The Aperture Story

I spent a long time looking for the perfect fork to work with the frame designs that I had in my head. It wasn’t out there. The fork is such a crucial component to the performance of the bicycle that I often start there and ‘work back’ when designing a new frame set and bike.

It’s far better to design the frame and fork in conjunction with each other, rather than accepting the compromises of a product designed by another company without your end use in mind. Existing forks were either Cyclocross crown-height and overbuilt with huge clearance or road race crown-height with no ‘guard clearance and a harsh ride. I made the decision that I would have to tool for my own fork, not cheap or easy, but the best way forward.

The process starts with a whole list of requirements and sketches from me and then progresses to initial '2D' designs from the maker.

These designs are modified many times until we are happy to progress to a CAD '3D' rendered design. This allows us to rotate and check all features and gives a really good impression of the final form the fork will take.

The above image is the first of many versions that we worked on over the next 6 months or so. This was the start of a long process with many detail changes and revisions before we could give the go-ahead to go to the next stage. If you compare the first 3D to the final one below, you can see that the final version is very different to the one we started with.

From here we can proceed to a full-scale, 3D printed model using structural nylon. It was an exciting moment when the 3D printed model arrived, it had taken way more time and effort to get to this stage than I had anticipated and it was the first time that I had actually held a 'Mason Product'.

This crucial stage allows us to fit all the components to check for accuracy and clearance when fully assembled. The fork can then be fitted to a frame with wheel, tyre, rotor, calliper, mudguard and headset bearings.

It also allowed me to grab a pencil and sketch my initial idea's for graphics straight onto the fork model itself.

More detail changes and then the big decision to go to final tooling. Another pivotal and exciting moment was seeing the first pictures of our very own fork tooling with first carbon fork layup in place!

This first carbon fork is 'Non-Structural' and is mainly used to test the tooling. From there we proceed to a first structural sample which is used for actual ride testing and final component fit checks. After riding five samples in all sorts of conditions through Autumn and Winter, we tweaked the layup and went for final production. The final production versions are mechanically tested to EN standards and beyond.

The four main stages of the 'Aperture' fork development:

L to R. The 3D printed model. The first, non-structural carbon sample. One of our structural samples. A finalised fork with graphic samples applied.

Our ‘Aperture’ fork is full carbon monocoque, 365g, post-mount disc, it has 160mm rotor compatibility, is internally routed and has proper clearance for a full size mudguard and 28mm tyres. Eyelets are on the inside of the blades and angled correctly to prevent the stays from twisting, [we provide adaptors to run the stays behind the fork blades if your 'guards use very large plastic end parts]. 

The upper eyelet is out of the way at the rear of the crown and can be plugged when not in use. It would be hard to tell that this is a dual-use fork when the ‘guards are off.

The steerer is our own ‘TrueTaper’ design, not merely stepped out for a larger bearing at the base. The ‘Securaxl’ dropouts have forward facing slots and a deep recess to keep the wheel locked securely in under braking loads. There is not one hint of brake-rub when out of the saddle and attacking steep climbs and there is little unwanted flex under braking.

Because we own the tooling we could work with the maker to fine-tune the layup, ensuring an ideal compromise of stiffness, reaction to steering input and comfort for long rides.

The finished product has a muscular, flowing form dictated by it’s function, following our ‘Ride Driven Design’ ethos.