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Designed and crafted entirely in the USA
Paketa Cycles have been based in Boulder, Colorado, since the company’s birth in 2001. Boulder’s rich cycling heritage and extensive depth of both riders and technical cycling experts makes it the ideal place for us to design and test our proprietary extruded- and TIG-welded magnesium frames. The last two years have been all about testing, refining and delivering the first truly available magnesium bikes in the world. It wasn’t an easy road, but we never thought trying to revolutionize what bikes are made of, and exactly how to do that, would be. Why go to all the trouble? Well, when you try a Paketa, you’ll see for yourself. Riding is believing!
We invite you to “step outside of the box” and see just how much better a Paketa is than any other bike in the world. That’s a bold statement, we know, but we aren’t about being subtle. If you value ride quality as much as light weight and good looks, magnesium will force you to re-evaluate what bicycle frames should be made of.
The next step is getting you on our bikes . Let us know what we need to do to make that happen so you too can “Ride the Revolution!”
Paketa Magnesium Bicycles
Our mission is to build lightweight, high-performance bikes that ride better than any other bike on the market. We believe that magnesium is the best bike frame material available, and after you ride a Paketa, you will too. We custom build our road, mountain, and tandem bicycles right here at our shop near Denver, Colorado. Please email us if you will be in the Denver or Boulder area and would like to test ride any of our bikes including the famous V2 and V2r racing tandem bicycles. | |
All Paketa bicycle frames are built with custom geometry for a guaranteed fit. We work closely with you to build you the tandem, road, or mountain bike of your dreams. Click the links below for more information on our ultra light road racing bikes, our stiff, responsive, and compliant mountain bikes, and our superlight 21 pound racing tandems. | |
2013 Nationals: Paketa team riders and racers brought in lots of medals at the US Masters Nationals Road Race. Congratulations to all of our team riders including Dave Walker and Terry Malouf, the entire Radsport Team, Henry Abel, and more. Thank you all for your continued support. |
I want to personally thank you both for an incredible opportunity & phenomenal memories. The Paketa was so fast; so much fun to race. And, as a result of having such superior equipment, Steve and I flew through that TT course at Master’s Nationals, winning a gold medal. That will always be an epic event in my life! — Beth Graff – Gold Medalist, US Master’s National Championships, Mixed Tandem 110+ Time Trial
The Paketa Rocket Venus Road Racing Bike for Women
Engineered to meet the needs of the woman cyclist
Frameset Price: $3350
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For women athletes, four qualities of a bike seem to be the most important: weight, fit, ride quality, and looks. The Rocket Venus is specifically engineered to meet the needs of competitive female cyclists. Paketa’s specialty V9 tubeset, with its ovalized smaller diameter tubing and thinner walls, allows us to build complete bikes as light as 13.5 pounds with high-end components. No other bicycle can compete in weight with the Paketa Venus. With our custom fitting and geometry, women cyclists don’t have to settle for a carbon fiber bike with stock geometry. Now you can ride a light weight bike designed to your body and riding style.
When talking ride-quality, there is no comparison to a Paketa. Our exclusive double-butted magnesium tubesets dampen vibration better than any other frame material on the market without the “dead” feeling you get from a carbon bike. A Paketa custom bike offers a stiff yet amazingly comfortable and lively ride. Combine super light weight, custom fit, superior ride quality, and Paketa’s fully customized multi-color paint options and the result is the ultimate in performance women’s cycling. It’s unlike anything you have ever ridden before. |
What makes the V2r better?
Sometimes it takes a whole new look at an old problem in order to make the next big advancement in technological development. Nothing magical in having the transfer (also called “timing” or “connecting”) drive on the left side, now is there? While it was conventional for many decades in tandem design, it’s hardly innovative. At least a century earlier, tandems put the transfer chain on the right side, behind the main drive ‘rings—like the 1895 Victor double-steering tandem below. So, in 2010, a mere 115 years later, what’s so new about putting the transfer drive on the right side, inboard of the main drive? Everything.
Custom Yoke to mount timing belt on drive side
The CAD-designed, CNC’ed chain stay yoke is a Paketa exclusive. Who else but the company that’s been working with magnesium exclusively for ten years could engineer this subtle work of art? Paketa introduced the worlds first – and still the only – magnesium tandem in 2005, and brings more experience in magnesium bicycle construction than anyone on the planet. The yoke design allows the transfer sprocket to fit in as close as possible to the center line of the frame, yet still provides enough clearance for up to a 28 mm tire—enough for even Clydesdale-class tandem teams to enjoy the benefits of a light weight Paketa tandem.
Lighter weight bike
While weight savings is merely one of the many advantages of the V2r design, many teams striving for lighter weight will immediately appreciate the difference. A V2r can easily save a pound (454 grams) overall compared to even our own industry-leading V2 design. The weight savings comes in with eliminating one spider-mount arm (two instead of three, as with the conventional left-side transfer drive) and the ability to use two lighter-weight single-bike cranks in place of a heavier tandem-specific front-and-rear crank pair. And, significantly, there’s no loss of stiffness or durability in using lighter-weight single-bike cranks since the bottom bracket axle bending and bearing loads are no higher than on a single bike.
Better gearing system
As for gearing range and shifting, the V2r again excels. The combination of 2X10 road and MTB gearing provides the same wide range as a conventional triple-chain-ring road setup. With a 39/53 double sprocket in front and 11X36 cassette in back (as shown in the photos), the gear range is identical to a road 30/39/53 triple crank with an 11X28 cassette—certainly enough for most any tandem team interested in racing or fast sport riding, for sure. And, with a double sprocket in front, the shifting precision is as good as any single bike, and any road shifter compatible with a matching MTB rear derailleur and cassette will work (SRAM™ Red™ Double Tap™ shifters, Red™ front deraiiluer, SRAM™ XX™ cassette and XX™ rear derailleur shown). Say goodbye to triple front shifters and substandard front shifting!
Bottom line
The V2r raises the bar, plain and simple, for high performance, light weight, and durable tandem design. Don’t follow the leader; be one.
*V2r design patent pending. Dave Walker, engineer, designer, and applicant. Design licensed solely to SXE, Inc., d/b/a Paketa Cycles. All rights reserved.
Paketa V2r Design Raises the Bar for High-Performance Racing Tandems
The award winning V2r has continued to be the fastest tandem on the road. With over 13 medals earned at Nationals in 2013, the V2r keeps proving itself everyday! Why is the V2r the absolute best racing tandem on the market? To start, the V2r is the lightest, stiffest, and smoothest riding tandem in the world. It’s unique design allows for the transfer belt drive to be mounted on the right side, making it extremely versatile with modern components. Crossover drive left-side transfer chains (or belts, more recently) are the product of bicycle evolution, which graduated from single drive chain rings to double, and then triple, chain rings for the main drive to provide wide-range gearing for a variety of riding conditions. Triple chain rings take up so much space on the right side that there’s no room left for the transfer ‘rings or sprockets; hence, designers moved the transfer drive to the left side where space was plentiful. But, with that comes several inherent disadvantages: Advantages of the V2r with right side timing belt drive.
The Paketa V2r tandem (patent pending) eliminates all of these problems in one elegant, integrated, and game-changing design. By mounting the transfer drive sprocket on the same crank spider, behind the main drive sprockets in the rear, all of the disadvantages of the conventional left-side-drive design are eliminated. Conventional single-bike cranks can be used for both the captain’s and stoker’s cranks, for starters. This allows the use of almost any crank, including state-of-the-art light weight carbon cranks, of any crank length to suit either rider. Because the bearing and axle bending loads are no higher than on a single bike, there’s no stiffness or durability penalty for using the very lightest single-bike cranks available—note the Zipp™ carbon cranks on the V2r in the photos. The transfer drive (Gates Carbon Drive™ belt system shown) is mounted far inboard on the right side, which also reduces frame bending in the boom tube under hard pedaling. Even all-out sprints by the strongest riders won’t cause frame “whip” and the unpredictable handling that results. Because of the innovative “compact open” low-top-tube design, frame sizes become almost irrelevant. Standover height is ample for almost anybody front or rear, and with a 72.5 cm (28.5”) stoker top tube you’ll never hear any complaints of cramped rear quarters. A quality adjustable stoker stem helps to fine tune the fit of the stoker. The V2 is available in a small, medium, large, and extra-large with different length captains top tubes. Captain’s top tubes are customizeable to the 1/2 centimeter. We can make a suggestion based on your measurements, or you can have us match your existing tandem or single bike. Our standard sizing goes as follows: Small: 54 cm, Medium: 56cm, Large: 58cm, XL: 61cm. “Hello and just a quick note to say we have been on the V2r for a few months now, and we are riding the perfect tandem! This is by far the best tandem we have ridden. Previous tandems owned were a Paketa V2, Calfee, Burley, and we still have a Co-Motion Supremo that is currently idle. The bike is very close to the V2, but it rides closer to a single bike, plus a little lighter with the single bike parts. Visually it is much cleaner with the right side drive. It is very responsive and efficient while pedaling. You don’t feel the internal torque in the bars and across the tires contact patch. The bike is completely stable at any speed and tracks on rails. The smoothness vs stiffness does not make sense, as if they are incompatible with each other, but yet they are both present in the ride. Great job!”- Trey |
Paketa V2r Frame: $8195
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What’s old is new again in tandem design
Archibald Sharp’s landmark treatise, Bicycles and Tricycles: An Elementary Treatise on Their Design and Construction, published in 1896, describes various contemporary tandem frame designs, including “no-lateral,” in some detail. For decades, this simple, open-frame architecture prevailed; sometimes with the addition of a triangulated stoker compartment. Around the 1970’s, various permutations with internal reinforcing tubes appeared with names such as mixte, full marathon, double marathon, up-tube (popularized by Fisher), all leading up to the currently popular “direct lateral” approach used by most manufacturers today. So, why would Paketa choose to revert back to a century-old design? To put it simply, the open-frame design was selected because our engineering and frame testing development program have proven it’s the optimal choice for magnesium—even Dr. Sharp couldn’t anticipate that advancement in materials. A comparable-weight magnesium tandem frame with a direct lateral tube would suffer in stiffness, strength, dent/buckling resistance, weight, or some combination of these deleterious effects. Archibald would approve.
Check out the new V2r tandem with a unique frame design that allows the belt transfer drive to mount to the right side of the frame, inboard of the main drive. Paketa tandem bikes is located in Colorado, near Boulder. Check your local dealer, or contact us directly if you don’t have a local Paketa tandem dealer.
The Paketa V2r tandem (patent pending) eliminates all of these problems in one elegant, integrated, and game-changing design. By mounting the transfer drive sprocket on the same crank spider, behind the main drive sprockets in the rear, all of the disadvantages of the conventional left-side-drive design are eliminated. Conventional single-bike cranks can be used for both the captain’s and stoker’s cranks, for starters. This allows the use of almost any crank, including state-of-the-art light weight carbon cranks, of any crank length to suit either rider. Because the bearing and axle bending loads are no higher than on a single bike, there’s no stiffness or durability penalty for using the very lightest single-bike cranks available—note the Zipp™ carbon cranks on the V2r in the photos. The transfer drive (Gates Carbon Drive™ belt system shown) is mounted far inboard on the right side, which also reduces frame bending in the boom tube under hard pedaling. Even all-out sprints by the strongest riders won’t cause frame “whip” and the unpredictable handling that results.
Lightweight, high performance travel tandem bicycles
NEW! The Paketa D2 and D2r racing travel tandems are equipped with custom made S&S couplings for easy take apart and travel. Now you can ride a lightweight Paketa magnesium racing tandem anywhere in the world!
The long wait is over: an S&S coupled version of the venerable Paketa magnesium V2 and V2r tandems are now available!! The name derives from the great French “constructeur” take-apart (“Demontable” in French) bikes of the 1940’s-1970’s, including Rene Herse and Alex Singer, from whom the inspiration for the very first Paketa tandem was drawn. We call ours the “Demon2ble,” or “D2” for short. Nothing else comes close.
D2 magnesium travel tandem – racing and recreational performance riding
- Travel version of our famous V2 racing tandem –
- Left side transfer drive
- Custom S&S couplings for easy travel
D2r magnesium travel tandem – high performance racing
- Travel version of our famous V2r racing tandem –
- Right side transfer drive
- Custom S&S couplings for easy travel
- Super light weight
- Any road bike 130bcd crank can be used for lighter weight and greater versatility
- Custom yoke adds stiffness and performance while accommodating right side belt transfer
- 44/44mm straight headtube allows use of tapered forks and headsets
Working closely with S&S, the team at Paketa have come up with the next logical progression in high-performance tandems, this time aimed squarely at the wanderer in all of us. Even as a daily rider, it’s still head and shoulders above anything else on the market except our own V2/V2r, and if you only have one tandem, this is it. As a travel tandem, it is simply without parallel. The weight difference is about three pounds vs. our industry-leading V2 or V2r design, creating the possibility of a sub-25 lb. travel tandem that packs into regulation-sized airline cases. The design philosophy is simple: no compromise! We’ve stuck with our standard, oversized magnesium tubing to ensure that the all of the stiffness, responsiveness, and exceptionally smooth ride of the V2 is preserved while still keeping the weight low and durability high. In order to realize this, we’ve specified custom-sized titanium S&S couplings, and the engineers at S&S have come through brilliantly with a novel concept aesthetically integrated with the frame profile (shown below) while providing all of the strength and durability S and S is known for.
Because of the innovative “compact open” low-top-tube design, frame sizes become almost irrelevant. Standover height is ample for almost anybody front or rear, and with a 72.5 cm (28.5”) stoker top tube you’ll never hear any complaints of cramped rear quarters. A quality adjustable stoker stem helps to fine tune the fit of the stoker. Our travel tandems are available with custom geometry or in a small, medium, large, and extra-large with different length captains top tubes. Captain’s top tubes are customizeable to the 1/2 centimeter. We can make a suggestion based on your measurements, or you can have us match your existing tandem or single bike. Our standard sizing goes as follows: Small: 54 cm, Medium: 56cm, Large: 58cm, XL: 61cm.
**we do NOT retrofit couplers into existing frames**