Breaking the Myth
Why my race bike is also my most comfortable bike
by Nadezhda Pavlova, Editor in Chief
Former international and world-class triathlete, Nadezhda Pavlova knows about performance bikes. After all, she is also a UCI AG rainbow jersey winner in the Gran Fondo TT arena. Riding the TIME Scylon for nearly a year now, it’s been a revelation in how it blends performance with comfort.
For a long time, I believed the same thing most riders do: race bikes are fast, aggressive… and uncomfortable. Yes, they’re perfect for short races, but not for long mountain days or gran Fondo days out in the mountains. Days on the bike that I love to ride and challenge myself on. That changed when I started riding my Scylon frame. I hadn’t expected it to be exactly as it was – I hadn’t ridden a TIME before, so it was all new experiences for me, on every ride and on every climb.
After more than 6,000 kilometers on the same bike — across numerous alpine passes in Switzerland France and Italy; on rough roads, and long endurance rides, I’m thankfully able to say this with all honesty and a sense of personal delight: performance and comfort don’t have to be opposites. Trust me, riding up the Tourmalet isn’t something that you want to experience on a uncomfortable bike! Speed may be your friend – but comfort is paramount to performance!
TIME know this, which is why they spend so much time – pardon the pun – researching and engineering their unrivalled carbon bike frames. Yes, deep in the heart of Europe, this iconic brand have been busy, innovating with and creating unique frames that remain strong and light and responsive. Bike frames that allow comfort and performance in equal measure – but with unrivaled quality.
Feeling ‘at one’ with your bike
Ultimately, for me personally, I wanted a bike that could handle everything I do: the long climbs, fast descents, extensive travel, content creation, and yes, some racing. From the first rides, what surprised me most about the new Scylon wasn’t the speed, but the ride feel. The bike felt stable and precise, yet smooth over imperfect asphalt. It moved with me and allowed me to ride it, rather than the bike dictating. After five or six hours in the saddle, I wasn’t fighting the bike — I still felt in control and confident. That’s when the “race bikes are uncomfortable” myth started to fall apart for me.
A big part of that feeling comes from how TIME build their frames. Instead of traditional carbon layups, they uses a Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process. In simple terms, this means that their specially woven carbon fibre socks are formed into a frame, then placed into a mold, heated to phenomenal temperatures and resin is injected under pressure, creating very consistent layers with fewer air gaps. The result isn’t just a lighter frame — it’s a more predictable one, and a lighter and stronger frameset. You feel it on the road as a balanced mix of stiffness and vibration control. On long climbs, the bike responds immediately when you push. On rough descents, it stays calm and planted instead of nervous or harsh. And, in the alps, there are lots of rough descents!
Yes, after 6,000 km, this difference becomes even clearer. The frame still feels as stiff and precise as it did on day one. No strange noises, no loss of confidence, no “tired” feeling in the structure. I’ve taken it on mountain passes like Tourmalet and Furka, flown with it multiple times, packed it into bike box, and ridden it in very different climates. That durability gives a special kind of freedom: you stop worrying about the bike and start focusing on the ride.
The best carbon bike frame in the world… I think so!
And so, the key thing is this: what I’ve learned over this season is that comfort isn’t about soft geometry or relaxed performance. It’s about how the frame manages the multitude of forces and impact factors that we throw at it. How it transfers power without beating you up. A truly good race bike doesn’t punish you; instead, it supports you, and that’s exactly what I feel on my Scylon.
So yes, it’s fast. Yes, it’s built for performance. But it’s also the bike I trust for six-hour days, long training blocks, and technical descents. For me, that’s the real definition of a modern race bike: not just something that wins sprints, but something that makes you want to keep riding longer and further. A bike that encourages you to explore your limits, and which matches the criteria that they design engineers looked to achieve when they created the new Scylon model, using techniques more at home in areospace or the motor industry. TIME like to be different though, and their Scylon certainly is. It responds to you and it rides in comfort, allowing you to focus on the ride.
Breaking the myth wasn’t something I planned. It just happened, one mountain pass and one long ride at a time — on a bike that proved that speed and comfort can live in the same frame. A frame that now feels a part of me on those testing alpine climbs, and which will remain as my riding companion – long into the future!
