Designed and produced in small batch assembly in Time's production facility near Lyon France, the Alpe D'Huez 01 represents a frameset that is cutting edge technology, yet hand-crafted in a manner that provides a quality in ride and finish that is rarely seen these days. Offered here in disc with Time's stellar Aktiv fork, this thoroughbred is ready for a proper group and wheels to bring it to life.

The Alpe D'Huez 01 is nothing if a study in balancing the equation, with the emphasis on lightweight stiffness. The Time Quickset headset bearing and adjustment system allows them to keep the front low, with incredibly reliable and minutely adjustable bearing pre-load. A molded top plate slide down over the Kevlar and Vectran weave carbon fork steerer, sitting low and flush, ready to accept the stem in an aggressive posture, though it can still be spaced higher. The disc brake special ACTIV fork comes with built-in Carbon Matrix Technology (CMT) inserts to defeat and change the vibration frequency that travels up the fork. Now long descents after an arduous climb, let along the long rolling roads traveled to get there, have less of a fatiguing effect on the rider. AKTIV works, and though the fork is then a little heavier than its standard sibling, the benefits are clear and you don't sacrifice performance in any way. For reference, you can see the CMT offsets in the fork leg design in ACTIV.

The tube shapes of the Alpe D'Huez 01 are perfectly refined to manage the forces required, and to deliver pure structural integration. Time starts by using their carbon fiber weave made in-house. They use over 7300 total threads which total nearly 3KM in length. Three percent of the Alpe d’Huez's fibers are Vectran, a material more commonly found in tires (think the Continental GP 4000s II), which the engineers believe adds vibration absorption to a frame. Time then uses their Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) build process, which consists of injecting resin under pressure into a mold to obtain a solid homogeneous structure of the desired structure. The front triangle is a combined weave, while the seat stays and chainstays are built separately, then lug bonded onto the rear triangle. Time has deep traditional experience with lug designs because the systems can allow far more specificity within the tubes than a full compressed carbon lay-up.

The seattube cluster has an integrated and aero shape to it finishing in the rear at the aforementioned carbon plate of the seatclamp, and it houses Time's Directlink D-shaped carbon seatpost. The post is lightweight, and only available in a zero offset model, but has a generous adjustment system. The carbon clamp plate is held by two reasonable size hex bolts.

With the size and scope of the oversized bottom bracket junction, Time opted for the BB386 bottom bracket shell because of the flexibility it offers in crankset selection and how it complements the size and stiffness of the bottom bracket junction. A braze-on type front derailleur tab sits in a reinforced, shaped zone that is highly effective with the power of today's electronic drivetrain front derailleurs. Both electronic and mechanical shifting systems can be used, with all routing cleanly and efficiently internal.

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