A Bicycle Torque Coupling™ or BTC™, more commonly known as an S&S Coupling™, is a machined connector that allows a standard size bicycle frame to be separated into two pieces for easy, condensed packing. How condensed? A full size bicycle, complete with wheels and handlebars, fits in a travel carrier that meets maximum size requirements for airline luggage and looks like a standard hard-sided suitcase.

Anyone who has flown on a commercial airline with a bicycle--or, worse yet, gone through the hassle of fitting an assembled bicycle into a box for shipping--can attest to the headaches and horrors of traveling with a conventional bike. With the ease, convenience and durability of an S&S Coupler, however, traveling with a bicycle is no different than traveling with any other piece of baggage. If that bicycle happens to be a Ti Cycles bike, chances are that your bike--now able to be checked as regular baggage--will be lighter than your luggage.

What's that? You've got a tandem? No problem! Ti Cycles builds and retrofits tandem bicycles using a double coupling formation that allows the frame to separate into three pieces that will also fit in a compact, airline-ready travel case.

While some framebuilders only install couplers on their own bikes at the time of manufacture, Ti Cycles does both integrated couplers on new bike builds and adaptive retrofits on existing frames of any style or brand, both steel and titanium.

Why couple your bike with Ti Cycles?
Why go anywhere else? Portland is the travel destination of choice for cyclists from all over the world, and Ti Cycles has done more S&S Coupler installations than any builder in the city. You do the math.

Will it last?
One of the most common questions riders ask about S&S Couplers is in regards to strength, especially when considering a retrofit to an existing frame. Many cyclists assume that integrating the couplers into a frame build from the get-go is a different procedure than a retrofit, but this is not the case. Whether couplers are installed at the time of manufacturing or added later as a retrofit, the engineering is the same.

The installation of couplers has no negative impacts on the structural integrity of a frame. In fact it is the couplers, which are machined from solid material, that have a higher strength rating than the bicycle frame tubing itself. How strong are they? With decades of experience under their belts the makers of S&S Couplings have conducted a litany of destructive and non-destructive tests that all show the joinery to be stronger than Reynolds 531 steel tubing.

Over the course of two decades building custom frames Ti Cycles has installed hundreds of S&S Couplings, both on new frames and as retrofits, without incident. Those die hard skeptics with lingering doubts would be advised to consider the case of Joel Metz, a former San Francisco bicycle messenger and de facto S&S spokesperson, who has logged some 100,000 miles on a single frame since it was originally coupled in 1998.


Stainless Steel "Classic" Coupler:
* installed on new steel frames and retrofits
* Specifications

Titanium Coupler:
* installed on new steel frames and retrofits
* Specifications


Please consult our Price List for current rates, accessories and ordering information.