Rapidé introduces the Tigré - A super verstatile hardtail for 2021
After three years in the making, Rapidé has unveiled the Tigré. It's a steel hardtail that's been designed to be mega versatile, offering riders as many options as possible to set the frame up however they would like. Be it with plus tyres, long or short travel forks or even with a single-speed drivetrain.
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The new Tigré is made up of a collection of 4130 Chromoly tubing which has been custom shaped and butted especially for this frame. It gets horizontally ovalised seat stays to provide some vertical compliance while maintaining lateral stiffness for enhanced power transfer and efficiency, says the brand.
The seat tube on this frame gets an oversized diameter which is meant to provide an extra stiff pedalling platform. It tapers towards the top of the tube so a seat post can fit happily.
As for the downtube, that's purposefully oversized and multi-butted to help save weight and add strength. Then the top tube is double-butted and shaped to hopefully absorb vibration and provide rigidity where it joins the seat tube. It's also dropped to offer a greater standover.
At the front of the frame is a forged tapered head tube which uses a zero-stack headset which allows the down tube to be attached to the head tube at a lower position which the brand says provides better support to the head tube while also enhancing steering accuracy.
Using the brands LSL (long, slack, low) geometry the Tigré is designed to run with up to a 140mm fork and a 35mm stem. With a 140mm fork fitted, the frame gets a 65.2° head angle, a 72.7° seat tube angle, a 435-455mm adjustable chainstay and a large frame sees a 487.4mm reach.
Because of the Tigré's special adjustable chainstay, it can be kitted out with a single speed drivetrain without the need of a chain tensioner. Although the frame is designed with a 145mm spaced rear end the bike can fit either a 142x12 or 148x12 hub thanks to those sliding dropouts. The rear triangle can also flex by 1.5mm to further help the cause.
The Tigre offers tyre clearance for up to a 29x3.0" tyre with boost hubs but it's also designed to run 650b+ tyres happily.
If you're after a hardtail frame that can be set up in multiple ways, the Rapidé Tigré will set you back R8,346.96, which is around £420.
It comes in three sizes from Medium to Extra Large and three colours, Metallic Red, Pearl White or Matt Black.