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First Look! New Time Skylon Road Bike – Lighter, More Aero & One-Piece Construction

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2015 Time Skylon aero road bike

The upcoming Time Skylon road bike is a big advance for the storied French brand, changing up their trademark two-piece construction and giving them a proper aero road bike to drive the peloton.

The frame reportedly continues use of their RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) and woven tubes, but builds the frame as a single piece rather than bonding the rear triangle onto the front. It also bumps up some tube cross section sizes from what we’ve seen before, which helped them make the frame both lighter and stiffer. One of the benefits of their fiber construction method, which lays dry fibers into the molds rather than stiffer pre-preg, is that they can get more complex shapes and details. Here, they’ve used it to smooth each section of the frame into the other to give it better aerodynamics…

2015 Time Skylon aero road bike

Most noticeable is the junction from the fork crown into the head- and down tubes, but the upper headset cup sits a full one-and-a-half inches lower than their other race bikes. Time makes their own forks, too, all in-house.

2015 Time Skylon aero road bike

All of their racing geometry road bikes use a carved seat tube, and the Skylon follows suit. The seatstays are heavily shaped, likely to work with the frame’s embedded Vectran fibers to reduce vibration and add a bit of compliance. The chainstays use a new monobloc, asymmetric design to prevent power loss between the cranks and the full carbon dropouts.

Routing is internal, with the same frame working for both mechanical and electronic drivetrains. Bottom bracket is BB386.

2015 Time Skylon aero road bike

Word is it’ll hit shops in the next couple weeks. More details as we get them.

Huge thanks to Contender Bicycles in Salt Lake City, UT, for sharing the info and pics!

Time-Sport.com

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nightfend
nightfend
9 years ago

And it is all made in-house in France including their very own carbon fiber fabric. Pretty cool stuff.

T
T
9 years ago

That’s hawt.

ES
ES
9 years ago

Got to visit and tour the factory in Lyon last year. Extremely impressive. I can’t imagine how any manufacturer could possibly improve on their quality. The designs are fairly conservative but that’s mostly because the engineers spend years testing and validating every single detail. Even their proprietary headset design looks like something designed to work on the Mars Rover. Obviously, the costs are high because these frames are completely hand-made but something else to consider are the tooling costs. Not only do they make the aluminum molds for the exterior but they also have forms made to cast the wax mandrals. Just a lot of capital investment.
Got to ride a ZXRS while there and that Vectran stuff isn’t marketing jargon. The stuff works. Smoothest ride I’ve ever experienced aside from steel.

UltimateRider
UltimateRider
9 years ago

Great looking bike, beautiful lines. It would be interesting to see the wind tunnel data, but aesthetically, it looks very clean and classic.

Rico
Rico
9 years ago

Not bad but it looks a bit like the Willier Cento 1 Air & Merida Reacto Evo. I’d choose the time though for sure!

Rico
Rico
9 years ago

It’s also refreshing to see a demo bike shot with some man sized drop.

Ventruck
Ventruck
9 years ago

Time almost never fails to make a good looking bike. Sometimes they’re nuts with the logos but with the Skylon I’m counting just the downtube and fork. Love it.

Pacific
Pacific
9 years ago

I love the wheel arrangement too.

If I had to pick a brand that really stayed true, it’s Time.

Rémi
9 years ago

One pièce ? No, it’s a multicoque, like the other frame of Time.

badbikemechanicx
badbikemechanicx
9 years ago

It looks like a giant. I guess that’s the direction all carbon is going.

Seraph
Seraph
9 years ago

So is Time not owned by Greg Lemond? I’m confused.

MoreBeerPlease
MoreBeerPlease
9 years ago

Seraph, no more Time/LeMond. This is so beautiful!!!! I would like one with Campy RS please.

ES
ES
9 years ago

LeMond was acting as U.S. distributor for Time for a while but that ended. As far as I know, Time remains independent.

The more I look at this frame, the more I love it. Might not be the fastest or lightest out there, but you can ride with 100% confidence on this beauty.

I want one so bad. Hmmm…wonder what the going rate is for a kidney?

Bonecrusher
Bonecrusher
9 years ago

What are you clowns talking about? Lemond bought Time Sport USA last year. Nothing has changed.

Mike
Mike
9 years ago

I have a 2014 Time fluidity – matte blk with time logo black- murdered out with red trp brakes and industry nine red spoke hub wheels. I picked it up online from a Canadian dealer cheap. It is the best by far I have ever ridden. Butter smooth no flex.. Also have a cannondale evo himod. The Time carbon vectran concept is the best. One can get wrapped up in all the 5-6k framests from Asia with Italian stickers from Pinarello, Wiliier, etc., and even sweet custom Parlee, Calfee, Crumpton you name it. even BMC and their carbon weaving machine. None have vectran that takes out the road vide harmonics. I only wish they would try adding zylon for say bb stiffness as something new. Also hide brakes in front fork or behind it and hide rear brake at chain stay bb level. I wonder why they don’t have vectran in stems and handlebars they make. Now the real question is where does their carbon thread spools come from- china? The vectran? Their labor is mostly in cheaper counties in Europe so it’s not some perfect story- made in France. Lastly, U.S. dealers fully suck. They seem to have only one or two of last years bikes. No stems or not the one you want. I wish I could find one source somewhere in the world that actually had or could viably get their accessories without hassle.

BG Bicycles
BG Bicycles
9 years ago

Mike,

US Dealers do not SUCK. Maybe your attitude, or the dealer you happened to contact looking to steal a frame….sucked? As far as lack of inventory, no products, bogus, completely bogus. There are stems and frames available, Time doesn’t mass produce frames in a Taiwanese Sweatshop, so, there are limited numbers of products.

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