Welcome to Rubin's Multisport or RMS Inc. Our company has grown out of a love for the sport of triathlon and the need to create the finest longest lasting tri bikes possible. My background is in engineering, and my undergraduate degree is from the US Naval Academy. I have been a competetive athlete for many years including sailing, running and now triathlon. In my years of singlehanded sailing I learned how to make myself and my equiptment go faster and last longer. This led me to a bronze medal at the 1981 World Games after the Olympic boycott of 1980. My wife, Pam, and I now race as age groupers and are very active in the world of Multisport. Our bicycles are pure, no compromise, triathlon machines built around a 78 degree seat tube geometry. Why build from titanium when carbon and aluminum are either more trendy or less expensive?
Titanium is the best of both worlds. It can be very stiff, yet it is a terrific vibration dampener. It does not corrode, crack, get brittle, dent, or fail without warning. Some say that titanium is forever. I'm not sure about that, but my training bike is a 10-year old Merlin Aerial that still looks and rides like new. Our goal is to build bikes without issues. All that should be done during race season is routine mantainence--no worrying about cracked frames or poorly aligned gears.
I have taken all that I have learned through my race travels over the past few years and incorporated it into these bikes. We use: normal round seat tubes so that if one breaks on a trip, a replacement is available at the local bike shop; simple seat post clamp so that it does not slip; external sealed bearing headsets, as the internal ones tend to ovalize and make for a poor fit; 1-1/8" headtubes to provide more strength for forks with all carbon steerers; alloy steering tubes for our larger customers; a bike that fits in a bike box so that travel is made as simple as possible. As for travel, titanium is tough enough to withstand a lot more abuse from baggage handlers and does not require special torque wrenches to keep it from cracking. So why doesn't everyone ride titanium?
Titanium has been unrealistically expensive over the years. With the prices of most good aluminum and carbon bikes at $2500 plus, I decided to see if I could come up with Ti bikes in the same price range, and I have. Enter our three new models: Phoenix Sidewinder, and Sparrow. These names stem from my 6 years flying the F-14 Tomcat and were 3 of the missiles we used to carry. The Phoenix and Sidewinder are aero tubed, the Sparrow is round tubed. We have a flavor for whichever side of the aero frame argument that you side with (our government could learn from this philosophy). I have been racing the Sidewinder version for the 2008 season with great results:
Age Group Results: Silverlake Triathlon-1st place
Battle of San Jacinto- 1st place
Tri America Series Houston- 2nd place
Trentham Classic Intl Distance (Great Britain)- 3rd place
Summer Time Blues Tri- 3rd place
Keep Texas Wild Tri- 2nd place
I completed all of these races without a mechanical problem. There is more to racing than mechanics though. Titanium also offers great vibration dampening which allows me to get off the bike with a lot less fatigue than my old aluminum ride that was very fast, but vibrated a lot. It also allows me to feel the road the way some other materials do not. It essentially rides like the steel bike I used to love but for a pound or so less. I can also hang it in the garage (mine lives inside) without corrosion. To keep the look of our bikes fun we have two finishes: the sandblast or stealth look is standard, and a bright brushed finish is available for a $100 charge. We will also make our products available 3 ways: as a frameset only, as a builders option where we install the headset and the crankset, or as a complete bike. Our complete bikes are virtually custom, no aftermarket cost savings parts anywhere. We offer Shimano, FSA, Zipp, Cane Creek, Fulrum and many other brands. If you are looking for a race wheel set this is a great opportunity as we are OEM and can offer great pricing packages. Please view our pages often as we will change them as our products evolve.
Thank You for visiting, Josh and Pam Rubin.
Tri Geometry Sidewinder
Sparrow Framesets
