Time Alpe D'Huez 01 Long Term Review

1987. I was a sophomore in high school, and by that time I’d been riding road bikes seriously for about a year. I had a tri-color steel Schwinn Tempo with either 6 or 7 speed Shimano 105, and I’d just installed my first set of clipless pedals, a pair of Time Sports. At that time, clipless technology was BRAND NEW, like less than a year old, so you might say I was a bit of an early adopter

Alll these years later, the Time brand holds a special place in my heart because these pedals were the first “upgrade” I ever made…to…any bicycle. As a result of my affinity to the brand, I always enjoyed watching the greats like Bettini and Boonen slay the field on their Time frames and when I got my first ‘real’ road bike around 1997 - a Team Saeco Cannondale CAAD4 - I was thrilled to see that the Coda branded carbon fork was manufactured by none other than…you guessed it…TIME.

And then, out of the clear blue sky in 2020, THE GUY WHO SOLD ME THOSE PEDALS in 87 TOLD ME HE JUST BOUGHT TIME BICYCLES. No joke. I can’t make this up. Not long after that he invited me to be a brand ambassador, and sent me a frame - this bright red beauty, my Alpe D’Huez 01. I’ve been riding it for almost a year now, and I’ve even loaned it out to a few buddies - and we all agree: it’s one of the most well-refined road bikes we’ve ever ridden.

And the reason is simple: Time owns literally every step of the manufacturing process from thread to frame. Here’s what I mean: Time is the only brand outside of Asia that owns both the Braided Carbon Structure and Resin Transfer Moulding processes. This allows TIME to control every individual strand of carbon used in the construction of a frame. They’ve been doing this for close to 40 years and as a result they’ve elevated the standard in creating carbon fibre to match the level you find in a Formula One car

There are two key acronyms to remember here: BCS and RTM. BCS stands for Braided Carbon Structure and is Time’s process of weaving braids of fibres into complex bi-directional textiles of fabric. And since they’re weaving the fabric before it’s impregnated with resin they’re able to tune it with different materials – TIME currently choses from 16 filaments to perfectly tailor the carbon layups. The important thing to remember is that this process allows something that is unheard of in the cycling world; continuous, unbroken fibres that run the full length of a tube or structure.

And when the fabric is ready to move to production, Time employs Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) to minimize defects in the composite structure. By injecting resin under high pressure between rigid external and internal molds, air pockets are pushed out and voids between layers are eliminated. That means the resin can only flow where the precise moulds allow and only assume shapes that are intended, meaning RTM quality is extremely high-tolerance, uniform, and consistent yields a beautiful finished product. I’ve seen just about every frame under the sun cut in half, and Time is the only one that looks as beautifully finished on the inside as it does on the outside.

All of this fine tuning translates into a ride quality that can best be described as Refined Responsiveness. Tons of frames have one or the other, or a mix of both but typically when you tip the scales in favor of responsiveness (and stiffness and low weight) you lose REFINEMENT (which includes things like ride quality, compliance, handling, and comfort). A bike like a Pinarello Dogma is all responsiveness, and very little refinement - unless you let some air out of the tires. By contrast, the pegoretti marcelo is certainly responsive, but mostly refined. The Alpe DHuez is the first bike I’ve owned in a long time that creates an almost perfect balance between the two.

It corners and descends like the Dogma, and screams uphill like my old Cervelo R5. But when things slow down or it gets bumpy, the bike isn’t harsh and unmanageable making it really easy to stretch my rides out past 4 and 5 hours. And because it’s tuned for refinement it’s also super versatile: I ran it with 30c tires and my shockstop suspension stem for BWR, and loaned it to my buddy with the same setup for our annual gravel ‘training camp’ here in Temecula: 4 days, 250 miles, and 25000 feet of climbing with a 70/30 mix of road to gravel. Side note: don’t run 30’s with this frame unless you don’t mind scraping off some paint. 28’s are really about as big as you need to go, and if you need something bigger - the new ADHX uses all the same tech with all road geometry and clearance for 38’s.

So, it’s obvious that I really like this bike but to prove it I want to cite one thing - and it’s kind of a big deal: after 6 months of owning the Alpe Dhuez, I sold my beloved limited edition R5, which is a bike I swore I’d keep forever. Nothing I rode ever came close to the R5, but I knew after one ride on the time that the R5’s days were numbered