1993 Bioracer Genius with electronic Mavic ZAP groupset

Last year we found a stunning steel Bioracer Genius from 1993 with an original electronic Mavic groupset. The bike hardly ever saw daylight, we saved this demo bike from its indoor life on rollers.

Some history on Bioracer as a framebuilder

Bioracer is a Belgian brand that is world famous for its cycling wear nowadays. Nevertheless, when Raymond Vanstraelen founded the company in 1985, he was merely obsessed with finding the perfect individual rider position on a bike. This resulted in the Bioracer Bikefitting system that was later sold to Shimano.

While Raymond focussed on the measuring, his Dutch partner Harry Janssen, son of Sjefke Janssen, took care of the development of the Bikefitting system, the software, and the production of the steel frames in Elsloo (the Netherlands). Bioracer continued producing bicycle frames through Harry until the late nineties.

In 1988 Bioracer was one of the first companies that used computer models to develop individually fit bicycle frames. “When measuring individual riders, we found frame sizes that did not exist in the market so we decided to start building our own frames”, Raymond explained to our friends at Belgischeracefietsen.com.

“The high end innovative frames were actually too economically priced to leave any margin”, Bioracer’s marketing manager Stijn Bamps concluded. So with growing competition of cheaper frames from abroad, Raymond decided to focus on the production of cycling wear while Harry kept finetuning the Bikefitting system until it was eventually bought by Shimano.

In 1990, Jochim Aerts started building and painting (aluminum) frames for Bioracer. In 1998 he founded his own company and brand called Ridley.

Columbus Genius

Columbus Genius tubing was one of the lightest tube sets available on the market in the early nineties. This tube set was released in 1991 targeting frames for climbing and descending. It was made from Nivacrom steel and was specifically designed for TIG welding, although Columbus released tubes for lugged frames too.

The resulting Bioracer frame has very refined TIG welding and is remarkably light and stiff. Although the bike is mounted with rather heavy components, an electronic ZAP gear set, and clincher wheels, it still weighs in around 9 kg. With lighter wheels and gears, this bike could easily drop below 8 kg and even towards 7 if we would spend a little more money.

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