Comparing their bikes to German cars, Andorra’s Focale 44 is a brand who’s out to make premium grade products. They admit there’s no magic behind it, but taking a high-end approach to engineering, design and manufacturing results in solid products their customers can appreciate long-term. Focale 44 offers a line of complete fixed gear bicycles, frame kits and components, however the company recently announced a custom titanium frame program.
Focale 44 will now design custom frames for buyers who want the unique ride properties of titanium with or without specific geometry, a unique design or personalized finishing touches as requested. Although their stock fixie bikes are inherently simple, they claim almost any design or option is possible within their custom program including road bikes, MTB’s, or whatever you dream up…
While their alloy and 4130 Chromoly frames are normally made in Taiwan, Focale 44 is working with a long-established European factory dedicated to making titanium products for the custom frame program. Custom buyers can choose whatever geometry they like, have an uncommon frame size produced, request desired specifications for the head tube, bottom bracket shell, dropouts, seat clamp, and even dictate what tubing shapes are used.
Its nice that Focale 44 is open to making frames other than fixies- if you want something with 130mm rear spacing and a derailleur hanger or an MTB with a 142×12 rear axle, just say the word. Finally, if you just want to ride a titanium frame but don’t have specific requests in mind, they’ll happily build you a ti version of one of their stock bikes.
The frames will only be available in raw titanium with a brushed finish. Small logos or customized text can be added to the frame, which will be sand-blasted on like Focale 44’s head tube logos. If you find it sacrilegious to equip your ti frame with a steel fork, they will build you a titanium one to match it.
Their first custom frame has been completed, which is basically a titanium replica of the Focale 44 Noble. The buyer requested the addition of cable guides on the top tube and bottle cage mounts on the down tube, and the finished 52 cm frame came in at 2.94lbs/1330g.
Prices start at just over $1500 USD (plus shipping costs), but this estimate is based on a simple reproduction of one of Focale 44’s existing frames. Expect the cost to increase as you add further customization or frame details. The company says geometry adjustments don’t affect the price much, and even with add-ons you won’t be shocked with a ‘twice-the-price’ quote.
Custom buyers should expect about a three month waiting period for production, and the frame will be packed and shipped by an express courier once it’s ready. Full payment is required when your order is confirmed.
Focale 44’s normal frame warranty is 1 year, but they are offering a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects on the titanium frames.
