Factor Bike

SLiCK TT Frameset

Whether it’s the Queen K at Kona or the prologue at the Tour, the SLiCK TT Frameset from Factor Bike provides advanced speed to top professionals by effortlessly slicing through the wind. Proven quick in the wind tunnel and on the open road, the new SLiCK is a modern take on a frameset designed to help you stop the clock a little quicker and Factor worked tirelessly to create an even faster and responsive ride by always thinking outside the box in its quest to achieve these gains. Factor pushes these limits because it only produces road racing bikes and it has tons of experience coming from Formula One design and pours R&D into its products ensuring that it helps achieve more speed in real-world applications on the road and in races.

With the SLiCK, Factor sought to create the fastest TT frame it could to help the pros on AG2R compete on the World Tour stage. The aerodynamic technology and frame construction were influenced by its aero road frames and countless hours in the wind tunnel. Up front, the integrated, hidden front brake is shielded from the air and presents a minimal face to the wind. In addition, the wide stance fork legs reduce the disturbance of the air and the turbulence off of the front wheel as little as possible. These features are designed to work in cahoots with the bifurcated Twin Vane Evo downtube in order to take full advantage of the design with significant claims of reduction in air resistance. The down tube features a lengthwise cutout that allows air to pass through while also increasing the stiffness at the bottom bracket shell and headtube. While we've seen similar structures in forks, Factor is the first manufacturer that utilizes it to increase aerodynamics while adding stiffness. The 51 Speedshop multi-adjustable aerobars further does its part, helping maintain an aerodynamic silhouette while helping you dial in your position.

The unique downtube's stiffness that's added to the chassis provides responsiveness that's greatly appreciated on fast, technical roads and crosswind riddled training rides and races. Factor wisely adds seatpost offset and stem options to help you adjust your fit because we all know that's where the largest aerodynamic gains occur. Framesets will come with a 0mm stems, 0mm setback posts, and ski extensions for the aero bars. A 27mm setback post, +40 stem, and FSM and Ultimate extensions are available separately. Two other wind-cheating features include the behind the seat Carbon Storpak for carrying tools and food for those 6-hour training rides and an area for the Aerobar Mounted BTA, otherwise, a water bottle cage mount between the aerobar pads. This lets you use common water bottles which is a boon in races with neutral support.

Factor's work on the ONE is immediate on the SLiCK and the first easily recognizable aero feature is the tube shaping, which incorporates a rounded face with a more truncated trailing edge that is popular on many of the road frames populating the peloton today. The shape manipulates the airflow from the point of contact and tricks it into believing the tube shapes are deeper so it stays attached for longer. This reduces turbulence and the negative vacuum created by trailing drag than traditional tube shapes produce, but it doesn't turn into a destabilizing parachute when crosswinds shift the yaw angle away from its comfort zone. The tube shapes are accompanied by a handful of classic aerodynamic features, including the before mentioned fork and brake integration, an integrated seatpost clamp, and wide stance stays.

The stiffness afforded by the downtube continues through the bike with the massive bottom bracket, and built-up chainstays demonstrating similar efficiency. The down tube flows continuously through the BBright shell and chainstays to improve power transfer by reducing energy loss. The appropriately stiff cockpit further reduces drag and refuses to yield as you anchor yourself down in the aero position and spin out the watts. And with tire clearance for 28mm, it should pair well with modern aero wheels, without aero detriments, and deliver a smoother ride with less rolling resistance.

Of course, we couldn't talk about the stiffness and tube shapes without mentioning the carbon lay-up. Factor uses a unique RGi Carbon fiber on the frame and fork that's among the lightest, stiffest, and thus, most difficult carbon that can be shaped into bicycle tubing. Factor is one of the few to use it since it actually knows how to use it, and it's generally cost prohibitive.

Included with this frameset is a Ceramic Speed bottom bracket with Wheels Mfg. 24mm adaptors as well as a headset, stem, bar, and post so you'll have all the ancillary items you need for the build.