Alpitude has a brand new restricted version of ultralight Superleggero Ti Black 3D-printed titanium water bottle cages to both boost your personal fancy highway bike or stuff any person particular’s stocking. Weighing simply 14.5g a chunk and solely being bought in pairs – along with a hand-crafted picket field – the Alpitude Superleggero Ti Black cages now characteristic a brand new stealthy black Cerakote end and are incrementally lighter because of extra exact printing that leaves a smoother floor texture.
They’re undeniably costly at a bit greater than 13€ per gram – about the identical Walter White may cost you – however a pair of Superleggero Ti Black cages will bling out your journey and gained’t run you afoul of the legislation, except perhaps you might be already flirting with the UCI’s 6.8kg restrict…
Alpitude Superleggero Ti Black ultralight ltd 3D-printed titanium cages
Final fall, the Italian light-weight part makers at Alpitude launched their ultralight & ultra-expensive 3D-printed titanium water bottle cages. Now a 12 months later, they’re again in one other restricted version with a number of small key updates.
The obvious replace is their new smoother black end. Alpitude does love the look of uncooked titanium. However in a world of carbon bikes, it’s additionally laborious to argue with matte black. So Alpitude partnered with Cerakote to deliver their sturdy, light-weight & ultra-thin ceramic coating in-house to complete off these new cages (and sure extra light-weight parts sooner or later). I didn’t understand, however the skinny ceramic coating is sprayed on equally to standard paint, after which requires a particular oven to remedy it. Alpitude does all this in-house, then laser-etches on their brand subtly revealing the titanium beneath.
Much less apparent, however extra necessary actually, is what occurs beneath that Cerakote black outer ceramic layer. The largest change Alpitude made to their Superleggero Ti cages up to now 12 months was collaborating with a brand new 4-laser DMSL titanium 3D-printing accomplice, much less targeted on quantity & turnover and extra on high quality. The result’s a a lot smoother end of the cages straight out of the printer, which seemingly shaves nearly a gram off every cage ultimately. That smother floor can be higher suited to the appliance of Cerakote, and the decreased weight greater than offsets that added by the ceramic coating itself.
The tip end result, Alpitude instructed us the cages now weigh 14.5g every with the identical design. That’s down 0.2g or 1% from final 12 months. However Alpitude say that’s nonetheless throughout the +/- weight tolerances anyway, in order that they’re not calling it out as any actual change.
Tech particulars
- 1-piece hollowed-out 3D-printed titanium water bottle cage
- sandblasted, baked-on black Cerakote end & laser-etched graphics – all in-house
- 14.5g per cage (claimed)
- 199 individually numbered, restricted version field units
- solely accessible in pairs: contains 2 cages in a hand-crafted picket field with low-profile black titanium screws & a carbon quantity card
- restricted numbered version
2024 Alpitude Superleggero Ti Black – Pricing & availability
Though launching with solely a pair weeks left within the 12 months, these 3D-printed titanium cages Alpitude names this restricted run of Superleggero Ti Black cages the 2024 Bundle Version. Every boxed bundle sells for 390€, and simply 199 units are being produced. The vast majority of cage field units will probably be provided by Alpitude’s accomplice retailer outlets. The few units provided up straight from Alpitude appear to have already bought out.
