PRIMO
3T’s most versatile bike - now hand painted in Italy.
PRIMO
The Primo changed gravel riding & racing forever with its unmatched aerodynamics and speed, on or off road.
WPNT = hand-painted in Italy
CHOOSE YOUR BUILD
WE PAINT!
As riders we know that the aesthetics of a bike are something to be taken seriously. The right colour, the right components it all adds to the package that has us throwing a leg over that machine time and time again. So we knew that when we were ready to bring frame painting back in house, everything needed to be dialled. From the quality of the paint, to the colours and the gloss of the finish.
Now we can proudly say WE PAINT. Starting with the iconic Primo WPNT lineup we are introducing our hand-painted in-house paint program. The WPNT program ensures we can bring the best colours and the best designs to 3T bikes now and moving forward into the future.
IT ALL STARTS WITH THE TIRES
To make the fastest possible bike, you need to start with the tires. Tire choice determines comfort & grip. But it also determines how you can shape the frame to redirect the airflow.
To aerodynamically engineer the frame around the tires, you need to know what their REAL measurements are. Not what’s on the label, but how they really fit. That’s REALFAST aerodynamics. But it’s not easy, as the tire dimension depends on the rim you use, the pressure and of course how accurate the manufacturer’s claimed size is.
So we took hundreds of measurements to learn the real tire widths (which we call WAM - Width As Measured and RAM - Radius As Measured) and use that to engineer the frame around accurate tire measurements.
The Primo is designed to fit road, cyclocross and gravel tires. In case adventure calls, wide 650b wheels can be used to maximize the bike’s capabilities and comfort.
Double check the maximum WAM and RAM of the Primo here.
REALFAST
Why is aerodynamics important on allroad (asphalt, gravel, fire roads, single track) rides?
- You may go slow off-road, but on the connecting asphalt sections you need road riding speed.
- If you’re slow because of gradients, aero doesn’t matter much. But if it's due to head- or crosswinds, you're slow relative to the ground but very fast relative to the air and that’s what determines the resistance you experience (that’s exactly why you’re slow).
- The Primo is also a great road bike in its own right. When using it for fast paved (group) rides, any aero benefit is appreciated.
We didn’t want the Primo to be fast in theory, but in the real world. So we tested at a realistic 20mph (32kmh) instead of the standard 30mph (48kmh) and optimized the frame for water bottles (tough to do long, epic rides without). We even designed the Sqaero shape to work well when covered in mud! The result? A muddy Primo with 40mm knobby gravel tires and 2 water bottles (red line in the graph) is faster than the equivalent clean round tube bike is with 28mm slick road tires and without bottles (grey line).
SQAERO
The key to the Primo’s speed is the aero downtube that is wide enough to catch the airflow coming off the big front tire (a skinny downtube wouldn’t even touch the airflow). But at 50mm wide, a full airfoil with a normal ratio would have to be 150-200mm deep, causing too much surface drag. So we square off the tail, keeping most of the aero performance with a 50x75mm cross section that is also close to perfect for strength and stiffness; our Sqaero shape. The wide downtube also help shielding the water bottles.
We also use Sqaero on the headtube, seattube, seatstays, seatpost and fork
PRIMO versus RACEMAX and ULTRA
The RaceMax, Ultra and Extrema all have a more gravel-specific oriented geometry, where RaceMax has been developed to be the best on fast gravel, Extrema to excel on fast adventures and tough races while Ultra combines tire clearance with versatility to handle tough terrains and adventures.
The Primo frame features a more-road inspired geometry, still granting for a very good tire versatility with 700c and even 650b when adventure calls. The perfect All-round bike.
design in details
SQUAERO FORK LEGS
Sqaero fork airfoil, perfect to guide the airflow around the front wheel and boost fork stiffness.
SQUAREO HEADTUBE, DOWNTUBE AND SEATTUBE
Squaero frame shapes complete the aero fork blades.
DROP CHAINSTAY ON DRIVE SIDE
Dropping the drive-side chainstay improves tire & crank clearance.
TIRE CLEARANCE
Fits up to 700 x 46mm tires and even 27.5”x51mm (2.0”), while keeping 4mm between any frame part and tire.
1X AND 2X COMPATIBILITY
1x transmission for simplicity and efficiency - 2x groupset compatible
SEATPOST EXPANDER
Aero-optmized and user-friendly just like on the Strada.
THREADED BB
All the Primo complete bikes come with threaded BBs without any alloy rings in the carbon (avoiding added weight, complexity and debonding risk).
RITCHEY RAIL CLAMP
Available for round and oval rails.
2 BOTTLE POSITION DOWNTUBE
When using one bottle cage, go for the lowest downtube position for the best aero advantage
FRAME SPECIFICATIONS
For frame specifications, component compatibility, clearances, etc, please check our PRIMO FRAME SPECIFICATIONS. Geometry information is found below
GEOMETRIES
| Size | S | M | L | XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rider Height (cm) | 157-170 | 168-180 | 178-191 | 188-201 |
| Rider Height* (inches) | 5'2"-5'7" | 5'6"-5'11" | 5'10"-6'3" | 6'2"-6'7" |
| Max. BB to saddle rail** (mm) | 763 | 790 | 818 | 845 |
| Stack | 517 | 546 | 575 | 604 |
| Reach | 366 | 378 | 390 | 402 |
| Headtube angle | 69.5 | 71.1 | 72.5 | 72.5 |
| Fork rake | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Fork axle-crown | 395 | 395 | 395 | 395 |
| Front center | 591 | 598 | 606 | 627 |
| Rear center | 415 | 415 | 415 | 415 |
| BB drop | 70 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| Headtube lenght | 101 | 125 | 150 | 180 |
| Toptube length | 529 | 550 | 571 | 592 |
| Seattube length | 463 | 490 | 518 | 545 |
| Seattube angle | 72.5 | 72.5 | 72.5 | 72.5 |