Marca Frameset

WOW where do I even start? This really is it, what it comes down to; what we've been working so hard for is ready for the world. It was a journey (as you can see below) but at the end we couldn't be more proud of the outcome.

Backstory of the Marca
The Marca came up as an idea during the conception of Oak but we couldn't afford the making of our own mold so we advanced with the start of the brand using a mold that ended up becoming the Twilight. A great bike that was mostly used to prove a point: we can do this. Once that point was proven through sales, feedback and the growth of the brand, it was time to bring in investment and have a first go at this bike designing/ production journey. We're still figuring it out as we go but something that has been very important since the beginning was to be transparent—we shared the whole development process (ups and downs) and will continue doing so to infinity and beyond (again, you can find the development story below on this page).
There was one clear goal with this frame: to develop a high-end, competitive aero road bike that represents what Oak stands for as a brand—sophisticated design, joy, racing and family.
This might not be the fastest bike out there (we're not sure as we haven't taken it to the wind tunnel, we'll let you know though), or the lightest, but it is the most beautiful and it is competitive with the best of the best.

The "why's"
There's probably something missing (reach out to us with any questions you might have) but let's tackle the reasons as to why we designed the frame the way we did.

• Aero + lightweight: No, this isn't an all-around bike, it's an out-and-out aero road bike. That said, we believe aero bikes today can be developed to do anything.
  Details like the super wide fork, deep and extremely thin headtube, also extremely thin seatpost, low seatstays and deep down tube, shaped around the water bottle were all design decisions made to optimize the aerodynamic performance of the frame.
• UCI approved: Knocking on the UCI's low weight limit while maximizing aerodynamic performance (again, inside UCI standards) was one of our main goals).
• Geometry: We wanted something aggressive, yet comfortable and aerodynamic, thus the aggresive angles and high stack.
• Tire clearance: It was important for us to be able to fit big road tires and big chainrings on this frame. We're still in the process of testing so we'll have numbers soon but so far a 35mm tire is cleared with plenty of room.
• Bling/ durability: Again, this is a high-end frameset (even though the price doesn't say so), so we wanted to pull out all the stops—all bolts, axles and mounts (derailleur mounts and computer mount) are made of titanium. This ensures durability of the parts (no stripped bolts here!) and help remove weight on the overall frame.
• Handlebars: Designing handlebars was a hard decision because with one-piece cockpits, there are a lot of molds to be made to be able to fit everyone, with different sized stems and handlebars combos, we were looking at dozens of molds and we just couldn't afford that so to be able to offer a cockpit we were proud of we compromised—one handlebar width and 6 stem lengths. We went the aero route on the handlebars (370mm center to center on the hoods and 400mm outside to outside on the drops) and chose the most common stem lengths of the Twilight. We will contact every customer in order to send them the right stem length.
• Paintjob: A classy black & white paintjob. This is one of the areas where we saved money by going the simpler route. Helping us with SKUs, cost and weight, we believe we foudn the perfect outcome—a half matte, half glossy, gorgeous paintjob highlighting the actual design of the frame with edgy but still minimal branding.
• UDH compatible: 1x aero builds are a will be a big part of the design of this bike so it being UDH compatible was a non-negotiable. Shimano, direct-mount rear derailleur, titanium mounts were design to not only satisfy but exceed the neds of Shimano users.
• Tested & approved: The Marca passed the highest level of stress testing performed following international standards, performed by our trusted partners in China.
• Made in China: After lengthy research and a great in person visit, 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 excitment for it was essencial 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.

We'll be releasing a white paper on the frame by the end of the year with wind tunnel data.