Until recently BMC was little known outside of Europe. In fact, BMC is one of Europe’s more visible bike makers. But don’t let BMC’s relative popularity put you off: it's not as if BMC is the equivalent of Trek or Giant in terms of manufacturing prowess. Moreover, BMC is a Swiss company designing superlative Swiss products. And, just like a Swiss watch, these beautifully sculpted cycling machines are functional and supremely efficient works of art.
Andreas Rhis, owner of BMC, is the founder of Phonak Hearing Systems (the world's 3rd largest hearing aid manufacturer). This explains why the former UCI professional racing squad, Phonak, rode the colorful and unique BMC SLT01 carbon frames in the early and mid-2000s.
For lamentable reasons, Rhis pulled Phonak's sponsorship support of his eponymous racing team. But Phonak's notorietary should not be due only to the drug scandals involving Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis. In the years Phonak supported the team they garnered an impressive palmares, a fact which propelled BMC's highly visible bikes to the forefront of curious consumers' most-wanted-exotic-bike list.
The SLT01 was at the time the most wildly exotic full carbon racing frame in the pro peloton. It was the frame that even pros eyed with lust and those fortunate to throw their leg over an SLT01 universally raved about its ride properties: it descended like mad, was buttery smooth, accelerated like a Porsche Turbo, and was amazingly sure footed for its 1100 Kg weight.
Once BMC got their teeth into manufacturing high-end road racing frames it wasn't long before they turned their Swiss eye for precision to time trialing: after all, they had some serious major tour contenders in their ranks, and getting on the podium of any major tour isn't going to happen without a dominating time trial performance. So, BMC pursued the construction of the optimal time trial frame with the same demanding detail and engineering single-mindedness that IWC pursues the craftsmanship of their watches. The end result was the world's most technologically advance frameset: the TT01.
If you are absolutely fanatical about time trialing or triathlon, and if you have the discretionary funds to fuel your passion for the sport, you can be one of only a handful of individuals who will own arguably cycling's equivalent of a Ferrari Formula One car.
BMC's Time Machines (TT01s) were engineered in conjunction with Birkenstock, Switzerland, manufacturer of super high-end composites for the cycling and automotive industries. Each TT01 is made as part of BMC's innovative Personal-Precision-Program which, similar to how Cyfac makes their frames, is a custom approach to perfectly building "sur mesure", bespoke frames for a select handful of clients. Like a finely made bespoke suit, Cadence's coaching staff works in conjunction with BMC's Personal-Precision-Program to ensure that your custom TT01 will fit you like a glove and thereby optimize your performance in the most critical of all cycling events, the time trial.
Cadence is the world's #1 resource for BMC TT01s. We have worked extensively with BMC and their USA distributor and have refined the design, build, and delivery processes to be as efficient and trouble free as possible. When you're dropping over $12,000 for a custom made frameset the last thing you need to worry about is build quality and design features!