A Raamwerk frame starts as a set of custom-drawn aluminium tubes and ends up as the bike you ride every weekend. Here's the full journey.
The tubes
Every tube is made to our specifications. We design each profile to balance stiffness, weight, and what's actually manufacturable without costing a fortune.
The technique that makes this work is called tube butting, varying the wall thickness along the tube while keeping the outer diameter constant. Thicker at the stress points, thinner where it's not needed. Our seat tube has specific butting for the integrated seatpost. The junctions get their own profiles. Nothing off the shelf.
The welding
We use 7005 aluminium, it welds beautifully and has excellent tensile strength.
The catch with aluminium welding: heat changes the material around each weld. Which is why what happens next matters just as much as the welding itself.
Heat treatment and alignment
Every frame goes into an oven for T4 heat treatment, a thermal cycle that homogenises the aluminium and relieves internal stresses from welding.
Then alignment. Welding always warps things slightly. We check and correct every frame until the tubes sit exactly where they should.
We blast the welds with fine steel shot. Sounds rough, but it's precise work: the impacts create compressive stress on the surface, which dramatically improves fatigue life. Welds are the vulnerable point on any aluminium frame. This process makes them last.
Another heat treatment follows, called T6, an aging process that brings the alloy to its final temper.
Machining
Head tube faces, bottom bracket threads, dropout interfaces, these surfaces need to be exact. Some need to be exact parallel to each other, others need to be smooth (or both). They get machined after heat treatment so the final dimensions are spot-on.
Inspection and shipping
Every frame is checked before it leaves Taiwan. Then it's packed and shipped to us in the Netherlands.
Becoming a frameset
A frame is just a frame. We turn it into a frameset here in The Netherlands.
Coating
The aluminium frame and stem get powder coated. Carbon forks get 2K paint. First we mask off what shouldn't be painted, bottom bracket threads, dropouts, the usual.
Then: base colour coat, oven. Twenty minutes at just over 200°C. If there are multiple colours, we repeat the process for each colour. After that come the transfers, then a final clear coat. The clear determines whether you get matte or gloss. One final cure in the oven, and the masking comes off.
Final checks and smoothing surfaces
We inspect every frame, fit, finish, paint quality, transfer placement. The head tube and bottom bracket threads get a final machining pass. On disc frames we check the caliper mounts and smooth the surfaces if needed.
Assembly
Now it becomes a set. We add the fork, stem, ISP mast, and the smaller bits, like bearings and cable guides. Which parts exactly depends on what you've chosen, we'd rather send you only what you need than a pile of spares that end up in a drawer.
Need different parts for spare or an upgrade? We've got you covered.
Packaging
We use one box. It travels from Taiwan to the Netherlands, goes to the coater, and arrives at your door in the same box. It might have a few shipping stickers from its journey. No overly used cardboard in the process or just the last mile, you see the whole journey of the bike on the box. Inside, everything's packed secure and ready to build.
JOIN THE ALLOY ORDER
Be the first to know about new collections and special offers.
Building your bike
Your frameset is ready! Now what?
If you requested that we build your bike, we start assembling the whole bike to your preferences, parts you chose, cable routing you chose and handlebar and saddle height per your request. We make sure the bike is ready to ride. We will discuss the delivery to you personally.
Received your frameset at your door?
Build it yourself. If you know your way around a torque wrench and have the tools, go for it. There's something satisfying about assembling a bike with your own hands.
Go to your local shop. If you've got a mechanic you trust, bring them the frameset and the parts. They'll take it from there.
However you do it, that's the path from aluminium tubes to the bike under you on a Sunday morning ride.
JOIN THE ALLOY ORDER
Be the first to know about new collections and special offers.