Please note: I mention and describe brands and models in this article. And this may also be advertising.
It’s something of a tradition, because for the past 10 years I’ve been presenting bikes for the new year that I find interesting, inspiring or simply beautiful.
What began in 2013 as an overview of touring bikes that I thought were great has now grown to include gravel and all-road bikes as well as hardtails alongside classic touring bikes. Bikes for bikepacking and travelling by bike.
This time I have eight bikes for you that inspire me. Some are old favourites in a new guise, but some are also new and from less well-known manufacturers or frame builders. In any case, it’s the variety that inspires me. And hopefully you too!
Of course, this is a subjective selection. If you’re missing a bike, I recommend you take a look at the lists at the bottom. I’m sure I’ve featured it before in previous years.
Table of contents:
- Curve Big Kev
- veloheld.farway Pinion Gravel & veloheld.Iron
- Fern Biest of the East & Bengt’s Allygn Bike
- Crossworks Gravel Ride280
- Patria Tribos Gravel
- Fairdale Weekender Nomad
- Terril Cycles
- Overview: All bikes featured since 2013
Curve Big Kev
Raphael Albrecht introduced me to this model. I took a closer look at the Curve GMX+ this year and spoke to him about it. He also rides a Curve, the Curve Big Kev to be precise. And he is thrilled!
In my opinion, Curve is taking the right step towards offering a “real” all-road bike based on 29-inch wheels with the Big Kev. It is a titanium “monster gravel”, as such bikes are currently known. And it doesn’t just have the homeopathic 2.2 inch tyre clearance that we often find with other manufacturers. Although the Big Kev is optimised for 2.1 inch tyres, it can take up to 2.35 inches at the front and a whopping 2.4 inches at the rear. This gives you a nice variance that makes the bike suitable for many occasions and events. Either as a fast gravel bike or as an MTB gravel machine for the mountains. Curve calls this “Gravel-Plus:
“Gravel-plus means you can take on more than just pristine gravel roads. Big Kev gives you the flexibility to get more adventurous.”
Curve
The Big Kev can tolerate a minimum of 2 inches. But the tyres shouldn’t be any narrowed.
As is typical for Curve, the Big Kev has all the necessary eyelets for carrying mounts and bags. And what I particularly like is that they have already considered the UDH standard and therefore offer the option of fitting the SRAM Eagle transmission.
The Big Kev comes with the Curve Carbon fork. Unfortunately, I don’t know whether the Big Kev can also take a suspension fork. The Curve GMX+ certainly can’t, as the geo is not corrected accordingly and was designed for suspension forks.
According to Curve, the price for this titanium delicacy is around 5,500 euros for the complete bike. The frameset including fork is available from Goldsprint for 3,400 euros.
veloheld.farway Pinion Gravel & veloheld.Iron
When it comes to bicycle innovations from Germany, there is no way around Saxony. A fine group of enthusiasts has established itself there, causing a worldwide buzz with its shops, manufactories and developments. Veloheld is one of these companies. The Dresden-based company has had an excellent reputation as a bike builder for years and has now introduced two new bikes, one new and one update.
With the Farway.Pinion, veloheld offers a gravel bike for all those who want a geared transmission and not a normal derailleur system. And I have to say: the Farway Pinion Gravel looks very elegant and makes the Pinion box disappear visually.
“Precisely manufactured in our frame construction workshop in Leipzig, it offers a robust yet comfortable CrMoly frame. With the Hibox gearbox, it is possible to ride the 12-speed Pinion gearbox in combination with the low-maintenance Gates Carbon Drive belt drive with the dropbar.”
Veloheld
Made in my home town of Leipzig, the Dresden-based company has developed a special type of belt tensioning: a small roller is “connected upstream” for this purpose, which can be used to adjust the belt accordingly. I would have to see this to be able to judge it. And in practice, you have to see whether a stick or stone can easily get in the way. Whether the bike is also available with a chain instead of a belt can be clarified directly.
The Farway Pinion Gravel comes on 28 inch wheels and can take tyres up to 50mm. And Veloheld is also positioning it more in the direction of a touring/adventure bike, which also makes sense with the Pinion:
“Overall, the veloheld.farway Pinion Gravel thus perfectly combines robustness, low maintenance and comfort – ideal for explorers without compromise.”
Veloheld
The Veloheld Iron has been on the market for some time and Markus Weinberg has used it in the Silk Road Mountain Race, for example. However, Veloheld presented a modernised Iron at the Bespoked trade fair in Dresden. It all sounded very interesting and I’m curious to find out more details and information. In any case, they have not only incorporated technical trends, but have also geared the machine more towards bikepacking. I hope that we will find more on the Veloheld website soon.
“The tubes now come from Reynolds and are of course specially selected from the 853 series for the often tough field of application. The dropouts have UDH standard and Boost installation widths. The cable routing is internal from the down tube to the chainstays via a T47 bottom bracket housing. A total of 4 bottle cages for drinks and bags can be attached. And that brings us to the area of use. You wanted a slightly more moderate geo compared to the predecessor to make the bike even more suitable for touring and bikepacking. In other words, not too long a top tube and not too slack an angle. We recommend 100-120 mm suspension travel for possible suspension forks. However, there will also be a rigid fork again. The maximum tyre width for 29″ is 2.4″.”
Veloheld
Veloheld
Fern Biest of the East & Bengt’s Allygn Bike
If I were to build another bike just for travelling, it would almost certainly be a Fern. There are two models that are similar but as individual as you are: the Chuck Explorer and the Biest of the East. The first has been around for a long time and I always like it. I would have it built as a 29-inch version, but with the same core equipment as the Biest. That in turn was presented at Bespoked. I find the racks, the elegant geometry and the tasteful details very appealing. And of course the fact that you can customise everything.
The Biest is essentially a co-production between Fern, Allygn and Gramm. Well, it’s actually a family production, because all the brands are more or less under one roof. Fern is essentially Flo and his colleagues, who build the bikes and have the ideas. Allygn is the component brand that was founded later, as they had more and more good ideas and then offered these accessories independently of Fern. And Gramm is the well-known brand for high-quality and customised bikepacking bags.
“It is the first ever TIG welded Fern/Allygn frame and I mainly build this bike as a new prototype-test-platform, where we can play around with new ways of framebuilding and testing new parts and components.”
Fern
What a bike! That’s why I was particularly interested to see Bengt, who, enviably, was able to really test a prototype of the Biest this year (I hope that’s true and it is a Biest prototype): he not only rode it in the Hellenic Mountain Race, but also rode it in touring mode almost all the way back home afterwards. The Velobande Berlin was probably similarly impressed and got Bengt and his Biest in front of the camera. Here are all the details – and then you can understand why I like these bikes from Fern so much:
Crossworks Gravel Ride280
From Berlin to Thuringia: Kevin and Chris build the finest aluminium bikes here in Rudolstadt. In addition to their talent, they have gained a lot of experience at the well-known aluminium manufacturer Nicolai. They actually tend to build trail bikes, but with the Ride280 they now have a gravel bike on offer that is well worth a look.
The 7020 aluminium frame weighs just 1.8 kg and has a number of eyelets for bikepacking. And the frame is already prepared for UDH. The assembly is up to you. You can get the frame kit for 1,200 euros, the complete bike starts at 3,100 euros.
In the configurator, you can then choose a few things: for example, a rigid fork from Sour or a 50mm suspension fork from Fox. For the groupset, there is the Apex or Rival XPLR. Or you can customise the build and just take the frame kit.
Patria Tribos Gravel
If you are still looking for a steel gravel bike, you should take a look at the traditional manufacturers from time to time. When you think of Patria, you don’t immediately think of modern bikes, but rather of classic touring bikes. With the Tribos, however, they have what I think is a beautiful steel gravel bike on offer. They describe it as a “dynamic gravel bike”:
“With the Tribos, we have paired the geometry of a road bike with the demands of modern gravel bikes. A higher head tube and slacker steering angle result in a moderate riding position and good-natured handling on loose surfaces, making it a loyal companion for (almost) everything that is fun.”
Patria
Frame and fork are made from Columbus tubes. The frame is even hand-brazed. The tyre width is designed for 40-50 mm, the wheel size for 27.5 inch and 28 inch. When it comes to the drivetrain, you can choose between a Rohloff or a GRX 2×11 – Patria remains true to itself here
However, the system weight is only 120kg, which makes it only interesting for lighter people when bikepacking. But bikepacking works quite well with it, as there are plenty of eyelets available.
Fairdale Weekender Nomad
The Fairdale continues our series of interesting steel frame bikes. With the Weekender Nomad, the Californians have succeeded in creating a very nice bike, which is built around 27.5 inch aluminium wheels with a maximum width of 2.1 inches.
“The Weekender Nomad’s 100% 4130 chromoly frame and fork will welcome virtually anything that you can throw at it.”
Fairdale
700cc/28 inches are also possible. The bike is clearly designed for travel gravel and should appeal to the purists among you.
“While it can easily handle being a weekday commuter on rough city roads, it really shines when you take it for a long haul.”
Fairdale
The construction is with a 1x Apex, the preference is for mechanical components, such as the BB7 mechanical disc brake.
Terril Cycles
I have almost no information about this bike. I stumbled across this beautiful, classic-looking “monster gravel” bike on Instagram and didn’t want to keep it from you. Terril Cycles is a small French manufacturer, although that might be too much. Because there seems to be only one person behind it, building these great bikes.
“Terril makes bikes individually and to order. So I can take my time with each project, let it mature and make sure that once it’s under your feet, the bike is as close as possible to what you imagined it to be and what you need to ride it.”
Terril
I couldn’t find out the model either. Just this much:
The bike has:
- Duke rims with Tune hub and SON hub dynamo
- Bottom bracket, bearing housing and headset from White Industries
- Shimano Ultegra brakes and drivetrain with 36 chainring and 11-50 cassette
- Shimano GRX rear derailleur and Garbaruk chainring
- Vittoria Barzo 27.5×2.1 tyres
- Ritchey handlebars and stem
- SON & Supernova headlight
- Terril racks front and rear
For more info I recommend the Instagram channel:
That was my selection for you!
If you have any practical information about the bikes presented here, ride them yourself or know of any other remarkable bikes, please let me know in the comments!
Overview: All bikes featured since 2013
Top touring bikes – Part 1/2013: ToutTerrain Silkroad, Velotraum cross crmo (EX), Norwid Spitzbergen, Giant Expedition, Koga Worldtraveller
Top touring bikes – Part 2/2013: Rennstahl 650B, Specialized Awol Deluxe, Herkelmann Amerigo, Patria Terra, VSF Fahrradmanufaktur TX-400/800/1000
Top touring bikes – Part 3/2014: Herkelmann “Tilmann”, Ridgeback “Expedition”, Soma “Saga”, Salsa “Vaya Travel”, Rotor “Komet”, KTM “life lontano”, Thorn “Nomad MK2”
Top touring bikes 2016: Specialized AWOL, Trek 920 Disc, Kona Sutra 2016, Salsa Marrakesh, Rennstahl 931, Tout Terrain Tanami Xplore, MTB Cycletech RAW, Bombtrack Beyond, Fern Chacha, Surly World Traveller
Top touring bikes 2017: Oxford Bike Works Expedition Bike & Rohloff Tour, Basso Ulisse, MTB Cycletech Papalagi, Ridgeback Expedition, Genesis Tour de Fer 20, my Boo my Tano & my Afram, Santos Travelmaster 2.9, Trek 920 Disc 2017, Kona Sutra and Sutra LTD 2017, Dawes Galaxy Classic & Gran Tour, Salsa Marrakesh Drop Bar 2017
Travel and bikepacking bikes 2018: Rotor Meteor, Bombtrack Beyond EXP, Bombtrack Hook EXT, Bombtrack Arise Tour, Salsa Blackborow, Fern Chuck, Veloheld.Lane, Veloheld.IconX, Trek 1120, Genesis Vagabond, Marin Four Corners, MAXX Randonneur Roadmaxx, Specialised Sequoia, Merida Silex, Tout Terrain Outback Pinion, Tout Terrain Tanami GT, Giant Toughroad SLR1
Travelling and bikepacking bikes 2019: Shand TAM, Shand Bahokee Drop Bar, Cube Kathmandu SL, Norco Search XR Steel, Rose Backroad, Chumba Stella Backcountry, Veloheld. Iron, Santos Cross Lite, Santos Travelmaster 3+, Trek 520, Moots Baxter 29″, Surly Bridge Club, Herkelmann Landstreicher No 3, Salsa Journeyman, Bombtrack Hook ADV, Genesis Fugio 20, Thorn Club Tour Mk4, Sonder Camino AL & Ti, Bullit Bike
Travel and bikepacking bikes 2020: Storck GRIX Pro CX Extreme, Rose Backroad Mullet, Diamant 135, Sonder Santiago, Quirk Kegety, Bombtrack Arise Tour 2020, Bombtrack Hook EXT 2020, OPEN WI.DE, Bearclaw Thunderhawk, Rawland Ravn, Koga World Traveller S 2. 0, Tout Terrain Xover Blacktop GT & Outback Xplore 275 & 5th Avenue Xplore, Liteville 4 One MK1 Werksmaschine, Brother Mehteh, Veloheld.Path, Stanforth Pamira, MTB Cycletech Amar 725, Sour Purple Haze, Riverside Decathlon
Travelling and bikepacking bikes 2021: Santos 4.29, Böttcher Evolution Gravel, Kona Sutra ULTD, Cube Nuroad, Ritchey Outback, Fairlight Faran 2.0, Fairlight Secan 2. 0, Trek 520 Grando, All-City Gorilla Monsoon GRX, Genesis Vagabond 2021, Surly Disc Trucker, Tout Terrain Vasco, Tout Terrain Scrambler Xplore GT II, Rondo Bogan, Giant Liv Devote 1, Poseidon The Redwood, Rocky Mountain Solo 50, Niner RLT e9 RDO
Travel and bikepacking bikes 2022: Curve GMX+, Rodeo Labs Flaanimal 5.0, Rodeo Labs Traildonkey 3.1, Portus Cycles GravKarl, Ridefarr Twin-T, Fezzari Schafer, Fara Cycling F/GR, Santos Gravelmaster, Diamant Villiger, Kroemer Frames Green Lanter
Travelling and bikepacking bikes 2023: Repete G2 Verne, Ribble Gravel, 8bar Pankow Steel Touring, Nordest Kutxo, Sonder Santiago Rival 22 Grand Tourer, Rondo MYLC, Koga Colmaro Extreme, Triban GRVL 900, Pelago Thórsmörk, Vetra Berzeeerk, Breezer Squall.
