Competitive Cyclist

BMC RACE MASTER SLX 01

The heart and soul of the BMC SLX 01 Race Master is its careful pairing of both aluminum and carbon. Think of it as being made in two fundamental pieces:

(1) The top tube, head tube, and forward-most 1/3rd of the downtube are made from carbon fiber. BMC refers to this part of the bike as the "CNT Carbon Arc". The use of carbon here gives the SLX 01 its torsional stiffness. You'll never feel like the SLX 01 is jumpy or unstable, especially in high-stress scenarios like out-of-the-saddle climbing and sprints. The carbon has the side benefit, too, of damping road shock in a way you don't get with aluminum. Also keep in mind that BMC frames are made in conjunction with Easton, and Easton has mastered the science of CNT carbon. The beauty of CNT carbon is its supreme resistance to compression forces. Thanks to CNT, the SLX 01 (like BMC's top-of-the-line SLC 01) has full-carbon downtube cable stops and full carbon headset bearing races. CNT is the reason why the SLX 01 has the unique BSC ("Bonded Skeleton Concept") interface between the top tube and the seat tube where the split CNT carbon top tube mates to the aluminum seat tube with no alloy reinforcement. The top tube elegantly wraps around the seat tube in a kung-fu grip that ideally distributes your pedaling forces to minimize flex. From an industrial design perspective, it might be the coolest detail in the whole bike.

(2) The seat tube, lower 2/3rds of the downtube, and chainstays are all made from hydroformed, triple-butted 7005 aluminum. BMC refers to this as the "Aluminum Trident", and the use of aluminum here has one explicit purpose: Stiffness. It's the reason why the SLX 01 is such an ideal choice for criterium aficionados and riders who pride themselves on their sprinting skills. The down tube and seat tube are as wide as the bottom bracket where they mate to it. Ditto with the chainstays -- they're as tall as the bottom bracket shell where they connect. This massive surface area is all about power transfer. Hydroforming is the only technology that allows BMC to morph the shape of the aluminum tubes into different profiles along their length. This gave BMC the ability to put stiffness where it's needed without forcing the SLX 01 to ride like a jackhammer. Stiffness here doesn't translate into harshness. It's also why the seat tube can be built with such oversized dimensions at the BB shell, but then transition into a wind-cheating airfoil profile for the bulk of its length.

From a distance it might appear that the SLX 01 is built with an integrated seatpost, but in fact it's not. It's a design they call the Streampost, and while it offers the beauty, the stiffness, and the aerodynamics of an integrated post, it has the adjustability of a standard post. You'll be surprised by the thinness of the carbon walls used on the Streampost. This thinness is a function of the fact that no clamping forces are put on the Streampost. At the bottom side of the post is a wedge (not unlike an old quill stem) with a small bolt you pretension to put outward pressure on the seat tube, thereby giving the post some grip inside the frame. A carbon fiber cable connects this wedge to the locking bolt at the top of the post. Once the wedge is pre-tensioned you can still adjust the post up and down. And once the post is perfectly positioned you simply turn the locking bolt to hold everything in place. This locking bolt is literally an on/off bolt. It puts no tension on the frame. The first time you use it you'll be surprised at its elegance and its ease to use. The post assembly as a whole weighs a mere 220g. When you consider that there's no need for a seat collar on an SLX 01, the weight penalty with the Streampost system is nil.

The SLX 01 is a bike distinct from our historic best-selling BMC, the SLC 01. The SLC 01 is more traditional in many ways: It's full carbon; it uses a standard 31.6 seatpost; and its built to be light first, and stiff second. By contrast, the SLX 01 is for a different style of rider -- one who prizes stiffness above all, and who isn't obsessed with killer-length climbs (3+ miles) where bike weight starts to be of consequence. And one note on bike weight: We built up our first SLX 01 with full Chorus and Zipp 404's. It weighed sub-17 lbs. Sometimes it's hard to remember that frameset weight makes up less than 20% of the overall weight of a bike. Building an SLX 01 down to the UCI weight limit wouldn't be a difficult challenge.

The 2009 SLX 01 is identical in every way to the 2010 version (except for the paint differences) and is available in 6 sizes and in two colors, Blue and Yellow. It comes standard with an Easton carbon fiber fork built with an aluminum crown and steerer. It comes with an FSA threadless headset and the Streampost carbon fiber seatpost. It requires the use of an English bottom bracket and a braze on front derailleur.

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2009 BMC Race Master SLX 01 Pricing