Delta 7 Sports to Showcase its Now Competitively Priced Arantix Mountain Bike at Interbike

With improved manufacturing techniques in place and all manufacturing now in-house, Delta 7 Sports’
next generation Arantix has tighter tolerances and is stronger than ever before; company also drops the suggested retail prices for an Arantix frame to $4,895 and for a fully built Arantix mountain bike to $8,495

PAYSON, Utah and LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Sept. 18, 2008 - Delta 7 Sports will showcase its next generation and now competitively priced Arantix^TM mountain bike at the Interbike International Bicycle Expo and the attendant OutDoor Demo, being held next week in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The first bicycle to feature the patented IsoTruss® carbon fiber and Kevlar spider web-like open lattice tube design now has a stronger frame and tighter tolerances than ever before. Furthermore, by improving its manufacturing processes and bringing all manufacturing in-house, Delta 7 Sports has reduced the suggested retail price of the Arantix frame to $4,895 (previously $6,995), while also reducing the price of a fully built Arantix bike to $8,495 (previously $11,995).

The next generation Arantix frame and mountain bike are available for order now in small, medium and large frame sizes. Delta 7 Sports is also aggressively pursuing independent bike dealers and sales representatives in North America, as well as sales representatives and bike distributors outside of the United States.

Delta 7 Sports will have several Arantix mountain bikes available for test rides at Interbike’s OutDoor Demo in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada on Monday, Sept. 22 and Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008. Journalists, reviewers and bloggers interested in reserving a time for an Arantix test ride should contact Elizabeth Hurst of SOAR Communications at ehurst@soarcomm.com to make a reservation.

The company will also unveil its first ever road bike at Interbike at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas from Wednesday, Sept. 24 through Friday, Sept. 26. More information about this forthcoming IsoTruss-based road bike will be released next Wednesday.

IsoTruss: The foundation of the Arantix mountain bike

One example of how the next generation Arantix mountain bike has been made stronger is through the use of new IsoTruss mandrels. A mandrel is a specially tooled metal rod used to create the carbon fiber/Kevlar bike frame tubes, and Delta 7 Sports has recently redesigned its mandrels to use fewer pieces, each of which are interconnected. In addition, Delta 7 Sports now mechanically wraps the carbon fiber around the mandrels instead of doing so by hand, a process that creates higher tension when wrapping.

“The combination of these factors creates straighter and more uniform fiber alignment for each frame tube,” said Tyler Evans, general manager of Delta 7 Sports. “And the more uniform and straight the fibers are, the better they transfer load from one IsoTruss pyramid to another within the structure. The result is a more precise and stronger IsoTruss-based frame.”

Advanced Composite Solutions (parent company of Delta 7 Sports), has been granted an exclusive, worldwide license by Brigham Young University to develop, produce and market products utilizing the IsoTruss technology and design. The Arantix is the first ACS product to utilize IsoTruss technology.

With the IsoTruss technology and design, Delta 7 Sports has created one of the strongest and lightest hard-tail mountain bikes in the world – a frame that weighs approximately 2.6 pounds and sports the unique and extremely strong, yet see-through, IsoTruss design.

“This is a very exciting time for Delta 7 Sports as we have been very busy getting ready for Interbike 2008,” said Kris Papworth, president of Delta 7 Sports. “We knew the IsoTruss-based Arantix was a great bike as shown by a recent review in one of the leading mountain bike magazines of the world. But the new Arantix is even better, and with our improvements in manufacturing, we’ve been able to drive down the retail price for the Arantix frame by more than $2,000 and a fully built bike by $3,500.”

According to a review published in the October 2008 issue of Mountain Bike Action, the Arantix

• “may be the most responsive hardtail we’ve ever dropped the hammer on”
• “offers enough lateral stiffness to keep a track sprinter happy”
• “feels more lively than a conventional carbon fiber hardtail”
• “corners with authority, and nothing is lost in the translation of any steering input”

Mountain Bike Action wrapped up the Arantix review by stating, “Delta 7 Sports has proved the point that their IsoTruss works well for mountain bike frame construction.”

“The only negative thing Mountain Bike Action said in its review of the Arantix was about the price, and we’ve addressed that head on by bringing our manufacturing in-house and controlling our supply chain,” Papworth said.

Arantix Mountain Bike Information and Specifications

With its new manufacturing processes in place, Delta 7 Sports mechanically weaves single carbon fiber strands around metal mandrel rods to create the open lattice IsoTruss structure of each Arantix frame tube. Each bundle of carbon fiber strands are then hand-wrapped with Kevlar and then baked at 255 degrees Fahrenheit for four hours. The ends of the baked tubes are then machined before being joined with molded carbon fiber lugs to make a complete frame.

“In total, each completed Arantix frame is built with more than 1,500 linear feet of carbon fiber,” Evans said. “That’s longer than the longest supertanker roaming today’s oceans. After curing, the carbon/Kevlar IsoTruss-based construction of the Arantix makes for an almost unbeatable combination, creating a frame that is dramatically stronger than comparably weighted frames, while also being dramatically lighter than frames with the same strength.”

A completely built-out, next generation Arantix mountain bike includes

• An Arantix IsoTruss-based carbon/Kevlar composite frame,
• Fox F100 RLC front suspension,
• SRAM X.0 Shift levers, derailleurs, chain, and cassette,
• Avid Juicy Ultimate hydraulic disc brakes,
• FSA XC-300 Wheels with Kenda Karma DTC tires,
• Crank Brothers Four Ti Egg Beaters pedals,
• FSA K-Force XC carbon fiber handlebar, with two LizardSkins Lock-On grips,
• L.H. Thomson Masterpiece handlebar stem and seatpost,
• Chris King NoThreadSet headset,
• Selle Italiá SLR Gel Flow saddle, and
• LizardSkins Arantix custom chainstay protector.

Dealers who want to custom-build bikes can also order an Arantix mountain bike frame today from Delta 7 Sports for $4,895 (US). Delta 7 Sports is also taking dealer orders for its re-vamped Arantix Mountain Bike, at prices starting at $8,495 (US).

IsoTruss Technology and Design Overview

IsoTruss was developed at BYU under the direction of Civil Engineering Professor David W. Jensen (Director of the Center for Advanced Structural Composites).

IsoTruss open lattice structures are made up of three-dimensional (3-D) pyramid-shaped trusses formed by combining two-dimensional (2-D) trusses, such as the kind commonly used in architectural design. The pyramid-like structure of an IsoTruss lattice utilizes the geometry of a triangle with two equal sides (an Isosceles Triangle) to create a shape with a superior strength-to-weight ratio. Hence, the name IsoTruss comes from the “iso” in isosceles, while “truss” comes from the architectural design known as trusses.

The fusion of 2-D trusses into the 3-D pyramid-shaped forms found within an IsoTruss structure enables Delta 7 Sports to build bicycle frames that bend less, twist less (torsion) and flex less (axial stiffness) than metal bike frames of comparable weight. For additional information about IsoTruss, please visit www.isotruss.org.

About Delta 7 Sports
Delta 7 Sports creates cutting-edge cycle sports products by utilizing IsoTruss technology and designs. A division of Advanced Composite Solutions, Delta 7 Sports was formed in 2007. For more information, visit www.delta7sports.com.

Arantix and Delta 7 Sports are trademarks of Delta 7 Sports. IsoTruss is a registered trademark of Brigham Young University. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801-523-3730(w)/801-597-7515(c), csmith@soarcomm.com, or
David Politis, SOAR Communications, 801-523-3730(w)/801-556-8184(c), poppa.p@soarcomm.com

To make an appointment to test-ride the new Arantix mountain bike, contact Elizabeth Obreza Hurst at ehurst@soarcomm.com.