Written by Jesse Carlsson
Curve is proud to launch the Titanosaur crowdfunding project - let's bring this immaculate 36-inch wheel drop-bar titanium gravel bike to life! We are seeking 20 riders to commit funds to help make the Titanosaur project happen - these funds will serve as the deposit for your Titanosaur with the final payment due before delivery in 9 - 12 months.
Commitment Required: AUD5,000. Balance on delivery
FPOI Date: 21 March 2024, funds to be received by this date
Number of Commitments Needed to Proceed: 20
Latest Delivery Date: 21 March 2025
Full Price: AUD13,999 (including 10% Australian GST) for the Force AXS level build or AUD12,999 for the Rival AXS level build. This includes global delivery. Details below
Why are we crowdfunding this? Time and time again we’ve asked ourselves, should we hit go? Should we launch the Titanosaur into the wild? It’s a risky and costly move. We have no idea whether any of you out there in the real world are truly interested in buying a Titanosaur - it’s a super niche product within a niche within a niche. We need your help.
Getting financial commitments from 20 riders will confirm there is sufficient interest to push forward with this awesome project and bring stunning titanium bikes to the tall people of the world. The early financial commitments will fund the costly final stages of development which includes producing a custom fork mold as well as lab testing the final rounds of prototype forks and frames.
If we don’t secure commitments from 20 people by the FPOI (fist-pump of interest) date, we will refund the money to those who made commitments, cancel the project and quietly sob to ourselves for a few weeks or years.
Before we get too far in, please note that all images in this post show prototype Titanosaurs (in size L) and some prototype components - not the final product. The final product will look a little different - the frame silhouette will not change materially but the fork will be carbon, not titanium as pictured here. The artwork on the final frame, wheels and fork will align with Curve's branding at the time of delivery. You're going to have to trust us on this, but the final product will look sharp. We will keep you updated along the way as we tick off the key project milestones.
What is the Titanosaur?
The Titanosaur is a titanium gravel bike for tall people (or shorter people who are extroverts - more on this later). It’s a drop-bar titanium 36-inch wheel bike designed to ride like the other bikes in the Curve range. The builds will feature a new carbon fork and Curve’s 36” Coop Hoops, our new carbon rim wheel.
The Titanosaur works best for riders 183 cm (6 feet) and taller, but with sizes M - 4XL available, the Titanosaur can accommodate riders from 172 cm (5’ 7”) up to 220 cm (7’ 3”) tall.
Notable features include:
- Titanium frame with 3D printed elements to improve strength
- The frame will be built around the Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) standard allowing the use of SRAM Transmission derailleurs
- Boost spacing
- New Curve Ride 500 carbon fork with VGM mounts, capable of supporting 7 kg of load on each fork leg. Flat mount with 200mm rotors
- SRAM AXS 1 x 12 groupset. Two options: Force / X0 Eagle or Rival / GX Eagle. These “mullet” groupsets mix drop-bar shifting and levers with an MTB crankset, rear derailleur and cassette
- Brake upgrade to four-piston flat mount calipers
- Carbon rims - Curve Coop Hoops
- 60 cm Aluminium Walmer Bar
- Vee Rubber 36 x 2.25” T-Monster tyres set up tubeless
- SRAM / Zipp finishing kit
- Approved for gravel riding with a total system weight of 150kg
- Curve’s standard warranty for titanium frames, carbon forks and rims
- The final build specification is subject to change if availability and testing make it necessary
A gravel bike for tall people
The Titanosaur has found its niche - it’s a gravel bike for tall people.
For people standing taller than 200 cm, 700c wheels start to look comically small. Bikes for tall people have enormously long head tubes and the frames look wildly out of proportion to the wheels. It’s unavoidable. While bikes scaled up around the same standard wheel size work fine, they rarely look good. This means tall people have to make a choice. Get a bike that fits or get one that looks good. Not anymore.
The Titanosaur, built around 36” wheels, looks sharp. With its raked-out front end, and long wheelbase, the Titanosaur has a dragster-like appearance. In fact, it’s only at size XXXL that the Titanosaur silhouette starts to look like a conventional 700c bike. The Titanosaur is a high-performance gravel bike that will definitely turn heads.
The Curve squad has a heavy physics background, and the Titanosaur has been a rare project where that physics knowledge has been put to use. The Titanosaur has been engineered to create the handling and ride experience you’d expect from a high-end Curve gravel bike. The geometry worked on paper and it works in real life - we have convinced ourselves of that after four years of ride testing.
Once you get the big wheels spinning, they are hard to stop. The Titanosaur just wants to keep rolling. Descending is where this bike excels. The big wheels, functioning as massive gyroscopes spinning at the front and rear of the bike, provide an unmatched descending experience on rough terrain at high speeds. We have never experienced anything like it.
The Titanosaur makes light work of climbing steep, technical terrain. Even though the 2.25” wide tyres are not wide by modern MTB standards, the large 36” diameter creates a large contact patch in the direction of travel. That means a surprising amount of traction when climbing the steep rough stuff.
Full Disclosure - The Tyre Dilemma
We need to talk about tyres. Right now, and probably for the foreseeable future, there is only one tyre that will work on the Titanosaur for its intended purpose. ONE. You read that right. You will be stuck with the Vee Rubber T-Monster tyre, which we concede is not the best tyre on the planet. It’s a wire-bead tyre, with just an acceptable compound and heavier than it needs to be. While we would love to offer builds with alternative tyres, it’s not going to happen. We’ve done the testing and think that a lack of tyre options is no reason to hold up this project. The T-Monster functions perfectly well as a gravel tyre.
If by some miracle other, improved tyre options become available in time we will jump at the opportunity and include them with your new Titanosaur.
Warning - Extroverts Only
Just a final word of warning. This bike is not for introverts. People will want to talk about your Titanosaur, and they won’t necessarily be cyclists. “That’s not a normal bike, is it?” You’ll hear that a lot.
Riding a Titanosaur is like walking a puppy on the beach. It’s a great way to meet people and will work faster than any dating app.
How do I get involved?
Get in touch with Curve at sales@curvecycling.com to pledge your support for the Titanosaur. You will need to pay your AUD5,000 deposit before 21 March 2024, the FPOI date. For the project to proceed we need financial commitments from 20 people. If we do not receive sufficient interest your deposit will be refunded by 31 March 2024 and the project cancelled.
Upon payment of your deposit, if the project proceeds, you will receive a commemorative talisman to both protect your Titanosaur during its gestation period and remind you of its impending birth. Your talisman will be blessed by Curve’s Technical Lead, Jimmy Rostlund, who claims that his earliest known relative is one of the more powerful Norse gods. This is most certainly a lie.
The full price of the Titanosaur is AUD13,999 (including 10% Australian GST) for the Force level build or AUD12,999 for the Rival level build. This includes global delivery. The balance will be due before delivery in 9 - 12 months.
