After almost a month the frame arrived from France. The photos are not the best, but you can get an idea of its awesomeness.
First of all, the quality of the construction is amazing. This is not just an impression, it has been verified by carbon experts and experienced people in the industry. The fact that they weave their own carbon tubes in France (let's hope Rossignol will not alter this in the future) really shows. They use the more expensive 1k and 3k weave throughout and not UD which is more prone to cracks and delamination if hit.
Short chainstays (404mm) but due to the design of the downtube the clearence is enough. Here with 25mm gatorkins on narrow LW Ventoux, it easily accepts 27-28mm tubulars.
I also went for the new xpro pedals. I loved my xpresso but I prefer the smoother edges and the new looks. The pedals weight 226-227gr, almost 27 more than my xpresso 10 but they certainly look more robust.
The seatpost clamp is very simple without hidden parts in the tubes. The seatpost has a Naka D shape which make it stiff and light but also comfortable. One of the things I did not enjoy in my Skylon was its aero seapost. I found that it contributed to a more unforgiving ride, even with 25mm tubulars.
The design of the seatpost clamp is not the best but the wanted to keep the weight low so that was pretty much their only way to do it.
TIME also redesigned some of the cable exits. They now look nicer and more practical.
In terms of the heatbube. TIME uses its new integrated quickset with has a zero stack. So you can slam your stem and get a more aggressive position. Although the AdH and the Skylon share the exact same geometry AdH's headtube-headset allows for the rider to have 10mm lower position. The plastic cap on top of the headset has two versions: one to use with spacer-s and another one to use with a slammed (TIME) stem for perfect integration.
Did I say who awesome the carbon weave is? It is something we rarely see nowadays by mainstream manufacturers. Even Colnagos have now a UD top layer in their tubes which is a shame IMHO...
What about its weight?
This is weighted at my LBS with xpresso 10 pedals and without a bottle cage. It's final weight is 6.336gr. Since the fork is the same with the Skylon and I just moved everything from the Skylon to the Alpe d' Huez I estimate the weight for the frame (size M, 555 top tube) to be around 890 gr including all the hardware.
I have not ridden it yet so more comments will follow on how it rides.
My short test tells me that it will have this magic ride TIME is known for!
