KAREN'S NO22 AURORA

This week’s BOTW is Karen’s No22 Aurora.

Karen comes from a triathlon background, so naturally she is very active. Most recently, she’s got into gravel riding which is where our shared story starts. We met at last years Unbound gravel event, where Karen and her partners Dave’s bikes didn’t arrive in Kansas in time. Spirits unbroken, they instead volunteered to marshal the race and were still smiling as we cycled passed them at the finish.

A few weeks after the event we started talking about a new bike for Karen, and one thing that really stuck her mind was owning a bike that was handmade in the US. Hailing from Johnstown NY, No22's small team of craftsmen have over 50 years of titanium frame building experience between them.

“These are bikes that make you feel fast, bikes that make you look cool, and bikes that imbue a sense of strength, power and invincibility. Every so often, a bike comes along that carries all of these traits and leaves its rider speechless”.

– Jack Lynch, RIDE cycling

Blending the responsiveness of the Reactor road race frame with the versatile handling and confidence of the Great Divide, the Aurora is No22’s range-topping model for all occasions.

A top priority when developing the Aurora was to balance high stiffness and crisp handling with all-day comfort levels that only titanium can deliver. Despite an overall stiffness level approaching the race-specific Reactor model, the Aurora is the smoothest riding frame on offer. A combination of carefully shaped and butted tubing, svelte seat stays and the one-piece carbon seat mast result in a frame that smooths vibration like nothing else on the road.

The paint scheme came from a conversation Karen had with the guys at the Philly Bike Expo (they won ‘Best Booth’ and ‘Best Bike in Show’). Their conversation about a ‘pink champagne/ pink-purple’ was so loved by No22 that it has become an official stock color option!

Here at Signature Cycles, we’ve been lucky to deliver some of the best looking bikes in the world and Karen’s definitely comes in the top 3. There are so many amazing details on it; from the new Cerakote paint, incredibly crafted components like the fully butted tubeset (butted in-house by CNC) or the 3D printed titanium stem to the finishing with the new Ultegra wireless group and ENVE 3.4 SES wheelset. Everything on this bike perfectly complements each other and ultimately captures Karen’s dream; “classy yet fabulous”.