Every now and then I like to visit a bike factory. The last one was Litespeed's, and the nice thing about a factory like that is you see what's on the cutting edge—what processes are on the cutting edge. When considering geometry or aerodynamics, you might think Cervelo on the cutting edge. But if you've got a little of the blue collar in you then you want to see how the sausage is made—the processes involved in making a bike.
I'm not going to write about Guru's factory now, because I'm noodling the idea of another article just on the world's important bike factories. I bring this up, however, because it is a singular reason for considering Guru. I had heard that this factory, all of 6000 feet of shop space, built bikes in all four materials (steel, titanium, aluminum and carbon). I don't believe any single factory does this. Frankly, I didn't believe that Guru did this, their protestations notwithstanding.
Upon visiting the factory I was proved wrong. Much of the shop floor is broken up into a gaggle of little rooms. In one all the machine tools reside, and in another fellows are fabricating carbon fiber lugs that will be cooked in CNC'd aluminum molds and bonded to round carbon tubes provided by Wound Up. In another room there are guys (skillfully) welding titanium, and I counted around a dozen Anvil and Helfrige frame fixtures that probably cost US$75,000 in the aggregate. And in the middle of the facility was certainly the nicest multi-room, down-draft paint booth I've ever seen in a facility that paints less than 30,000 units a year.
Then there are the people themselves, owners Tony Giannascoli (probably the most technically-proficient of the group), and Rob Pinazza, the head of sales. Adelina Giannascoli, Tony's sister, ably runs the office.
It would be a surprise for the average Guru consumer, or potential customer, to meet these people. Yes, this company is headquartered deep in French Canada. That notwithstanding, this is an Italian bike company. The first language of all Guru's owners is Italian (though they all also speak French and English fluently) and the company is run with Italian sensibilities. The tools are Italian. The mind-set is Italian—with one exception: these people do have the North American ability to see the big picture, and an eagerness to learn, instead of relying solely on tradition.
It occurred to me what is wrong with this company. It's its name. There is nothing about the name Guru that would give the market watcher the idea of the capabilities and seriousness of this brand. The only thing Italian sounding about Guru is that it ends in a vowel (except it's the vowel Romanian names end in, not Italian names).
That's pretty much my sole critique of the company (though when you read Guru's impressive coffee table book you understand why the company's name is what it is, and it makes sense). These people are serious, and deserved to be taken seriously. I can't divine their appropriate place in the industry, except to say it's bigger than that place in which North American retailers have currently slotted them. American bike makers would do well to pay attention to Guru. This is now the second Canadian bike company that is set to overrun a significant part of the American specialty bike market.
CRON'ALU
If there is a weak spot in Guru's line-up, it is in battling at the low end. There's nothing at all wrong with the Cron'alu, it's that Quintana Roo, Cervelo and Felt have batted each other around for years at the $1600 price point and Guru, a company only six years old, is in much the same spot as, say, a company like Javelin. It takes time to bring your higher-end features like rear-entry dropouts; cut-out seat tubes; aero seat tube and post complexes; to market at mid-range and lower-end price points. The Cron'alu is impressive, but Guru enthusiasts are going to have to be content with a very well-made frame, absolutely superb paint, and much attention to detail. If they are addicted to sexy features, this is not the Cron-alu's game.
At $1650 you get full Shimano 105 except FSA Gossamer Exo Drive cranks, along with Ritchey DS Comp wheels, Profile Design Carbon Stryke on a Profile Airwing pursuit bar. It's a fine value, but not leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. It's solid. The sizzle is more in frame construction (Dedacciai's 6110 tubeset, Guru's fine construction and paint) than of the Gruppo or sexy frame features.
You can also get this bike with an Ultegra 10sp drivetrain for just over $2000. Yes, you can get Ultegra 10sp for $400 less if you look one province over. But, "this Ultegra" has a bit more Ultegra. Just depends on what you want.
TRILITE
Takes things up a notch. The frame is made of Dedacciai's U2 tubeset, its answer to Easton's Scandium. It's got a carbon rear end, both seat and down tubes are aerodynamic—it's a bike on which one could ride in any race in the world and not be worried about being technologically outclassed (I believe Simon Whitfield's Gold Medal ride was accomplished on basically this chassis).
Yet again, it's a couple of frame features away from being the ultimate sexy beast. It doesn't have a boob job. But, it's absolutely well made, and made with love. Before you laugh at the "made with love," phrase, there is just a different ethic that inhabits a brand where the products are made just downstairs and one room over from where the owners sit all day long. What happens in manufacturing facilities is exactly what happens in human bodies. Once a mutation occurs, it tends to keep reoccuring if it's not fixed. Having the owners right there, checking the quality, well, Tony and Rob are Guru's anti-oxidents, repairing the mutations before they can really damage a production run. That's the sort of intangible that's not apparent on a spec sheet.
An Ultegra 10sp version of this bike will cost you right at $3000, and full Dura Ace 10sp is served up on this frame for $3860.
TRI'TI
Guru makes a bit if everything, and perhaps bites off more than it can chew. Time will tell. You have fabrication companies that, by the way, make bikes, and then you have bike companies. This is a bike company. If and when these guys decide there's any technical value in making bikes out of magnesium, or bamboo, they'll just do it. Right in their own factory. As it is now, they make their bikes out of steel, aluminum, carbon and ti. This bike is the ti. Or one of the ti models they make.
It's an all aero tubeset, with the proviso that you the down tube is sorta-kinda aero (if you want the whole enchilada you have to go one layer deeper into this company's product offerings). As far as I can tell, it's probably the most legitimately aero titanium tubeset outside of those fine bikes made in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The Tri'Ti will cost you $3900 with Ultegra 10sp, and it's damn hard to fine a first-rate aero titanium bike for under $4000 these days. With Dura Ace 10sp you're going to pull $4750 out of your wallet.
AERO TI
This bike takes titanium to the next level. Very few companies make a ti bike with a rear wheel cut-out. Certainly American Bicycle Group—that Chattanooga factory—does (with both Litespeed and Quintana Roo). If there is a third company that does this, I'm not aware of it.
The aero ti goes one step further, and inserts a carbon rear monostay. Does this really make the bike more comfortable than just leaving titanium seat stays in there? I don't know. That's a discussion for smarter people than I.
This bike is just about $1100 more than the one above it. Is it worth the extra dough? Man, I just don't know. Me? I'd probably take the Tri'Ti. But others might disagree, and that's what makes the world go 'round.
CARBONIO
There are a lot of bikes that look the way the Carbonio looks. One might say the "other" Canadian company's R2.5 shares a similar profile. It's a process that has really gathered traction around the world, because it's the confluence of an elegant way to make tubes with a neat process for making lugs, and one can change the angles of one's frame if one decides to. In the case of Guru, it's Wound Up that makes its tubes, and that's a fine name in the bike biz. About the only bad thing you can say about this frame is that the tubes are round. It's a really nice way to make a bike, but you have to be the sort of person who doesn't mind round tubes.
The Carbonio with Ultegra 10sp will cost $3600, about $300 less than a similarly equipped Tri'Ti. Hey, this Carbonio is a nice bike. But, if I had my heart set on a Guru, I'd be seriously tempted to pay the extra $300 and go ti. You can of course get this bike with Dura Ace 10sp as well.
CRONO
You can get this bike custom. In other words, you can get the frame made to your specs. At first glance, one wonders how this can be so, because this sure looks like the sort of frame that pops out of a clamshell mold. Not so. The tubes are shaped at one end and round at the other, and not until I saw these frames being made did I understand how customizable this bike is.
Plus, this bike is well thought-through when considering its engineering. I love the down tube, and the beef this frame has behind the head tube. The two things you know about it just by looking at it is that the frame is going to resist the sort of twisting and torquing that occurs when a rider is out of the saddle, and it's not going to buckle of you hit a pot hole. I would have to say that if it's a custom tri bike you want, and you want it out of carbon, you're at or near the top of the food chain with the Crono.
This bike sells for lo-$5000s to hi-$5000s depending upon Ultegra or Dura Ace 10sp.
CUSTOM
How often does one need a custom bike? I don't know. Not that often. However, when I consider my own situation, I've got nothing but a bunch of customs in my garage. So, I'm not one to preach on the lack of a need for custom. If custom is what floats your boat (or your bike) I guess I don't see why Guru isn't a more frequent choice in the marketplace. While I have nothing but good things to say about Seven, Waterford, Calfee, Serotta, and similar august brands, just look at these tubesets! If it's a custom tri-geometry tri bike you want, it seems to me you've got to seriously consider Guru before going elsewhere.
CONCLUSION
Great people at this company, great processes, attention to detail, upward trajectory, everything points to a bright future. Rob Pinazza, one of the owners, was formerly a drummer in a rock band, and a historian of percussionists (he and I talked about Louie Belsan, Buddy Rich, and modern drummers like Terry Bozzio). His favorite is Rush drummer Neil Peart.
With all due respect to these Canadian bike builders, and Canadian rock brands (like Rush), what do I think Robert Pinazza would want to say to the cycling world? If it were up to me, I'd choose a line from a Canadian band from my era: "You aint seen n-n-n-nothin' yet!"
Guru's website is here.
