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TECH NEWS

Rizoma's new 77|011 urban bike

Italian-made singlespeed is a head turner

Wow! The new 77|011 metropolitan bike from Italian brand Rizoma is a bit of a head turner.

With the lack of a seat tube and a down tube that morphs right into the chainstays, it’s one of the most distinctive bikes we’ve seen on road.cc in ages, and Rizoma are up-front about the fact that this bike is as much about style as it is about technology.

They say, “Elegance and harmony make the metropolitan bike more than just a means of travel, but rather a work of design and a declaration of an esthetic and existential philosophy.”

Blimey!

The frame is carbon fibre – you could have guessed that, right? – while much of the rest of the bike is machined from billet aluminium. That handlebar/stem, for example, is billet aluminium while the saddle is a combination of billet aluminium and carbon.

The 77|011 uses a belt-drive system rather than a traditional chain, and you can run it either fixed or as a singlespeed (with a freewheel) – it’s a flip-flop hub so you can swap between them. It comes with mounts for the optional brakes that are included but not fitted.

The bike is available in just one size. The saddle is adjustable between 91cm and 96cm – from the ground rather than from the bottom bracket, obviously – and that’s yer lot. If the best height for you isn’t in that 5cm band, hard luck, you have to like it or lump it. Rizoma aren’t claiming this is the most adjustable bike in the world because... well, it just ain’t, is it?

The handlebar width is 54cm and the wheelbase is 97cm. Rizoma reckon it weighs in at 8kg (17.6lb).

We haven’t got a clue what the 77|011 rides like – we’ve not been near one. We just thought you might like a look at the pretty pictures when you should be working.

The 77|011 is made in Italy and it’s available in both shiny carbon and matt white at a cost of €3,700 (about £2,970 on today’s exchange rate).

That mirror on the end of the handlebar, by the way, is called the Spy-R and it’s available in both silver and black to buy as an accessory for €79 (around £63). You can fit it to the opposite end of the handlebar for riding in the UK. Again, it’s made from billet aluminium, and you can fold it in if you need to.

For more info go to www.rizoma77011.com.

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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19 comments

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WolfieSmith | 12 years ago
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As I hear the occasional reverb of my left jeans leg rubbing on the back wheel when I free wheel, I wonder how long it would take to jam said jeans in the gap where the seat tube should be and go A over T....  39

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Coleman replied to WolfieSmith | 12 years ago
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MercuryOne wrote:

As I hear the occasional reverb of my left jeans leg rubbing on the back wheel when I free wheel, I wonder how long it would take to jam said jeans in the gap where the seat tube should be and go A over T....  39

You're doing it wrong.

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CraigS | 12 years ago
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I'd be scared riding an all white bike around London in case people thought I'd nicked a ghost bike!

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mrpt5 | 12 years ago
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Love it

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brakesmadly | 12 years ago
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I'm guessing that's 8kg (17.6lb)

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TheHatter | 12 years ago
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oi mate your seat tubes fallen off...

and yer ugly

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Ghedebrav | 12 years ago
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Belt-driven bonkersness. Italians, eh?

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Rob Simmonds | 12 years ago
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Doesn't this missing tube design get recycled every year or so?

...and the Pashley Parabike has the same swoopy downtube-chainstay and that's a design that goes back to the 40s.  26

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BigDummy | 12 years ago
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Want.

Chiefly because it is

Quote:

probably easy to carry

.

 16

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mingmong | 12 years ago
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Really beautiful. And, probably easy to carry.

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crazy-legs | 12 years ago
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My road bike weighs a lot less than that and it's got optional extras like a seat tube and gears and brakes...

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Nick T | 12 years ago
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3 grand is a lot to drop on a novelty bike though eh, it's like buying a 3 wheeled Ferrari.

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wild man | 12 years ago
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if you think those pictures are pretty, look at their website.  13

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pwake replied to wild man | 12 years ago
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wild man wrote:

if you think those pictures are pretty, look at their website.  13

Definitely worth a look. Was the bike on there? I can't recall!!

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benb | 12 years ago
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Quote:

It comes with mounts for the optional brakes

Optional?  39

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Mat Brett replied to benb | 12 years ago
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benb wrote:
Quote:

It comes with mounts for the optional brakes

Optional?  39

You don't have to fit them - although obviously they're a requirement if you want to be road legal in the UK. But if you can afford to spend three grand on a bike like this, maybe you'll just ride it around your private country estate or something.

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Simon_MacMichael replied to Mat Brett | 12 years ago
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Mat Brett wrote:

But if you can afford to spend three grand on a bike like this, maybe you'll just ride it around your private country estate or something.

Don't be silly.

This is more of a bike to keep at one's Belgravia pied a terre.

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jollygoodvelo | 12 years ago
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I think there was an old Bianchi in the 70s that was a similar 'art deco aero' shape. Beautiful.

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Coleman | 12 years ago
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"We just thought you might like a look at the pretty pictures when you should be working."

Spot on. What a looker!

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