The brief

Matt had a significant birthday on the horizon, and had been thinking about treating himself to a new gravel bike, something really special.

And then Gothic Cycles launched. It was fate!

An Aix was calling his name.

As an experienced rider in multiple disciplines, Matt had a good idea of the kind of build he was after. He'd even pre-picked a colour scheme: complementary shades of green, with some gold touches. (Possibly an influence from his work as a landscape gardener.)

Later that day, we received an email from his wife: could we sneak his secret nickname onto the frame somewhere as a surprise?

This build was getting better and better.

The bike

As this Aix will be spending most of its time on gravel, we opted for Shimano's gravel-driven GRX groupset. (With Di2, of course. As we always say, if you can go electronic, go electronic.)

Gold bits? Well, that had to be Garbaruk, both for aesthetics and performance.

Next: wheels. Gothic carbon rims laced up with the pleasingly minimal Newmen Fade R hubs would do nicely. Matt's favourite gravel tyres are WTB Nanos, so on they went.

Newmen's Advanced carbon seatpost, Easton's EC90 ALX carbon gravel bars and an ultra-fancy Extralite Hyperstem headstem kept the touchpoints light.

But was there enough gold?

Are you nuts? Of course not!

Gold-tipped Ciclovation bar tape, matching gold Ciclovation bottle cages, a gold Hope seatpost clamp, and gold valves, and this Aix was ready to be unleashed.

But where's the nickname on the frame, you might be wondering?

Ah, that's the thing.

It's so secret we didn't even photograph it.

Gothic Cycles: we are the crypt keepers of your desires.

Want your own secret build? Summon us.

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