Cornelius' Take on the Velocite Magnus

Cornelius at the ASU Sun Devil Crit

Before my Velocite Magnus arrived I spent a good amount of time checking out the photos and specs of the frame on dnadistributing.com.  The photos of the downtube struck me the most.  This was one stiff and mean frame.  When the Magnus arrived and I had it in my hands it became even more apparent how well crafted and purpose driven the design of the frame is.  Everything about the design of this bike is made for forward motion: from the tapered head tube, the massive down tube and bb30 bottom bracket, to the super stiff chain stays.  For such a stout bike I expected to see a weight penalty but, if there is one, it is not noticeable when picking up the frame or racing or training on climbs.  One of my first rides on the Magnus was up Mt. Lemmon, a 27mi (~43.5km) climb in my hometown, Tucson AZ.  Riding out of the saddle is a true joy on the Magnus, looking down at the bottom bracket area while out of the saddle there is absolutely no lateral movement and the bike rockets forward with each pedal stroke.  On the way down I was completely blown away at the stability and predictability of the bike at high speeds.  While Mt. Lemmon is not particularly steep, high wind gusts can get you up and over 60 mph (~96.5 km/h) very quickly.  The Magnus handled it without a second thought.  I had full confidence in the bike on every corner at any speed within two days of building it up.  With every other bike I've ridden the amount of time it takes to trust the bike and adapt to its riding style has been weeks or even months.  On the way back into town from Mt. Lemmon there is a city limit sign I always sprint for.  For me a sprint is always a huge rush of adrenaline and that's why I enjoy it so much.  The Magnus is the biggest rush I've ever had sprinting a bike. 
Brian Cornelius is a 26-year-old Category 1 cyclist from Tuscon, Arizona.  It is his dream to race professionally and he has been in pursuit of that goal since he started racing as a category 5 rider five years ago.  For 2011, Brian will race for the Tuscon, Arizona based team O2 Modern Fitness/Maynard's.

Velocite Magnus Detailed Build Report

When I first started looking at Velocite I was looking for a back-up race bike for My Bianchi 928 Hoc. Last season, that frame had been damaged when a stick went into my rear wheel and ripped my rear derailleur off. I took more than 6 weeks for the frame to be repaired and probably another 6 weeks trying to get a new, very hard to find derailleur hanger (I eventually had to settle for a used one sent to me by the manufacturer of the frame). During that time I had to train and race on my 15 year old winter bike, so this year, I didn't want that scenario to repeat itself.

The frames and the components looked great on the website and the prices were great too, seemed too good to be true. So at first I was a little skeptical, but after talking with Chad Hodges at DNA Distributing a bit, I decided to take the plunge, and if everything went well, even make the Velocite bike my primary race bike. The big items I bought were a Magnus road frame, a Noir 38/50 tubular wheelset, TLCS31 seatpost, FSA SL-K light crankset and the LICOS handlebars. About two weeks later I recieved the packages, I was very happy with finish on everything, the frame and fork looked exactly like the pictures on the website and as far as the wheels go, I used to work at a bike shop,  I've built and trued hundreds of wheels, and have seen many factory built wheels come thru the shop as well, some wheels come in straighter than others. These wheels were perfectly true and round.

Before I started the assembly, I weighed all the parts individually. I was happy to find that all the published weights where pretty much right on the nose. Below is a list of what I got for weights versus the published weights.

Item                                               Published Weight                My Weight

Magnus Frame*                             1115 grams Large Frame       1056 grams Small Frame

Bora Fork                                       355 grams                              365 grams

LICOS Handlebars                        176 grams +/- 5g                   178 grams

TLCS31 Seatpost                          175 grams w/decals               176 grams

Noir 38/50 Tubular Wheelset         1178 grams                            1174 grams

* The frameset had the BB30 crankset bearings already installed. To compensate for this I weighed the headset bearings and then subtracted that weight from the total frame weight.

The build-up was pretty straight forward. Below are a couple of notes on the build I felt worth mentioning.

Crankset:

This is the first Bike I've owned with the BB30 crankset. The BB30 system allows for a very stiff, very narrow (Q-Factor) and lightweight crankset, you need some specialized tools to install and remove the bearings, for a small service charge Velocite installed the bearings for me. 

Installation of the crank is actually pretty simple, there are couple of small seals that slide over the spindle, one for each side. The tolerances between the bearings and the crankset spindle are very tight, so sliding the crankset through the bearings was a little tricky. I put a light coating of grease on the surfaces of the spindle that the bearings ride on. The spindle passed through the first bearing pretty easily. Getting it through the second bearing was more difficult, at first the spindle didn't want to slide in. I was starting to think there was a problem with the alignment of the bearings in bottom bracket shell. There was a temptation to use force at this point, which I'm sure would be a bad idea. So I just kept fiddling with it. Suddenly out of the blue, it just slid in, this process of getting it through the second bearing took in total slightly more than 5 minutes, it seemed much longer. I don't think that it would be a bad idea to remove, clean and re-grease the spindle once a year to avoid any chance of seizure.

Rear Brake Internal Routing:

Velocite delivers the frameset with piece of plastic coated wire though the holes in the frame that the brake housing passes through to assist with the installation. You can take the wire, slide it into the brake housing, then pass the housing through the first hole and the use the wire to get the housing back out of the second hole. If the wire is too short, or is accidentally removed from the frame, it's probably easiest to work the bare brake cable through the frame and then pass the housing over the cable to get the housing through the frame. I used Nokon housing on my bike, so on rear the brake I had Nokon housing on the external areas, with a short section of standard housing where the cable passes through the frame, I used double sided ferrules on either side of the section of standard housing to mate it to the Nokon housing. Nokon provides pieces of clear fuel line to protect the frame. The fuel line also works for standard housing and is available in different colors at automotive outlets.

Seatpost:

The TLCS31 seatpost is one of the lightest available.  Everything on the post is carbon with the exceptiont that it uses two bolts and a front thumb adjuster nut to secure everything in place.  Once you get the seat mounted, you'll use an allen wrench to tighten the rear bolt and then use the front thumb adjuster bolt to fine tune your saddles position.

Fitting:

Over the years, I continue to constantly tweak my riding position, to ensure that my position transfers, and is common from bike to bike, before I cut the fork, I take photos of each bike and overlay them in photoshop. This allows me to make my position exactly the same on all of my bikes. The photo below is a comparison between my old race bike and my new Magnus. In this photo, it's really hard to see what's going on, In the actual program it's much easier. You have all kinds of tools, each photo is on a different layer and you can fade each photo in and out and also draw guides. One note on doing this, obviously you want to be as consistent as possible from photo to photo. If the handlebars are turned even the slightest bit to the left or right, it will it appear as if the reach to the brake levers is off. For this reason, I only look at the bars and levers for height. However, you can use the stem as a reliable reference point and then measure rest with a tape measure on the actual bike. In this picture, I'm almost finished. Level out and lower the saddle a bit and then twist the handlebars down about a 1 or 2 cms.

Conclusions:

In closing, I'm really happy with quality of my Magnus and all of the Velocite components I purchased. Velocite is a growing company that is very passionate about the quality and development of there products. Chad Hodges with DNA Distributing has always been helpful and very quick to get back to me with answers to any questions I've had.

Total weight of my race ready bike without pedals as pictured below is 13.75 lbs. With a pair of stainless Speedplays (206 grams), the complete bike would still weigh just over 14 lbs.

Velocite Helios - Raisin the Bar

We recently touched base with Saul to find out how he's liking his Velocite Helios.  Here's what he had to say:

When I first saw the Velocite Helios I was surprised at the craftsmanship and quality of the paint. As a pro-cyclist I have raced, rode, and seen the best bikes in the world.  I am passionate about cycling and only want a bike that looks as good as it rides. Snobby is a good word to describe me when it comes to the bike I ride.  I am very picky about what I ride.  I want bike that is ultra-light and responsive under me. I also need equally as much a bike that is latterly stiff so all my power is transferred to the pedals and not the fork, top-tube, or the seat stays.

I was blown away the first time I rode the Velocite Helios, because it exhibited all the qualities I love. My first ride I found myself riding an extra hour just to test it to the max to make sure I was not dreaming.  I road to the top of a mountain in my home town of Dalton, Georgia. I could not believe how well it climbed up the mountain and moved under me (for all you climbers you will understand this). I was equally surprised on the way down the mountain when I hit 65mph.  It descended in a straight line as if it had it's own mind and cruise control. For people that know me, I am a mad descendant and equally good going down hills as up them. The Velocite Helios does them both. The Helios is a bike that begs to be ridden. No matter if you are a Crit Junkie, Climber, or big guy with old man power on the flats this bike will solve all your cycling needs.  The Helios is street legal race car that not only will make your friends drool, but will smoke the competition.