Rumors of the BMC Pro Machine SLC 01 first emerged in the days before the 2005 Tour de France. In the months before its official release in the Fall of 2005 we received more email inquiring about it than any other 2006 bike introduction. This extent of anticipation makes sense given that it takes the place of the Team Machine SLT 01 at the top of the BMC line. The Team Machine was a bike that time and time again awed anyone lucky enough to ride it -- it offered a combination of lightness, smoothness, and road feel second to none. The notion that BMC could produce a new model that offered so many refinements over the nearly-perfect design of the Team Machine -- that was serious news.

Not unlike the Team Machine, the first thing that hits you about the Pro Machine is how unbelievably gorgeous it is. It's posibly the most artfully sculpted carbon bike we've ever seen. The whole bike is carbon -- dropouts, headset cups, seat collar, everything (well, except the BB shell, which by necessity has to be alloy). BMC pulled this off by working with Easton to utilize their CNT nanotechnology carbon manufacturing techniques. Nanotechnology specifically addresses the fact that the weak link in carbon fiber frames isn't the carbon itself. It's the resin matrix (think of it as the glue that holds the carbon layers together) that has potential vulnerabilities. CNT is short for "Carbon Nanotubes", and it's the process of adding microscopically small carbon tubes to the resin to give it entirely new material properties.

Many people in the market show understandable concern about carbon fiber's ability to resist impact forces (i.e. how well the downtube can withstand the violent impact of slamming into a railroad bed or manhole cover at 30mph+), as well as its ability to resist crushing forces (i.e. when you tighten a skewer on carbon dropouts or tighten your headset when the bearing cups are carbon). While the carbon fiber used in the Pro Machine is no different than what BMC uses in the Team Machine, CNT nanotechnology so strengthens the resin matrix that BMC deems the Pro Machine "the safest, most durable carbon bike on the market." Given that it weighs a feathery 950g in size 55cm, that's an impressive statement.

Just like the Team Machine, the Pro Machine is built using lugged construction. The logic behind the Pro Machine's lugwork is completely new: The lugs are perhaps the longest you'll ever see on a carbon frame. Why? Because it moves the tube/lug interfaces away from the highly stressed tube junctures, and instead positions them into relatively low stress areas -- exactly where you'd see the wall thickness of a butted tube transition from thick to thin. This holds true for every lug on the frame. It maximizes the strength of the frame while allowing for the main tubes of the frame to be built with absolute lightness.

Another detail we love is the redesigned seat tube and Integrated Skeleton seat cluster. It improves the shock damping effect of the Pro Machine while (yet again) shaving every gram possible. One other eye-catching detail is the mammoth chainstay profile -- they're breathtaking tallness is one final measure to increase frame stiffness.

The Pro Machine is available in odd sizes between 47cm-61cm with a progressively sloping geometry. On smaller sizes where added standover clearance is needed most the slope of the top tube is at its greatest. On the medium sizes the slope is moderate. On the largest sizes there is virtually no slope at all. This being the case, we recommend that you focus first and foremost on top tube length when selecting frame size.