From the little information I could find, this is an aluminium frame sold by Technique Sports in Melbourne, dubbed the SuperbikeMarkOne, which is largely based off the 2nd generation carbon Superbike that RMIT designed. They came in a range of sizes(51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56), my one measuring in at 59cm centre of BB to top of the seat post clamp, and ~54 cm horizontal length from the centre of the HT to the centre of the ST. The frame I believe is made up of two main halves which were welded together, and then the head tube, bottom bracket shell, rear brake bridge/mount, and dropouts were welded in. These sections were pressed and welded by Bocar in Queensland, before they went out of business, and apparently the tooling went for scrap. On my particular frame, there is full internal guided routing through the frame, for the rear brake, and both derailleurs. I also believe that there was never a fork made specifically for these frames. All the examples I have seen all had different forks, but I have noticed that a fair few had Columbus headsets.The fork attached to the frame now is a bladed aluminium fork with a steel steerer, but I also did recieve a 3T Funda carbon fork too, neither of which are original to the frame.
HT welds looks to be filed down a bit, but it still is obvious up close.
BB weld was not filed down. You can see the space for the FD with the cable exit hole, and the missing FD tab. Also note the bubbles or something in the powdercoat finishing.
Seatpost clamp for 27.2 posts.The top of the seattube is a flat piece which is welded on. The weld is filed down, but a small bulge can still be seen running along the edge.
Rear brake bridge is also welded in. Welds on the outside are nicely hidden.
And the otherside. This in in the rear wheel well, and all the welding was left as is.
And one long weld joining the two halves.
Underside of the BB area. There's a weld there, but I'm not sure what it's holding together. There also is either a drain hole, or a vent hole to help dissipate the heat from welding.
Rear dropout with untouched weld.
There is a serial on the bottom of the NDS dropout. Reads 58 B00381. Don't know if it signifies anything since no one else has mentioned theirs.
The other serial number is located under the seatpost clamp. Also the matching serial.
Internal routing. Hole on the left of the picture is the RD, middle for FD, and on the right side is the rear brake.
And exit hole for the RD. there is a cable stop about 1cm in. So it runs housing from the shifter all the way to the cable stop near the end. Then another piece of housing from the stop to the RD.
The original Superbike project began in 1992 and were used up until around 1997 before the UCI rules changed, and the frame design became illegal. Those were produced by Bike Technologies in Melbourne and a production frame/fork-handlebar combination sold for between A$2,300-3,500 bare. I'm not 100% sure on when the Technique Sports frames were produced, but I believe that they were actually made right up until about 2008, which wasn't too long ago. The review linked below states that they were sold with either Ultegra or Dura Ace parts. If this came out in the early 2000s, then it would be running 9s(6500 or 7700) stuff, but the review was written in 2006, when 7800 and 6600 groups had just come out. EDIT: Found this ad in the Australian Cyclist Magazine(Oct 07) which is selling an 18 month old Superbike which has a 10s DA group. Means 7970 Di2 aint too far off.
This was the latest screenshot of the SuperBikeMark1.com site, back from January 2008. I believe this was the main site for the Superbike, but there was also the http://www.techniquesports.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; site which was one of the decals on the frame. There is also a link which leads to a Cycling News review of the bike in 2006.
One of the features is lightweight. My bare frame weighs in at ~2300g, which is not that light at all, but then again, this frame is a chunk of aluminium, not a couple thin tubes. But the aerodynamic feature seems about right. The frame does look chunky from the side, but front on, it is quite skinny.
Anyway, the plan for now, is to leave the black powdercoat on it, and build it up with a 7400 group. Later on, it will be repainted, in a scheme that I haven't thought of yet, and I will see if I can get some Di2 onto it. The only thing that would prevent me from doing so would be the size of the FD which has a massive motor on top. The pressed in section on the frame was designed for a traditional braze on FD, and the Di2 FD may not even fit.
Now, the important question, drops or bullhorns? This is a temporary test fit of a stem I had lying around. I'll probably be using a negative rise(-25degree) stem that's about 100mm.
And I'll just chuck this here. Rear disc, 60mm front, and modern bullhorn and aerobar set up.
