REAP Bikes has launched its new Vekta aero-road bike. The Vekta is available now as a frameset (frame, fork, seatmast topper, headset), priced at £3,500, and as a complete bike from £6,450.
The REAP Vekta is a UK-made aero-road bike that claims a next generation frame performance. According to the company… ‘It’s more efficient from every angle: faster, smoother, and radically stiffer. You’ve never ridden a bike like this.
‘The Vekta is massively stiffer under power and steering forces. It isn’t a subtle difference – you will feel it vividly within the first few hundred metres. The secret ingredient is our unique carbon fibre construction method and exceptionally high-grade materials, both of which are much too expensive for other brands.
‘We can use them because we sell direct to the customer and, unlike the vast majority, we don’t outsource production – we are our own factory.’
Key features:
- Revolutionary carbon fibre construction
- Full monocoque frame, made in a single piece in the UK
- Category-leading aerodynamics and stiffness
- Integrated seatmast
- 28mm tyre clearance
- Exclusively for electronic groupsets
- Six standard paint options, plus custom
- Disc brake version to follow
- Weights (size M, uncut seatmast): frame 1120g, fork 380g
Paint options
The Vekta is available in six paint schemes, comprising three block designs: Gunmetal Grey metallic; Storm Blue metallic; and REAP Orange metallic… And three Fade-to-Black designs: Sea Green metallic; Sprint Blue; and Hyper Green metallic.
For an additional cost, customers can choose a bespoke paint design, created and applied in-house with REAP’s automotive-grade spray booth.
Citing a ‘trade secret lay-up method that radically boosts performance’, in a release, REAP outlined how the new bike came about…
‘Before the Vekta, we had never been satisfied by the performance of any bike. What’s more, we felt that progress had stagnated, to the extent that frame stiffness has barely been a talking point in recent years, as if most brands thought it was ‘good enough’.
‘We thought there was a lot of performance left on the table, so we drew on the engineering of our Vulcan tri bike to make the Vekta massively stiffer than any rival.
‘We used the technology that made a beam bike ride like a road bike to make a road bike ride better than any before. We achieved this in two ways: material selection and construction method.
‘Carbon fibre comes in many grades and, as with everything, the best fibres are more expensive. At REAP, the materials are selected by engineers, not accountants, and the Vekta is made with a blend that is over 80% ultra-high modulus Toray M40J unidirectional fibre. That’s a vastly higher percentage and grade than most manufacturers use in their top models.
‘Our raw material cost is around 50% higher yet the Vekta is very competitively priced; it’s a reinvestment that we can make because we are our own factory and we sell direct. Expert deployment is crucial to get the best from these materials and that’s where our 25 years of composite engineering experience are invaluable. The carbon fibre lay-up is intuitive to us.
‘The performance of the carbon fibre lay-up is boosted significantly by our trade secret manufacturing method, a hugely effective innovation that’s unique to REAP. We can’t tell you what it is yet, but we promise you will feel the difference it makes.’
As a monocoque, the Vekta is made in a single piece, whereas mass-produced bikes are typically made in a number of pieces and then joined. REAP points out that its approach is more difficult, but the result is an optimised frame.
‘Every element of the Vekta is designed for maximum performance. Sure, there are slightly lighter aero-road frames, but none that come close to the way the Vekta feels. We chose to invest a little frame weight to achieve a huge increase in stiffness which results in levels of steering precision and power transfer efficiency you’ve never even dreamed of. We know that you’ll feel it as soon as you stand on the pedals.
‘The Vekta is made using carbon composite moulds rather than machined alloy moulds. This is the gold standard and the Formula One method, and it avoids the differential in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE).
‘An alloy mould expands with temperature at a greater rate than the carbon fibre product inside it, losing some fidelity. Our carbon composite tools have a lifecycle of around 300 frames, versus 3000 for the alloy tools used in mass production, but we know that the difference in outcome easily justifies the cost and effort.’
Aerodynamics
The Vekta uses truncated airfoil tube profiles which make the airflow behave as if it were following a long, traditional airfoil, minimising drag, while being lighter, stiffer and more compliant. The performance of truncated airfoils hinges on how sharply the shape is cut off.
If the rear corners are too round, the air follows around them and becomes turbulent, and the effect is lost. REAP notes that a sharper radius greatly improves the aerodynamic benefit, but is very difficult to mould, generally too difficult for mass production.
Several other features are claimed to contribute to the Vekta’s speed:
- The wheel-hugging downtube and seat-tube profiles work to transition the airflow more cleanly between the wheels and frame, reducing drag.
- The tube profiles are designed for the latest wider aero wheels fitted with 25-28mm tyres, creating an optimised system.
- Dropped seatstays reduce turbulence and high-pressure spots around the forward-moving upper part of the rear wheel and tyre, which pull air with them against the airflow.
- Similarly, the wide stance fork aids smooth transfer of airflow to the downtube by reducing turbulence and high-pressure spots around the forward moving upper part of the front wheel and tyre.
- The flat toptube and dropped seatstays minimise frontal area.
REAP Bikes founder and MD, Martin Meir said “The ‘Wow!’ reaction from people when they ride the Vekta says everything about the bike and means everything to me. We set out to raise the bar of frame performance by a significant amount, to make a bike that race teams want to buy in order to have an advantage over what they might be paid to ride.
“For me, riding a frame where the performance is discernibly different makes me grin and gives me a level of satisfaction that only comes around a few times in your life. To take on the ‘big boys’ and beat them at their own game means that our slightly unconventional approach has delivered a product that we could only dream of a few years ago.
“This was the ultimate challenge and we have risen to it. Keeping the faith and battling through the tough times makes it all worthwhile as soon as you ride the bike.”
He continued, “REAP was partly born out of necessity. The ultimate ‘why’ was to keep working as an engineer for my own business. When the main client of my carbon composite engineering business changed supplier unexpectedly, it threatened to close our doors.
“My wife told me that I had to get another job…or a bloody good plan. The overriding thought in those moments was that I didn’t want to demonstrate to my sons that you should ever give up on a dream.”
Pricing
- £3,500 – frameset (frame, forks, seatpost/topper, headset, stack system)
- £3,950 – frameset with PRO Vibe Carbon Stem and Aero Handlebar
- £6,450 – SRAM Force eTap AXS with Parcours wheels
- £7,750 – SRAM Force eTap AXS with ENVE wheels
- £8,800 – SRAM Red eTap AXS with ENVE wheels
- £6,950 – Shimano Ultegra Di2 with Parcours wheels
- £8,250 – Shimano Ultegra Di2 with ENVE wheels
- £9,400 – Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 with ENVE wheels
