QUINTANA ROO PRSIX FRAMESET

Quintana Roo is pretty happy with their PRsix frameset. When looking at ways to improve it, they came up with an answer that looks easy in retrospect, the Q Box.

When setting up their rig for racing, many triathletes leave their gear, like spare tires, tubes, CO2 cartridges exposed to the wind. Securing them to the bike makes sense. But dirtying up the air does not. In so doing, the speed the PRsix gains you is reduced. So Quintana Roo went to the wind tunnel to figure out how to provide a box that can both store your stuff and speed up your bike. The Q Box did it. It fits all the stuff you need AND reduces overall frame drag. They put bottle bosses on the back of the seat tube, then designed a mount that attaches to those bosses, and a box that latches onto the mount. Each frame size has its own size-specific box. Each box can fit at least a few tubes, some cartridges, some levers, an inflator, and some more. The top of the box has a nifty secure latch system, and even includes a four-mode blinky light (off, steady, slow blinking, fast blinking) that runs on a 2032 coin battery. Total weight is 220g.

This tri-specific platform (aka not UCI-legal) has been built to beat the best superbikes on the market. It’s Quintana Roo's latest effort in applying their design ideas to the goal of attaining even greater speed for less effort. The name is for Personal Record, and the is for level six. More importantly, it is both a refinement of and a departure from earlier concepts that QR deployed so well.

Most of the Quintana Roo tri’-bike advances can be found here. The hidden left chain stay remains: it's ability to hide in a headwind (zero drag) and its sail effect at certain yaw angles is too great to pass up. The shifted down tube has been refined to achieve the same movement of air to the clean side of the frame (the left side) without the shaping of the tube shifting on its way down to the bottom bracket. The molds for each frame are sufficiently different that the dropped down tube keeps the same distance from the front wheel regardless of size.

The shapes, as you can see from the side, are refined from the elongated shapes of bikes like the Illicito, but they are also refined from the "Kammtail" that a of companies have embraced. Utilized here are "Boattail" shapes, a similar idea, but a bit longer, with the trailing edge not disappearing so dramatically, but starting to taper before being cut off, much like the stern of a sailing ship or the back of a bullet. The shape has other benefits, including reduced weight and greater stiffness. In fact, this is the lightest frame in the QR nd amongst the lightest in its class.

QR went to a bayonet-style fork with the PRsix. This not only has aerodynamic benefits. It also stiffens the front end, thanks to the fact that the stem, a proprietary one, is clamped to both the steerer and bayonet. They've returned to a forward-mounted front brake because of the benefits of the bayonet and the aero fork legs, but it's a direct-mount design for greater stiffness and closer positioning to the frame. Shimano Ultegra direct-mount brakes come with. But if you want to use a center-mount brake, the posts for the direct mount can be unthreaded, plugs inserted, and a plug for the center-mount removed. The front brake routing is external, but the rear internal, and both hydraulic and mechanical brakes will fit.

The stem, though unique to this frameset, is actually fairly conventional. It clamps to the steerer tube as it locks down on the bayonet. Once in place, needn't be removed for travel. It has bolt holes onto which the stem clamp moves forward and back two centimeters. And the addition or removal of 5mm plates moves the bars up and down. And the handlebar clamp works with 31.8mm base bars.

The sliding clamp rail on the seat post is designed to work as all QR posts do, but the difference here is that "neutral" is 80-degrees, and it can be slid back to 77-degrees and forward to 83-degrees.

In terms of ride, the PRsix will feel more agile than its predecessors, but still extremely stable, as the long wheelbase suggests. The lightness will make itself known the longer you ride and its stiffness will be apparent every time you get out of the saddle.

Bottom bracket stiffness is maximized with the PF30 bottom bracket standard. PF30 is similar to BB30 in that it works with a 68mm width, great for aerodynamics, but by working with inserted cups rather than clips, the system can be lighter.

The frame also works with both mechanical and electronic shifting systems. For electronic, you run the battery inside the frame. And the rear dropouts can be changed from horizontal to vertical and back-you choose depending on how fast you want your wheel change or how close to the frame you want the tire to get. Also in terms of compatibility, XLAB systems fit no problem on the various bosses, including the top tube set.

The Quintana Roo PR6 Frameset is a superbike that any multi-sport athlete can ride and maintain. Cool fact: the frame can be built and taken apart with one 4mm and one 5mm Allen key.