French company, Time have been around for some, er, Time… Sorry, since 1986. One of a raft of companies setting out create a new French revolution in cycling technology within the same few years. Look, TVT, Corima and Time all pushed their unique focus on the relatively new and advancing technology, Carbon Fibre. Their own vision and famous French ‘flair’ brought them to the forefront of bike technology across the world.
The company initially began making pedals in the small French city of Nevers. Their pedals and shoes made a huge impact in the late 1980’s. The classic white and red Time Equipe were the shoe of choice for many riders and teams around the world, including Greg Lemond. The Equipe shoes set the shoe design trend for years to come.
Vive La Difference!
From pedals and shoes, the company’s carbon creators turned their attention to frames and forks in the 90’s. Many high-end steel and titanium frames were matched with Time carbon forks. The excellent reputation which the forks earned, led to full frameset production. Time’s early Helix Equipe HM frameset won fans for its ride qualities.
As the French so often do, they didn’t copy the methods of their fellow French carbon fibre manufacturing brands. Instead, they set about doing things the Time way.
Dream Weavers
Woven carbon tubes were the starting point for Time. On weaving machines which looked similar to those from an 19th century mill, Time set about weaving tubes from a choice of 25 different strands of carbon, kevlar and vectran. Each strand has a specific tuning property for each part of the frame.
This method is still used today, along with Resin Transfer Moulding. Time believe this method (Complete impregnation of resin into the fibres) results in a stronger frame, eliminating air bubbles (voids) in the resin, the carbon fibres used in this process are much longer compared to regular moulded frames. Frames contain up to 3 kilometers of fibres. This method results in frames with unique ride and road feel characteristics.
Time and Motion
While the pedals and shoes virtually sold themselves in the late 80’s – early 90’s, the sponsorship of teams through the 2000’s led to a broader awareness of the bike brand. The exploits of Quickstep’s fast-man, World Champion (2005) Tom Boonen, provided a huge boost to their world wide appeal.
Fast foward to today and the constant evolution of the company’s core products has led to the Time range of bikes, pedals, shoes and clothing becoming an exclusive brand. Aspects remain reassuringly familiar, the frames are still produced to the same methods and standards, the shoes still offer sublime comfort and performance. Read the recent Osmos 15 review in Road.CC here.
The latest XPRO 15 pedals bring their pedal system to the pinnacle of pedal technology. Ceramic bearings combine with cutting edge materials (hollow titanium axle and carbon body) to produce pedals weighing only 87 grams per side.
In 2021 Cardinal Cycling Group bought Time bicycles and Sram bought Time pedals
Check out our Time products here.
