BEYOND BEAUTY: NO. 22 AURORA ROAD

Like many other artisan bikes that have ended up gracing our pages over the years, we first met the east coast No. 22 bike brand at the North American Handmade Bike Show.  It was back in 2018 when we got to test their Drifter gravel bike with a title (“Too Pretty To Get Dirty”) accurately summing up the essence of the bike. It was beautiful and it was meant to be ridden off-road.

For those not familiar, the number 22 is atomic number for titanium on the periodic table. The company was founded back in 2012 with shared parts of Canadian and American bike fanaticism. Today the No. 22 brand maintains their factory in New York with a workforce of ten people churning out everything from eye-catching track, mountain, road and gravel bikes.

No. 22 AURORA

And now we have the stunning Aurora road bike which is their first model to utilize all new 3D printed parts (stem, seat topper, rear dropouts). When we spoke to company co-founder Bryce Gracey, he said that this is actually the updated version of a previous Aurora model, which in addition to the 3D parts also has a new level of front-end integration and now a Cerakote finish. The level of effort required to get to the finished project was impressive to say the least as getting the 3D parts made by Silca was a two year long project. For the finish work they had to send someone to Cerakote’s factory to get certified on how to apply the finish.

Though best known as a Ti-centric brand, the Aurora uses a carbon seat tube with a titanium topper and No.22’s own 3D printed clamp. Beyond the bike’s stunning aesthetic, it’s the integrated front end that is most impressive. Starting with their own carbon fork, they’ve designed a new headtube to accommodate their own internal 1.5” titanium headset.

As for the production value of the 3D printed parts, Bryce said there were two key advances achieved. One was the ability of the stem’s lattice construction to bring the weight down to equal that of an Enve carbon stem. Second was the new 3D printed rear dropouts that ease an enduring manufacturing hurdle of incorporating the flat mount bosses which previously had to be welded to the chainstay and caused alignment issues. “With the previous method,” Bryce added “The frames would have to make up to four passes on the alignment table. The 3D part ensures a level of accuracy that saves time and smooths the build process.”

While a standard Aurora frame with raw finish sells for $6199, the full-pull Aurora frame seen here would fetch $7700 which includes the integrated fork, stem, headset, and seatpost. If you want the fancy finish it’ll cost an added $1500. The frame is available in seven sizes with an amazing palette of (raw, anodized, Cerakote) finish options. Just in case you fret at those prices, Bryce reminded that the titanium parts aren’t cheap to make. “Trust me, if we were real businessmen we’d be making carbon frames!”

 

For more:  No. 22 Bikes