Cycling Plus

SWIF TCA RBON R ACE VOX

A bike that aims to tick all the boxes

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SwiftCarbo­n has been producing frames for over 10 years and has revealed the newest addition to its roster – the Racevox. Almost two years in the making, it’s what the firm is calling its “do-it-all superbike”.

The Racevox’s seatstays have been dropped lower down the seat-tube (an industry trend), the cables and hoses in the head-tube are hidden and there’s an integrated bar and stem system - Vision’s one-piece ACR model.

SwiftCarbo­n claims that the Racevox balances the responsive­ness of a race bike, the compliance of an endurance bike and the aerodynami­c features of an aero bike. Sticking to the same geometry principles as applied to the Ultravox (rated 4.5 stars by BikeRadar), they’ve revaluated the blend of composite materials and tuned the layups of the Racevox’s carbon frame.

When SwiftCarbo­n sat down to develop the Racevox, it looked to create the ultimate race bike. Of course, it’s not the first company to have such lofty ambitions but the developers at SwiftCarbo­n decided to build a bike that could take on the real-world conditions of a gran fondo, with its varied conditions — tough climbs, open roads, questionab­le road surfaces, whiteknuck­le switchback descents and a dash to the line at the end.

So, what category does the Racevox fall into? Endurance, road or aero? “All of the above,” SwiftCarbo­n says. “We wanted a wellrounde­d package that doesn’t necessaril­y slot into a category.”

BUY ONLINE

SwiftCarbo­n is adopting the direct-toconsumer model, with the aim of streamlini­ng sales and service, and keeping prices down. However, while customers can buy SwiftCarbo­n bikes online, the company is also growing a network of partner shops in order, they say “to help customers get face-to-face advice on the right size, fitting and after-sales service”. R ACE PEDIGREE

While SwiftCarbo­n has a relatively short history, the company has developed models that have been raced to good effect – as proven by João Rodrigues’ recent win at the Volta a Portugal – and there’s plenty of that learning contained in the Racevox.

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