalantly resting in a Guru display stand. It’s as if it were saying, ‘oh hey there, yeah I’m ten pounds full build, what of it?’
Sheer carbon glory (I can't believe we didn't take a picture).
Unfortunately we don’t have a picture of the build up, as my camera died and Carl was far too absorbed in taking pictures of Guru’s Dynamic Fit Unit (Remote controlled fit while you pedal!). The build of the Photon was impressive though, and it did weigh ten pounds, wheels, tires, basket, bell, streamers, baseball cards and all. We picked it up, we know.
For now I think I’ll wrap up this rambling diatribe through Guru, but check back, because they also showed us just a little bit about how they make their steel and titanium rigs.
All in all, the trip was good. We learned (and have now exposed) the coveted secrets of how Guru makes their carbon bicycles in house, and during the long drive back to Massachusetts we pondered these secrets. Ok, so we really took naps, ate cheese doodles, and tried to think of the perfect name for a cycling team, but we would like for you think that we pondered them.
Carl
Frances
lauraraybould
