The Marca was an idea from the very beginning of Oak. This bike has been in our heads for years. Our goal was clear: develop a high-end, competitive aero road bike that represents what Oak stands for as a brand - sophisticated design, joy, racing and family. Oak is made up of people who love bikes and racing. We wanted to create the bike we wanted to ride. The Marca is built to compete alongside the world’s leading aero road bikes, without pretending to be something it’s not.
The Marca is built around a set of "why's". When we made decisions for this bike, we always thought about "why" we wanted a certain feature. Each of these helped shape the bike the Marca is today.
- Aero & Lightweight: While we designed the Marca to be both aerodynamic and lightweight, it's not a do-it-all bike. The Marca is an out-and-out aero race bike. It's not the lightest frame on the market, but we're okay with that. The Marca features a wide fork, deep and extremely thin headtube, extremely thin seatpost, dropped seatstays and deep down tube. These decisions were all made to optimize the aerodynamic performance of the frame.
- Geometry: The Marca is a race bike. It does feature an aggressive, racing geometry. But we focused on making it with a high stack height so riders can hold their aero position for longer. This also means riders can use less headset spacers and maintain the precise handling this bike was designed around.
- Tire Clearance: It was important for us to be able to fit wide road tires and chainrings on this frame. The Marca has clearance for 38mm measured tires.
- Performance & Durability: We wanted the Marca to come with the premium accessories we wish all bikes did. All the bolts, axles and mounts are made of titanium. The headset is a CeramicSpeed SLT headset. This ensures durability of the parts (no stripped bolts here!) and helps reduce weight on the overall frame.
- Handlebars: Designing handlebars was tough because with one-piece cockpits. We were looking at dozens of molds which as a small brand, we couldn't afford. This led us to offer a cockpit that we believe matches the trends and what most racers want. Our handlebar will come in one width and 6 stem lengths. In continuing to prioritize aerodynamics we will offer a handlebar that is 370mm center to center on the hoods and 400mm outside to outside on the drops. We will contact every customer in order to send them the right stem length.
- Paint Job: The Marca features a classy black & white paint job. This is one of the areas where we saved money by going the simpler route. This reduced SKUs, cost and weight and we believe we found the perfect design. A half matte, half glossy, gorgeous paint job highlighting the actual design of the frame with edgy but still minimal branding.
- UDH Compatible: 1x aero builds are a big part of the design of this bike, so the Marca being UDH compatible was a non-negotiable.
- UCI Approved: The Marca can be built to knock on the UCI's minimum weight limit while maximizing aerodynamic performance.
- Stress & Durability Testing: The Marca passed the highest level of stress testing following international standards, performed by our trusted partners in China.
- Made in China: After lengthy research and visiting multiple factories in China, we feel blessed to have found a factory partner perfect for the job. Developing this frameset with a factory and team of engineers that understood the vision and shared our excitement for it was essential and a big part of the reason for the success of the design.
- Assembled in Boise, ID: All frames and bikes follow 2 rounds of quality control (one in China and one in Boise), then are assembled, packaged and shipped from Boise, ID.