Review: J. Guillem Tomir Titanium

Rewind to the Bike Test in Issue #108 of Singletrack Magazine, where Jason Miles pitched three titanium hardtails against each other.

The J. Guillem Tomir is a flat-out 29er titanium race machine that featured in Issue #108 of Singletrack Magazine.

According to the J.Guillem website: “J.Guillem zags when others zig. We like the surprise of the new and take comfort in different. We celebrate inspiration, aspiration and perspiration.” I think that means that they do their own thing and do things a bit differently. I think. The Tomir is quite different (mostly in a good way) to your regular mountain bike though.

A shapely tapered head tube includes the input ports for the cabling.

Based in Mallorca – all J.Guillem bikes are named after places on the Balearic island – the designer Jan-Willem Sintnicolaas (Mr J.Guillem to you) moved there after selling up and leaving Van Nicholas.

Each tube on the Tomir has been formed and butted for its intended purpose.

He’ll build you a road bike or a mountain bike exclusively from titanium and this frame is available in the geared version like the one in this test or a Rohloff hub gear-specific model. Both can be bought as a frame only or as a full bike, rigid or with a suspension fork.

Want to customise? J. Guillem give you a huge range of options that include decking out the Tomir with a full titanium cockpit.

However, our test bike suffered a creaky stem.

You can customise your build to a certain degree with a titanium stem, handlebar, headset spacers and the like. Our test bike came specified with a full complement of very handsome own-brand titanium components – however, the stem/handlebar interface creaked a fair bit and the headset was continually developing play until some assembly paste was applied to the carbon steerer/stem interface. The seat post on the other hand is very nice and didn’t creak or slip.

Just take a look at those 3D forged titanium dropouts. Unbelievable.

There’s a replaceable derailleur hanger on the drive side, along with an integrated thread for the 142x12mm RockShox Maxle.

The frame is undeniably a work of art. I have to admit I did gaze for a while, and a few times, at the intricate (3D cast) dropouts, the angled cut of the seat tube, the internal cable routing entry points and the chunky chainstay yoke. In other words, it’s gorgeous.

Even the seat collar receives some flair from Jan Guillem.

The top tube is triangular in profile, the seat tube is ever-so-slightly bent to put the rear wheel in the right place and the downtube has a suspension fork-friendly bend in it. There’s no routing for a dropper post – this is a full-gas cross-country race bike anyway.

You can get a Tomir with a suspension fork, or a full rigid carbon number like our test bike.

The rigid fork isn’t the most comfortable way to cover bumpy ground and it’s a lot stiffer and unforgiving than the frame. It’s very light but perhaps a bigger tyre up front than the 2.25in Vittoria Barzo might work better, or perhaps the extra stiffness of a 15mm through axle really isn’t suitable for a rigid fork.

Look closely, and you’ll find detail after detail on the Tomir, including this hollow chain stay yoke.

Neat cable routing and a tidy press-fit bottom bracket shell.

The website says the Tomir has “Competitive XC Race Geometry”, and that’s true. It’s got racy geometry, including a 71° head angle and that means that this isn’t a slack, hooligan bike like the other two. Handling is far from twitchy, but it changes direction very quickly and puts the rider firmly in a stretched-out, flat-backed position.

With its rigid carbon fork up front, the Tomir is a brutally fast and peppy hardtail.

It’ll also be the first to the top of the hill (as long as the rider doesn’t blow his or her nuts off before they get to the top), but probably won’t win coming back down again. It’s supposed to be a machine for maximum pain and speed, ALL THE TIME.

Except it isn’t best at maximum speed. Not quite all the time anyway.

Without suspension, it’s a bumpy ride back down though. And the 27.2mm seat tube limits dropper post options.

It’s a bike that seems to be most suited to long duration, long-distance rides where sustained speed is the key requirement. The sort of ride where you might be setting off at the crack of dawn and returning way past bedtime. Or the sort of ride that involves covering the bike in bags of sleeping bags and insulated coats. For those kinds of epic adventures and long endurance events it’s almost perfect. As long as their body can cope with the racy riding position, under the right rider it’s an ideal tool for the odd record-breaking ride, in fact.

With its elegant titanium tubing, the Tomir loves to find fast and flowing lines.

For a short, lung-bursting, cross-country race for an hour? It’s OK at those, and, again, under the right rider it’ll cause some damage, but it’s not as light as an equivalent carbon hardtail and, in spite of the serious-looking chainstays and big oval downtube, it doesn’t seem to have the same amount of uncompromising stiffness of many other ‘XC race’ bikes that convert all of the rider’s power into straight-line speed.

It’s a beautifully crafted piece of engineering, but don’t expect masses of flex from the Ti seatpost.

On the start line of any race, whatever the duration or distance, the Tomir will, however, be one of the most, if not the most intriguing and beautiful bikes there. There is magnificent attention to detail and a level of craftsmanship here.

Mmmmm…

Overall

The Tomir is an example of top-drawer framebuilding which anyone would be proud to show off. It’s marketed by J. Guillem as a race bike so in that context it’s a fast, responsive bike and with the right build it can be light(ish) and comfortable(ish).

It’s perhaps a bit too heavy to really compete against more responsive, stiffer and lighter carbon bikes in a short race though and some careful setting up (or at least a daily stretching routine) will be needed to make sure the riding position isn’t going to cause problems in a long race or ride. For pure aesthetic appeal, exclusivity and ‘wow factor’ though it’s probably one of the greatest bikes I’ve ever ridden.

The Tomir is the sort of frame that needs to be truly appreciated for its man-hours to be valued. For those who love engineering and industrial design, you’ll find impressive features in every corner you look on the stunning Tomir frame.