Berk PROTO-TYPE Composites

Who are you (no off-topic talk please)

Moderators: MrCurrieinahurry, maxim809, Moderator Team

Post Reply
TARE
Posts: 35
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 10:27 am
Contact:

by TARE

fletch62 wrote:What about a lugged Berk version of the Colnago C40? Everyone raves about the ride of the C40, perhaps you could do an updated weight weenie version in your own style.


And I need a new bike. :) #prototype

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



trimenc
Posts: 111
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 2:39 am
Location: North Carolina

by trimenc

I would absolutely love to see a lugged frame from you!

User avatar
Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Maybe in the future, mostly depends from our "free time", recently extremely busy. Don't remember when it was like that the last time, working from morning till late hours, also all the past few weekends etc.,..hope that our customers were not impacted too much because of that, if so your understanding is much appreciated, and I'm really sorry for late answers per email! It is one of the greatest feelings to move to our own place, but also a very stressfull experience to move with the workshop. Didn't imagined that it will take soo long, but in a few days we will finally completely move and finally normal continue with the work.

It is almost 3 years since I moved from the workshop where I worked alone, to a larger 214 square m workshop. I spent some great time at the old workshop and the team slowly get larger, first with Andraz and later also Ales, two great friends and now our company employees. Meanwhile I also studied etc., and looking back at the last 3 years I have no idea how everything somehow worked all together, considering that a day only has 24h. But happy to continue in that way and giving our best!

Image
Here just a quick photo of how it looks like at this moment, on the photo is the lamination room, still a lot of work to do and then we can continue with the work...then we also have a smaller clear room and clearcoat area, so we finish all the parts completely in-house, like we always did.

User avatar
Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Hi to all!
Finally managed to log in on weightweenies after some time. Busy as always :mrgreen: with different projects, working hard on some great custom projects and some new products. We will put our shoes for sale this month, finally. Here some photos of a size 44. We will produce them in sizes 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 and 45. And then see how to continue in the future. Black only.
Great photos by my friend D.Krevs:

Image

Just out of the mould, with moulded rubber:
Image

Size 44:
Image

Image

Weight of size 44 is cca 160g, for smaller sizes it will be less. Waiting for other sizes to get them from our partner with which we produce those shoes, all handmade in Slovenia. In the second half of Jan we should have some stock, and then we will give our best to always have some stock if anyone will be interested. Price for the pair is 350eur shipped worldwide. For any questions etc. I'm here or you can drop us an email and it will be answered as soon as possible :thumbup:. Recently it took a bit longer to answer because our move, a lot of work, also a few days of bad health,..but somehow getting on the good way back after a few a bit more stressfull weeks.


I decided to share more of our R&D with you, also if there will be projects that might not hit production, but to show you how much work is behind some projects.
We are slowly adding new products into production. It's quite a challange, because one pair of hands can't do all the work, and I have that luck that I work with great people, all of them with great love for cycling. But it's still quite complicated to put new parts alive.

We also had to change a bit our point of view. Custom products are great for a one-man-band company. When I worked alone it was a different experience than now. We are a team of 4 at this moment, and we realized that we will have to produce adjustable parts, which can be made in stock, mostly to reduce the waiting time and to keep some control inside the company. So that is why we decided to keep only our framesets and our well known integrated seatpost/saddle combos as a custom product made on request.

All future products will be made similar as our saddles with saddle rails. With that I have in mind products that allow adjustment, but still keep the weight low. We will soon put on the market our seatpost (with the carbon clamp that can be adjusted from 0 to 15mm offset), and now we are working also on our carbon stems and handlebars!
We did present our integrated handlebar, but unfortunately decided that we won't produce it in that shape, but rather as a separate set. Why? The position of the handlebar is for each customer specific, there are diffrerent headtube angles, different widths, stem length etc.,...and it would all take too long to put all those details into one custom product as the integrated handlebar, and it needs to be adjusted because the different handlebar positions. So we made all the testing for the stem and handlebar, and decided to develop our own parts, which are in development and should be ready this summer.

Somethig with only 120mm drop and 70mm reach. As a classy oval/round and also an aero option (both with the same drops). Here just a 3D print during the development of the "classy" handlebar:
Image

Image

Later I will show you more...also the stem, which will be full carbon. As the seatpost also the stem is carbon only, the only metal parts are the bolts. We will present all those parts together once everything is prepared, in a few months.

Here another photo of the seatpost prototype, we already have the moulds for it and produced a few carbon seatposts:
Image

Image

Image

Here is an example to show you how the upper cradle/clamp looks like just out of the mould:
Image
I will show more soon!

SpecializedColnago
Posts: 227
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:33 pm

by SpecializedColnago

Those shoes look great Jure, as do the prototype 3D printed parts. I look forward to seeing the final production parts. I am glad I got my order in when I did for the SRP integrated handlebar since you are discontinuing them. I can't wait to receive it in the mail.

User avatar
Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Thanks for the compliments!!
We may keep the SRP integrated handlebar, but not sure yet, as most customers have really specific wishes and it's hard to cover them with such product. Not sure yet how we will decide, but will for sure keep you updated. We have all the tools to produce them, but the waiting time might be unreasonable long for it. But if the one who is interested can deal with 3-4 weeks waiting then it also shouldn't be a problem. Will give our best anyway, still we are open to any ideas or projects which we can discuss per email for those who may have any questions or would like something special :thumbup:

dereksmalls
Posts: 2305
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

Sounds great! Any estimated weights on the stem and bars?

KCookie
Posts: 1963
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 9:40 am
Location: Pom living in Australia

by KCookie

Looks like I'll be spending more money then, can't wait to see the handlebars. !!

mrlobber
Posts: 1928
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2010 9:36 am
Location: Where the permanent autumn is

by mrlobber

Berk wrote:Thanks for the compliments!!
We may keep the SRP integrated handlebar, but not sure yet, as most customers have really specific wishes and it's hard to cover them with such product.


I'm definitely on the list for the SRP integrated handlebar in its current form as well! :thumbup: Just need to "boost my cash reserves" as some central banks would say :lol:
Minimum bike categories required in the stable:
Aero bike | GC bike | GC rim bike | Climbing bike | Climbing rim bike | Classics bike | Gravel bike | TT bike | Indoors bike

User avatar
Berk
Carbon Cowboy
Posts: 1100
Joined: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Slovenia

by Berk

Hi, thanks for the compliments!

I have some good news regarding our new seatpost, which was already mentioned. To show you some more work of the process, the upper part is made separately, with a different resin system.
Image
It is made like that to get some specific properties we want, different to the seatpost tube alone. On the photo there is the solid carbon piece, just sanded. It isn't hollow because it would be stiffer, but we want some flex in that area, which we get with the design, layup and material choice.

Then it is bonded to the seatpost tube, which is stiffer and allows to be clamped anywhere. So there is no specific clamping area.

Also the clamping system is completely carbon, the upper and lower cradle is solid carbon. The only metal parts are the Ti bolts and ALU nuts.
Image
It is a 0 or 15mm setback seatpost, you only flip the clamping system for 180°.

Image

Image
We want to keep the weight low, so a 400mm seatpost is <140g.
A 300mm is <120g.

With our raw Lupina saddle:
Image

Mention that the seatpost is raw and we can finish it in matte or gloss look. Only 3K will be available because we don't like the external properties of UD, which isn't the best choice if you are clamping anything to it. It is a well known composite fact, but most manufacturers use UD because the market demands it, but in real it is used because most of the structure is made with UD, and to reduce the costs most manufacturers use it also for the external layer. Long story short - we will use 3K plain look on all our parts. From seatpost, stems and handlebars, to shoe soles and frames, 3K only (also the THM Scapula fork which is used with our frames is 3K plain, so it also matches perfectly). On the saddles still any finish will be possible. So we will have quite some work to put all the news on our website etc., will give our best to sort all the details till March/April. So I will for sure keep you updated. Extremely busy and the days are too short, working also durign the weekends, this year I belive I was only 2 days outside our workshop hehe.

Also some new packing material is used for our saddles and hopefully soon we will also send more of our shoes. So more details to come soon, we are giving our best
Image

Kumppa
Posts: 488
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2014 10:05 am

by Kumppa

Good looking job as always. Still loving my saddle.

SpecializedColnago
Posts: 227
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:33 pm

by SpecializedColnago

Awesome work on the seatpost Jure, I will definitely be contacting you about one when I start my next project. Your new packaging for the shoes and saddles looks mint as well. I am almost done assembling my new build and I can't wait to try the SRP handlebar out. I am sure it is going to perform as good as it looks. Keep up the R&D as well, it's always great seeing you put your spin on products.

Wingnut
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:41 am

by Wingnut

I was on the hunt for a seatpost but I think I'll wait for this one to be released...

Hoven
Posts: 146
Joined: Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:30 am
Location: Sweden

by Hoven

Planned price for the seatpost? Looks totaly amazing :beerchug:

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



CLEAR
Posts: 241
Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 2:20 pm

by CLEAR

Looks awesome... can't wait for the seatpost in 27.2

Post Reply