Bastion Cycles out of Melbourne, Australia, have a special partnership with Tom Warmerdam of Demon Frameworks out of Southampton, England. One Bastion/Demon frame will be built per country. And now, thanks to our most recent Bastion client build, you can scratch Mexico off that list (and 28 other countries, for that matter).
If you are looking for a unique bicycle and live in a country that has not been represented yet, this is one collab you shouldn't pass up. For now, enjoy the Bastion/Demon Project that we built for a friend in Mexico!
THE FRAMESET
Bastion Road (ISP Seat topper, custom fork, bar/stem) // Demon Project // Mexico.
This is the first Bastion we built with their new custom-made fork and bar/stem combination. Interestingly, it's also the first time we've seen carbon and titanium used this way. For the fork, Bastion printed a titanium crown bonded to carbon fork legs with more titanium at the bottom of the legs. The non-drive side titanium lower leg is longer to incorporate the disc brake mount.
The bar/stem is also unique in many ways, but mainly because the drops (hooks) of the bars are printed titanium bonded to the top (flat) part of the bars which are in turn bonded to the stem.
Everything is integrated with this system, so it's immaculate and tidy. The final piece to the front end of the bike is the headset spacer/top cap. Currently, there are two different heights to the top cap used to dial in the drop from the saddle to the top of the bars. The one on this bike is the shorter of the two.
The entire system is a bit angular in design, and, on some bikes, it might look a bit out of place. However, we think it ties in very nicely with the overall aesthetic of the Bastion frame. The only other thing to note is that the integrated system adds a bit more weight over a standard lightweight bar/stem and fork package, so if you're trying to minimize weight as much as possible, you can still choose the traditional type.
The cyclist we built this frame for likes to stomp hard on the pedals, so we chose the Road version over the Superleggera. This Bastion model uses a much larger down tube and a stiffer overall carbon layup. The central part of the frame is where you see the collaboration with Demon, as all the lugs are uniquely designed and inspired by medieval armour and art-deco streamliner trains. I'd say that they hit the look squarely in the jaw.
The red and yellow fade was the client's idea. We kept some carbon exposed and did the primary logo in silver chrome to match the lugs as closely as possible.
DRIVETRAIN
This drivetrain has a little bit of everything. Shimano Dura-Ace 11spd shifters and brake calipers, a Sigeyi power meter bolted to EE Wings titanium cranks and topped off with Carbon Ti rings. Dura-Ace front derailleur and an Ultegra RX rear mech were needed to handle the 11-34 Ultegra cassette. Ceramicspeed handles the bottom bracket and pulley wheel duties.
COCKPIT
We sent the Fabric saddle off to Mick Peel at Busyman. Then we had Bastion send him the paint rendering so he could develop a design for his handmade bar tape and saddle finishing. The bar/stem and post are all part of the frame and have been covered, which leaves us with the Dura-Ace pedals for getting the power down.
WHEELS
For the wheels, we kept it Australian with Partington's new (then) offering. Incredibly light and well handling, these were our favorite new wheels to come out last year. Vittoria handled the grip - we used the Corsa Control tires with tubes.
EPHEMERA
EE bar plugs, titanium hardware, Arundel bottle cages and Ceramicspeed headset bearings round out the build.
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