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Fit = Comfort = Better Performance
The Trillium Outlaw -
Sorry professional racers, this bicycle has been banned by the UCI. It's considered an unfair advantage to race a bicycle this light!
Do you need a carbon fiber frame to get your bike weight down to 14 pounds? Most people think so. How about tubular tires (the kind that are glued onto the rim)? Sure they're really light, but they're really not practical for everyday riding. What about tearing the leather off of your seat, or riding with no water bottle cages? That would lighten up the bike, right? How about drilling extra holes in the components, or riding with downtube shifters instead of new integrated shifting? Believe it or not, these are just some of the things that people will do to make their bike light....really light....like too light to race professionally.
Scott started talking with me about making a really light Rodriguez Trillium bike to have on the shop floor this season. A bike with all stock parts, and no crazy modifications (no extra holes drilled in the components, and the leather still on the seat). We've built a few of these for customers, but never one to put on the floor. When I over heard some guys in a coffee shop talking about their 17 and 16 pound carbon fiber bikes as if they were the lightest bikes ever built, I realized that we should have one of these on the shop floor for people to see. It's one thing for us to tell you that we can build a sub 15 pound bike (including pedals and bottle cages), and it's another thing to lift it for yourself, and see it weighed on a digital scale right before your eyes.
Paper Doesn't Refuse Ink
My Father-in-law always says "paper doesn't refuse ink". I've learned that he's right. Just because it's printed in a catalog, doesn't mean that a bike is as light as the printing says. I've seen bikes that weigh over 3 pounds more than their stated catalog weight. On occasion, I've pressed the issue with the sales rep. They usually said something like "I'm sure that was the weight before pedals" or "that was probably the weight for a smaller sized frame" or "you can't trust that scale". (I know my scale was right)
Nothin' Up Our Sleeve
This bike is one of our medium sizes (roughly equivalent to a 54cm frame), has 700c clincher wheels, Speedplay pedals just like the ones that many of us ride everyday, and a water bottle cage on it before weigh in. The shifters are modern integrated design, and all the components are stock with no modifications.
Trust but Verify
If you've got friends that are constantly telling you about their super light weight carbon fiber or titanium bike, come by the shop with them sometime, and we'll weigh it for them on our digital scale. That way, they can be sure that it's lighter than a steel bike (wink wink), and that their sacrifice of ride quality was worth it.
No Sacrifice!
The Trillium Outlaw gives you all the bragging rights of having the lightest bike, as well as the most comfortable and best fitting bike in the pack. The Outlaw rides comfortable like a steel bike because it is a steel bike.
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