Berk PROTO-TYPE Composites

[Berk]

Will think about the design as soon as I have the rough frame, prepared for some clear coat...the frame is already prepared for the last carbon reinforcements. As soon as I'll have some more time for any carbon work I'll laminate it...I'll let you know when I put the frame out of the vacuum bag

[JkAlentejano]

Great job on the frame! I would go for the pink\matte combination too, that way the bike would stand out in any expo or ride and would attract many more people to see it.
It's always nice to see your developments, keep at it

[Berk]

Thanks!


I just laminated the reinforcements..can't wait to see how much it will weight when I put it out of the vacuum bag!




The frame before the reinforcements had 746g. This time I made the reinforcements stronger as on PT4, where it was around 150g more after the reinforcements. Now it should be a bit more because I added more layers. But the weight should be quite similar as the one from PT4 because a better procedure was used..

So I guess it will be around 950g for the frame. If so, I'll be very happy, because the frame has stronger tubes and also the joints were laminated with a few more layers..we'll see! As I already mentioned my aim is to improve stiffness (although it was already good) instead of losing weight. I really like stiff bikes and equipment, and I'll use for this build also ALU bar and stem. On PT4 I have the Ritchey Superlogic bar, I won't say that it's bad, but somehow I prefer to have a stiffer bar. Probably I just can't help myself, I'm used to it because the past years

[BmanX]

I am thinking about running the Ritchey WCS C260 stem on my bike as the carbon stem that was on there is now on going on a project bar. I think the C260 stem in aluminum is only 103g for 100mm which I believe is pretty damn good as it is lighter then their carbon offering in the same stem. I think this matched up with their aluminum WCS Evo or Logic would be a very nice front end. I think the Logic II is only 233g for aluminum. No bad either.

[Berk]

I already have the C260 stem already more than one month, waiting for the new build
It's 130mm and 114g. The bar is 42cm (c-c) and has 243g.

[BmanX]

Do you like the stem. They seem pretty nice and the weight is great as well.

[Imaking20]

I've had no real complaints about the stiffness of my C260 stem but after 6-7 months of use I'll say the bars have slipped more in this stem than any other setup I've run. This thing hates sudden and abrupt bumps in the road.

[Berk]

It looks nice and I'll see how it will perform. I guess it should be ok. I won't race with it and also the roads where I ride are more or less quite ok, so I'll see..but I guess it will be next year

The thing that is more important for me is the handling at high speeds..usually I ride in our mountains, and you can reach also more than 90km/h on some descents without any problem, so I really don't want to "play" with some ultralight parts where it counts the most if you know what I mean. The same is for carbon wheels - I do love them, but the braking isn't that nice, so most probably I'll end with an ALU wheelset for next season. I had some financial problems and sold my carbon wheels, but we'll see...otherwise PROTO-TYPE 5 will have Ritchey parts, new Sram Red groupset, Enve fork,...and maybe I'll be able to get from my team a set of Ksyrium SLR wheels..

[Berk]

PROTO-TYPE 5 frame after the carbon reinforcements:


934g

Still quite a lot of work to do. First I have to sand the surface, cut the bottom bracket, headtube and seatpost tube, add cable stops etc.,...

It weights less than I though, it's even lighter at this moment than PT4, although the joints and the tubes are more reinforced..really can't wait to continue with te work on this one, I'll keep you updated!

[Kastrup]

PM me for account information and pricetag
Looks awesome. And thank you for taking the time to explain the dropout design to me.

[Berk]

I'm glad that you like it and no problem at all
If there are more questions just ask and I'll answer as soon as possible.


Here is the frame after I cut the BB and headtube, now it's 913g:



Still quite a lot of work to do - some more sanding etc.,..as soon as I'll make some more progress I'll let you know.

Otherwise the seattube angle is 73.3° and the headtube 73.0°. It may look a bit strange on that photo because the angle from where I photographed.

[Berk]

PM me for account information and pricetag ../

If there would be really some interes I could make some frames in the future. I finally get all the permissions a few days ago and registred my own small company that will official start on 5.11.2012 . Then I'll slowly make my own website etc.,..so I'll have some more news for you in the future.

I decided to finally start with it although I'm still just a student, but for the next two years I think that it's great to start and get some more experiences for the future. I started with it because I love this work, money isn't the most important motive at this moment. As long as I'm a student I can afford to start with it without any stress because it won't be nothing wrong also if I don't make any profit at the end of the month if you know what I mean. But of course it's welcome to earn something that I can afford to start with some new projects. And that's what I made also in the past years. All the money that I earned with some custom projects in the past went for new/better equipment, materials etc.,..

I still have to order a few papers, but otherwise I'm already registred for most carbon parts.

My aim for next year is to make some more custom projects for bicycles, compostie repairs etc., and also other parts (biathlon rifle, prosthesis, etc.,..). So most probably next month I'll publish some of the prices. Just have to wait a bit to to see how much extra costs there will be with the taxes etc.,...but I'll give my best to offer a good price for a combo .
I could also make a custom made frame, of course with bill and warranty, the same for custom saddle/seatpost combos. Regarding custom frames - I'm also in contact with Enve, maybe I could use also their tubes, but I'll have to wait till December, because they can't give me any pricelist at this moment, don't know why...but anyway, then again I prefer to make the tubes by myself, although it takes me quite a lot of time, but the design is unique, and also the layup can be custom made...I'll for sure have some more news in the future!

[JensK]

Congratulations on the registration with your company!

I do not write much here on WW but news like this I'll have to applaud! I really admire your work!

[Berk]

Thanks JensK!!

[BmanX]

Jure,

I will need a new 31.6 post and saddle combo for my new 29er project and wonder if you would ever think about bonding a carbon stem and bars together or doing your own design?