The perfect bike for going a little bit further
David had come from a road cycling background and was looking for a bike that would allow him to transition to gravel while still being capable of handling both surfaces.
What would give this level of comfort and flexibility? A Bossi Grit SX, that's what.
* cracks knuckles * Let's see what we can come up with.
The focus of this custom build was to walk (ride?) a fine line between a bike that would easily handle gravel and off-road trails but also be light and fast enough for David's road riding.
He didn't want to dive straight into the off-road stuff with huge tyres, so we stuck to a 700c wheelset to increase the rolling speed, and 35c tyres to help with the road-to-off-road transition. (One of the great things about using a Grit for this particular build is that the frame has the ability to take larger tyres down the track, should the gravel bug bite.)
Now the gearing question: one or two chain rings? A traditional road set-up usually has two chain rings (2X), whereas gravel groupsets will often have only one (1X). As a 1X set-up will have larger jumps between the gears, it can feel a bit weird if you're used to multiple chain rings, so we decided to stick with a Shimano GRX Di2 2X groupset for this particular build.
We regularly use the Easton EC70 AX bars on custom bikes, but with his road background, David was not a fan of flared bars -- hence the classic EC70 SLs instead, in carbon for lightness and vibration absorption.
This is the beauty of a custom build: you can get exactly what you want!
Ciclovation Advanced Touch bar tape offers exceptional vibration dampening, and paired beautifully with the EC70 SLs, so that was a no-brainer.
Finally, some colour accents. David's favourite shade is green, so we custom-painted the head tube and chain stay. We couldn't resist adding Garbaruk jockey wheels and matching top cap to give some highlights without being too over-the-top.
The result: a classic, flexible-use, ultra-personalised forever bike, and one happy cyclist.
Want your own very classic custom titanium bike? Get in touch.
My wheel is excellent after your hub service. I had been to another bike shop close to me twice within days with the wheel cones and cassette coming loose after both services (very frustrating and disappointing not to mention waste of money and time) before I came to BMCR. Your service, both…Paul Albinger