Pegoretti Marcelo
In 2008 Dario Pegoretti won the frame builder of the year award at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. According to DreamBike.com, his frames are so good that professional riders call them "the best performing road frame on the planet."
Besides being remarkable performers, Pegoretti frames are also works of art. Dario is a skilled artist and the pop-art paint he applies to his frames makes them valuable collectibles. The Marcelo is Pegoretti's most popular road bike and it inspires riders to push their limits. In 2007, Tom Boonen used a Marcelo to win the Tour De France green jersey.
Guru Photon
Weight reduction has always been important to bike builders and that's the Photon's claim to fame. Guru head designer Mike McGinn's goal of building "the lightest bike in the world" was achieved with the Photon. According to Guru, the Photon's frame weighs an astonishing 747 grams and a fully equipped bike is about 12.1 pounds. New manufacturing techniques were necessary to make this possible and many parts that are typically bolted together, like the chainstay, rear dropouts and bottle and derailleur mounts, were moulded in one piece for the Photon.
Guru's Photon doesn't flex on steep climbs and Guru's designers didn't sacrifice road feel, handling or performance to reach their objective.
Crumpton SL Road
Carbon fiber is a favorite material of custom bike builders and no one does it better than Nick Crumpton. He's the winner of four best carbon fiber bike awards at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show and his SL Road was the upset winner of Bicycling.com's Editor's Choice award in 2008.
Crumpton's expertise with tube sets and raw materials produces frames that have exceptional road feel and durability. The joints in Crumpton's frames are so strong that tubes will fail before a joint will but there's still enough flex to keep wheels down on rough surfaces. After experiencing the SL Road's responsiveness and agility first hand, a Bicycling.com tester raved it's "by every measure of performance, a superior ride."
Article Written By Dan Eash
Dan Eash began writing professionally in 1989, with articles in LaHabra's "Daily Star Progress" and the "Fullerton College Magazine." Since then, he's created scripts for doctor and dentist offices and published manuals, help files and a training video. His freelance efforts also include a book. Eash has a Fullerton College Associate of Arts in music/recording production and a Nova Institute multimedia production certificate.
