Obsydian Invictus Review

by Andrew · 27/01/2015

The frame has classic lines and aggressive geometry which instantly gets you excited about the first ride out. I planned to test the bike in two areas of the UK, the first being a week in Yorkshire riding with friends, all of whom weigh considerably less than myself, ride extremely lightweight carbon machines and as the local expression goes “have muscles in their spit”!

Classic lines and aggressive geometry

The second week of testing was to be carried out where I live in South London, on the commutes to work near Tower Bridge and then on extended weekend rides through the Surrey Hills, Kent or with the Richmond Park collective.

The frame

The frame is made up of 7005 alloy tubing and is manufactured at the Velocite factory in Taiwan. The Invictus is based on the same designs as their Selene frameset although comes in a far more attractive, hand painted, stealthy black finish applied here in the UK. The main characteristics of the frame are that the down tube is about as wide as one could possibly get across the bottom bracket area to improve stiffness not only to transfer power, but also truly assure the confidence of those heavier riders. The bottom bracket is a PF30 and the head tube is tapered too. These are tried and tested principles used by many of the best frame manufacturers in the world, perfect for a true thoroughbred race frame.

The down tube is about as wide as one could possibly get

The welds on the frame, though not the prettiest, look bombproof, essentially deep enough, with 110% coverage, to give confidence for the heavier rider to really throw the power down. On the website it describes the welds as ‘double pass’ ensuring that the tubes’ connections are as strong as possible. These are all hand welded, which will contribute to the relatively higher price tag, but when buying a quality alloy frame like this, you expect it to perform much better and offer a higher quality of ride than the cheaper carbon frames at the same price point.