The Brief

We've done purple and green Gothics. We've done green and gold Gothics. We've done blue and orange and black Gothics.

But we had not done a red and black Gothic gravel bike.

How could we have missed the classic goth colour combo? Where would Dracula be without it? (Not to mention Robert Smith, our dark lord.)

This oversight had to be remedied. We opened our arms to the darkness.

The Bike

A groupset that combines form and function is a wonderful thing. Our Shimano GRX/Garbaruk hybrid is a mix of Di2 performance and reliability with Garbaruk's trademark super-stylish components to shave weight and drip some crimson on the drivetrain.

Now, the hubs are an interesting story. Not only are they handily red to match our colour scheme, but they're the new Hope Pro 5s. We had been waiting for this generation because the previous ones sounded like a swarm of angry hornets. The Pro 5s were happily laced into a set of Gothic Cycles carbon rims, and they look—and sound—incredible. (That being said, if you want the world's loudest hubs, we can do that too. Each Gothic is custom-made, after all.)

To keep the ride silky-smooth, a Newmen carbon seatpost was the obvious shock-absorbing choice, teamed with carbon Easton EC70 bars to soak up the bumps and a Redshift suspension stem (which, ironically, is not actually red.)

The result? A darkly glittering Gothic Aix carbon gravel bike that looks like it belongs in a crypt, in the best possible way.

It was on the showroom floor for all of five minutes before a smitten rider took it home.

Missed out? Fear not! We still have a couple of other Gothic builds ready to go.

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