Never let it be said that the good people at Sarto Bikes rest on their laurels. If you came to the AC Invitational at the studio in August, you might have seen a new paint scheme from the Venetian custom carbon fiber specialists, a swirling, misty mountain, marble-like effect in gloss blue and a matt green. Except, you didn’t see a new paint finish. What you saw was what happens when the artisans at Sarto add an extra layer of uni-directional carbon fiber to the moulds, hand-manipulate it, and then send it off to the autoclave (a giant pressure cooker, in simple terms) for finishing. So, while paint-like in appearance, this ‘Black Marble’ treatment, as Sarto calls it, is part of the frame's final construction. To the eye, though, the difference might be moot.
What's not moot is the added ride comfort and frame resilience that comes from using an additional layer of unidirectional carbon fiber in the lay-up (BU45, for the tech geeks out there—and we include ourselves in that group). However, if you're looking for the highest-performing edition of the Raso, the comfiest, stiffest, and most resilient, the Tri-Composite is the one for you. To round out the technical bits, Black Marble also saves around 50-80g of weight, frame size depending, compared to a painted finish.
Aside from any performance benefits, the main story is that Black Marble is a unique, beautiful and complex finish that only Sarto, as a fiber-to-frame maker, could have brought to life. It also adds a fun element of personalization. That's because Black Marble comes out differently every time it's created, with no one frame looking exactly like another - a pleasing side effect of the by-hand process. You might call it Sarto's 'surprise me' frame finish.
For fans of handmade bikes, the nuance of Black Marble is that, while Sarto hand-forms all of its tubes, Black Marble is created by manipulating an extra final layer of fiber in a completely different manner, albeit still by hand. Extra-handmade? That’ll do.
Now you’re probably wondering why, if Black Marble is part of the frame’s tubes, you saw a gloss blue and a matt green example of the treatment at the AC Invitational. The answer is that the blue and green Raso models that drew your gaze featured transparent inks, not paints, allowing the Black Marble finish to come through while leaving a semblance of colour. Of course, if you prefer your Black Marble as the name implies, black is also available.
At launch, Black Marble is available for the Sarto Raso only - that may change in the future and if it does we’ll let you know. The good news is that it’s available to order today as a finish option with your custom Raso. Please note that, as with other Sarto finishes, Black Marble is a chargeable add-on.
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