Over the past three years building bikes for Saffron, something I picked up on is that the builds that seemed the most successful in my eyes are the ones that take one purpose, and design and build to maximise potential in this one area. For myself I wanted a fast out and out road bike, something to spend all day on that would cover distance and climb well. The large diameter carbon integrated seatpost reduces the overall weight of the bike and serves to reduce flex around the bottom bracket, this along with the addition of a chainstay bridge and the use of higher tensile strength XCr chain stays stiffen up the areas of the frame most involved in power transfer. The top, head, and down tubes are Columbus Spirit, the ISP is a custom UD carbon tube from Enve. Full Columbus rear end with Stainless XCr chain stays paired up with skinny 14mm Spirit Keirin seat stays. Every tube and frame component was selected for an optimal balance between speed and comfort. The bottom bracket shell, dropouts, head tube reinforcement rings and all brazons (as standard) are stainless steel for longevity.
Groupset
-Campagnolo Super Record
Fork
-Columbus Futura SLX
Wheel
-Venn VAR 507 rims, Alto R-Symmetric road hubs
Tires
-Continental GP 5000 TL 25mm.
Finishing kit
-Thomson Elite, Deda Superzero Carbon bars
Topper
-Ritchey
Saddle
-Berk Lupina
Headset
-Chris King Inset 8
Skewers
-CarbonTi X-Lock
After painting a similar design onto a customer’s bike a couple of years ago I’d had this blue candy fade stuck in my head. While flitting through many design iterations for my own bike the blue fade was the one I kept going back to. Candy paints are a translucent coloured lacquer applied over a highly reflective metallic layer, this technique gives unrivaled depth of colour and is the obvious choice here where the colour is the star of the show. The front end of the frame is coated in House of Kolor Cobalt Blue which fades slowly and gradually into HOK Oriental blue towards the rear.
The materials used to build the bike are on show with the bare carbon integrated seat post and exposed satin brushed stainless Columbus XCR chainstays.
Painstakingly applied 24ct gold leaf lettering counterpoints the blue and adds a touch of ostentatious luxury which, like the candy, will be at it’s best when sparkling in the sun out on the road.
