The brief

Donna has a stable of bikes, but when Gothic Cycles launched, she fell in love with the aesthetic.

She also loved the fact that each one is individually tailor-made to suit the rider.

Donna had a colour scheme.

We had a plan.

The bike

You know what one of the nicest things is about Gothics? You can have whatever colour you want, and Donna wanted her favourites on there. If you can't tell what those are from the photos — you may not have eyes, maybe you're purple/green colour blind and it all just looks like shades of greyish-grey, who knows — purple and green was the theme.

So that part was sorted.

Now for the parts that would actually make the frame into a bike.

Donna wanted a 2X groupset as she was planning to use the Gothic primarily on-road. While 1X setups are popular, some people can find the jumps between the gears too big when road-riding, so 2X is the way to go if most of your time will be spent on the bitumen. For colour accents, this proved a minor challenge as anodised 2X chainrings aren't really a thing. But this is why we have airbrushes, right? Behold: a SRAM Force AXS groupset with hand-detailing on the chainring and the rear of the cassette. (It's the little things...)

Every bike needs a reliable wheelset, and it's even better if you can hand-build a set with Gothic Cycles carbon rims, right? Of course it is. We opted for Panaracer Gravel King X1 R tyres for excellent rolling speed plus durability.

Now, touchpoints. From Easton's gravel range, the EC70 AX carbon handlebars are lightweight and bump-absorbing. They also give a wider, more stable hand position for improved control over rough surfaces or on descents. Ciclovation Ballistic bar tape added even more cushioning and grip, not to mention some extra flair via the Dragon Scale patterning.

Donna is a fan of Ergon saddles — as are we! — and so we fitted her up for an SR Pro for all-day comfort.

We had already earmarked some Ciclovation Flash bottle cages for this build, but seeing as we had the airbrush out, how could we not touch up the cages to match the purple theme?

More purple? Why the hell not. On went a purple Garbaruk top cap, purple Hope lockrings and seat clamp, purple Hope headset spacers, purple titanium bolts for the headstem and brake calipers... Basically, anywhere we could find a spot.

(Don't say we don't commit.)

And here she be: Donna's gorgeous Gothic Aix in a sparkle emerald green/it's-not-Cadbury-purple-don't-sue-us finish.

So what does Donna think? "I LOVE it!! A dream to ride…so happy. :-) "

Want your own sparkle beast? We can help with that.

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