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Triton Bikes. Titanium frames handmade in Russia. Anyone? :)

446K views 1K replies 181 participants last post by  jallll 
#1 · (Edited)
Triton Bikes. Titanium frames handmade in Russia (see last pages for the latest news)

Hello everybody!

My name is Dmitry I am from Moscow, Russia.
I run my small custom titanium frame business called Triton Bikes and would like to share a few photos of our products with you.

Since I have always been mostly a trials rider and I know this scene through all my life, the frames we had built were trials-specific. I was a student and Triton Bikes was half-hobby half-business to me.

I dropped this business in 2007 because I was taking a Master's degree in Italy in France and could not control the production. Still people wrote me and asked to build them a frame. But I could not.
Then I worked for a European investment bank. But the crisis hit and I was kinda fed up with the office work, so I decided to give Triton another try :)

So here I am back with my tiny business.

Apart from biketrials frames we now offer all types of unicycle frames, from 20" to 36". Our 20" trials uni is only 520 grams and we are very proud of it :)
Our unis are now being ridden in the US, Canada, Australia, New-Zealand, UK, Germany, etc.

We have now made quite a few titanium XC frames. And they are a success among the riders. And since I am now an XC rider too, this direction is very interesting to me personally.

We can basically build a frame of any geometry. We are quite limited on tube bending since titanium is no game. But any frame is available (XC, road, fixie, etc). The weight of an XC frame varies between 1580-1800 gr. Our frames are not for weight-weenies. But they are strong and reliable. And most of them are still obused after many years.

There's no proper website yet, but it will be introduced shortly.

Please have a look at some of the frames and bikes.

I will be glad to answer your questions. Hope the administration of MTBR.com is not against this thread.



















 
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#2 · (Edited)
If you remove the prices (so it doesnt look like an unpaid advert) you might be OK.
Probably would have been better in the "frame building" forum too, but either way putting in prices (esp shipping price) makes it look like just an ad.
E: See you've removed - I would guess it'll all be good from here on :thumbsup:

Looks very interesting (I'm a sucker for custom stuff though), weld quality looks superb, and there are some great little neat-touches that I'm a big fan of.

BTW - if you want to send me a sample to test, I'd be happy to write up a decent review :D
 
#3 ·
Thanks, I removed the price tags.
I am sponsoring a couple of trials and unicycle riders (mainly to receive feedback on the frames), but since the business is very young, I cannot afford to provide a sample to test.

But I would provide a young promising athlete with a frame for a production cost price.

They deleted my thread at roadbikereview...eh..
I hope there's a proper way of letting potential buyers know about the brand.

There are different rules on different forums and sites.
 
#7 ·
mtnbiker72 said:
TWO THINGS

1. What grade of titanium are you using, we saw lots of Russian Ti in the mid to late nineties that was not up to par with the 3AL/2.5V or 6AL/4V titanium produce here

2. The name Triton is already used in the US for recumbent tricycles
Thanks,

1. We use OT4 Aerospace titanium which is an equivalent to international standard Ti - 4Al - l,5Mn.
I live in Russia and I know all factories and their products here. Back in 2006 there were two factories producing for Triton. Now there is only one, where I spend a lot of time controlling the production and taking part in it. This is what I enjoy. I do what I love to do.

The other factory signed a contract with the Russian ministry of defence and these guys are now building missiles :) They are not accessible to anyone else now. The whole area was shut for public.

There are a couple of factories I know that sometimes use inappropriate tubing and welding techniques that lead to faults. This happens especially in trials and other extreme bike sports where frames are being bashed real hard. We did repair a number of frames built by these guys. So maybe this is what you mean.

But I am proud of our frames when I see top Russian trials riders abusing them for years.
Of course they fail sometimes. But this hardly happens compared to hardcore alu frames.

2. The name Triton is used by hundreds of companies in the world to name their products.
Apart from tricycles, there are Triton mopeds, there is a bike called Gary Fisher Triton, there a lot more non bike related products named Triton, for example Ford's 5.4L V8 Triton engine.
The name Triton Bikes has its story, too.
A friend of mine, Luke, runs a bike shop in London. It's called Triton Cycles. Since he was an investor to this startup, we decided to call this project "Triton Bikes" after the shop's name.
The legal name of the company is Triton Bikes Co Ltd. here in Russia.
But if anyone is legally against Triton, I can make up a US-friendly name for the US :)

Cheers
 
#8 ·
I'm going to pretend I know anything about the different Titaniums....
If you have to change the name in the US, I'd suggest something distinctly Russian.

Comrade Cyles sounds cool to me but I can see where it might put other people off.....anybody else?
 
#9 ·
I'm now pissed off.

I need to replace my old hardtail frame (its getting old and not in great condition), but I need to finish my big bike first (which is another month or two).

I hate decisions :(


PS- I was joking about reviews - its a fairly standard reply whenever anyone posts a new product here :D
 
#10 ·
Oh god OT4.... the problem with indicating its equivalent to Ti 4Al-1.5Mn is NOBODY produces that alloy outside of russia and china, so there's basically zero material data available for it online.
 
#11 ·
DeeEight said:
Oh god OT4.... the problem with indicating its equivalent to Ti 4Al-1.5Mn is NOBODY produces that alloy outside of russia and china, so there's basically zero material data available for it online.
I know what you mean. Thanks to a 70 year isolation of Russia from the rest of the world. We have many things different here. Even the accounting system...

But...erm...do you ride the bike or analyze materials? Hope this does not sound kinda offensive..
When choosing a bike, I'd rather choose the one that feels good to me and enjoyed by other riders. Most of the customers that had ordered the frames had learnt about them from other riders.

"Custom" means we can use fatter or thinner tubing for stays, or different types of bb yoke. All these actions can make the frame either flexy or stiff. With the same grade of Ti.
 
#12 ·
gsomtb said:
If you have to change the name in the US, I'd suggest something distinctly Russian.

Comrade Cyles sounds cool to me but I can see where it might put other people off.....anybody else?
Comrade Cycles lol :)

I think my granny was still in her twenties when they last used that "comrade" for addressing someone :) By the way, in Russian translation it is pronounced as "Tovarish" (Товарищ).
Tovarish Bikes? :)
Could be anything actually.
Which words come up to you when you think about Russia? Apart from vodka, bears and matryoshka :)
 
#24 ·
Wow.

Some of the dropouts, disc caliper tabs, headtubes, gussets and other parts look very familiar to me. The BB shell on that trials frame looks faced, which is great to see.

It's also nice to see more machined parts that I'm used to. Have you figured a way to routinely introduce these in your designs?

Can you weld some Paragon dropouts on a custom frame?
How about some Hammerschmidt ready ISCG 05 tabs?
Eccentric BB shells?
Tapered (1.5" to 1.125") headtube shells?
Hose and cable routing concealed inside the frame?


And let's hope the second Ti tubing plant doesn't get involved in making missiles too.

By the way, Revolt Cycles sounds somewhat BMX.
Fallout Cycles maybe? )

(signed: yours sincerely, the guy with "leftist" derailer hanger ;) )
 
#25 ·
J. Random Psycho said:
Wow.

Some of the dropouts, disc caliper tabs, headtubes, gussets and other parts look very familiar to me. The BB shell on that trials frame looks faced, which is great to see.

It's also nice to see more machined parts that I'm used to. Have you figured a way to routinely introduce these in your designs?

Can you weld some Paragon dropouts on a custom frame?
How about some Hammerschmidt ready ISCG 05 tabs?
Eccentric BB shells?
Tapered (1.5" to 1.125") headtube shells?
Hose and cable routing concealed inside the frame?

And let's hope the second Ti tubing plant doesn't get involved in making missiles too.

By the way, Revolt Cycles sounds somewhat BMX.
Fallout Cycles maybe? )

(signed: yours sincerely, the guy with "leftist" derailer hanger ;) )
I know they can do ISCG05 tabs since my frame has them :)D)
The rest, I dont really know.

 
#26 ·
Hey, my Ti frame has them too )
This whole area on my frame looks very similar to yours, except mine has welded on covers resulting in a flat triangular shelf-like area behind the BB.

What I'm getting at, however, is how precisely parallel the tabs are welded in relation to the BB shell face. This is critical for proper Hammerschmidt installation.

I know that Lynskey do weld ISCG tabs in a Hammerschmidt ready way.
But I don't know if anyone has ever tried to mount a HS on one of these Russian frames.
 
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