Peter’s “monster gravel” bike

Peter wrote to us from Australia asking about a titanium fork for one of his bikes, and ended up ordering one of the most amazing custom builds we’ve made to date.

Principally designed to pull a trailer on long treks across the Australian outback, this bike will also be Peter’s welcome companion on his weekend bikepacking trips, and on quick excursions into the mountains.

We designed the frame specially with a gravel bike geometry: neutral angles and a low bottom bracket for extra stability. We combined this with 27,5” wheels, Plus tyres, a light and maintenance-free Lauf TR fork, and a Pinion 12-speed gearbox.

And, of course, we installed a Gates CDX belt to complete an extremely robust and low-maintenance assembly. One which will be able to cope with any climate and terrain.

The icing on the cake is the adjustable mount for the Pinion shifter, custom made for the bike. Peter often has his hands on the drops, and he has a bit of a bad wrist, so he was very particular about the positioning of the shifter. He has experience with Pinion, so he knew exactly what he wanted. This is precisely the type of thing we mean when we say we offer a custom service.

The fast-rolling 3” wide gravel tires are super comfortable, and the clearance with the fork is great.

We put in a third pair of eyelets for a water bottle, necessary if you’ve got a frame-pack taking up its usual spot.

A Ritchey WCS dirt road handlebar with a Thomson stem.

A rear hub by Pinion with 120 POE, and an indestructible front hub by Chris King.

The headset is a Chris King i7 tapered.

The new Hylex hydraulic brakes by TRP were an obvious choice.

In a nutshell, a beast of a bike which could withstand an apocalypse, but which nevertheless maintains the elegant lines which define a Nua. A bike you can throw anything at, bombproof and maintenance-free. We hope that Peter enjoys it as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it with him.

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

THE NUA RÁPIDA

Ladies and gentlemen, we take great pride in presenting our latest model, the Nua Rápida:

Its name says it all. A bike designed to get you from A to B fast. And we mean fast.

Its Gr.9 titanium frame is complemented by a carbon fibre fork. A combination which offers excellent stability at high speeds, as well as superb agility for zipping through urban traffic.

The drop bars allow for a more dynamic riding position: lean, mean, and ready for speed.

The Rápida is available as a single-speed or with a Kappstein Doppio 2-speed BB hub. Both models come with a Gates CDX belt drive transmission as standard: silent, clean, light, and maintenance-free. And thanks to the sliding dropouts, you can remove and replace the back wheel in seconds, without affecting the belt tension.

We’ve pulled out all the stops with the rest of the set-up, too: gorgeous Crank Brothers Cobalt wheels; Compass Barlow Pass extralight 38mm tires; Avid BB7 disc brakes activated by Sram levers (the version with 2-speed shifter for the Doppio model); Thomson seatpost and stem; Acros headset with Tune carbon spacers; Fizik Cyrano handlebars; Exustar pedals; and a Brooks C-15 saddle with matching bar tape.

Riding this bike you have a sensation of speed but also of security. It zips along, but at the same time it seems capable of reading your mind and responds instantly and effortlessly to any change of direction. You can feel how your pedal power is transmitted unhesitatingly to the rear wheel.
The brakes are top-notch, and the whole machine has a feeling of quality you don’t often find in a city bike. As with all our bikes, its titanium frame offers a level of comfort impossible to achieve with aluminium or carbon.

In a nutshell, a bicycle for those who are looking for superb quality in a commuter. Those who enjoy the adrenaline of speed, but who also know how to appreciate the simple lines of a superior quality product, built to last a lifetime.

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A NUA

8 a.m. You’re out the door, bound for the office on your Nua Dual, looking forward to your morning commute through the sunny streets of Barcelona.

You pedal along effortlessly. The Schwalbe tires offer the lowest rolling resistance on record, and it’s noticeable.
The Pinion gearbox, with its Porsche-derived technology, is smooth as silk, silent, fast. You can even change down while you’re stopped at the traffic lights, with just a simple twist of the shifter.
You take a detour through the park for fun, and a little kid stares in wonder at your bike while their mum tugs at their hand because they’ll be late for school.
You arrive at the office and leave your bike leaning against the wall, where you can’t help admiring it for a minute with a smile on your face before you concentrate on work.

1 p.m. A colleague suggests heading to the beach to have lunch at a bar she knows there, so you both hop on your bikes and have a friendly race on the way.

6 p.m. Enough work for the day. You decide to do something different on the way home. Changing into your biking gear, you take your Nua Dual and head up into Collserola, the hills behind Barcelona, which are riddled with dirt tracks of all sorts. Here you can put the off-road capabilities of your Dual to the test while you burn off the stress caused by that difficult meeting.
The bike climbs beautifully. Finding the right gear is a breeze. You reach the top exhausted but happy. A group of cyclists all with almost identical carbon mountain bikes stop for a drink of water and eye your Nua Dual with surprise. Their curiosity gives rise to a pleasant conversation about its titanium frame and fork, its sequential gearbox, its belt transmission…
You wave goodbye and begin the descent. The geometry of the bike and its balanced centre of gravity make it incredibly stable. In top gear and at 50km/h you can still pedal. Its wide, low-pressure tires eat up the pot-holes and stones without a second glance. You think that the extra absorption afforded by the titanium also helps. You get to that hairpin bend and the brakes come into play, progressive yet strong. You have an agreeable sensation of control and security which mixes with the adrenalin which has been coursing through your veins for a while now.

8p.m. You arrive home at last, drenched in sweat. After a nice warm shower, while you’re toweling your hair dry, you can’t help admiring your Nua, hanging there on its wall mount, and you’re grateful to it that it will never ask for anything in return. A tire change and new brake pads every now and again, new oil for its gearbox every 10 thousand km (which you can do yourself in five minutes). And that’s it. It will be ready – with no maintenance or adjustment necessary – for the trip you’ve planned with friends next weekend: two days camping in the Pyrenees, exploring new paths, sleeping under the stars and enjoying a lot of laughs.

Like all our bicycles, your Nua Dual is totally customizable. Just drop us a line at contact@nuabikes.com and together we’ll configure a bicycle which is totally unique and adapted to your needs and tastes. And if you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

3 NEW NUAS

This post is just pure self-indulgence: a photo-essay of three of the latest and sleekest Nuas to come out of our workshop. So scroll on down to get some ideas for your dream bike, or just to appreciate the beauty of a bicycle well made.

1. Santtu’s Nua Kuopio

Santtu wrote to us from beautiful Kuopio in Finland, looking for a bike he could use for his daily commute along stunning lakeside paths. Here are a few photos of the
drop bar single speed we made for him:

“My Nua rides very smoothly. No sound at all. Everything works great!
The bike is beautifully finished, light and lovely. Thank you so much :)))))”

2. Richardson’s Nua 8-Speed Alfine

We recently shipped this marvelous bike to Pensylvania. Simple in design, but capable of handling any surface thanks to its 8-speed hub and wide tires.

“Now that the weather here in Pennsylvania has been warming up in the last month, my Nua is getting a lot of road time. I’m really loving it! It’s also gotten a lot of attention and comments from my friends, all of whom mention how unique it is.

Thanks again for such a great product!”

3. Phillip’s Nua Single Speed

Phillip got in touch with us in search of the perfect single speed on which to ride the streets of Berlin in style. A few weeks later, this was the result:

“Just wanted to drop you some lines after my first commutes to work. The bike looks and rides awesome. I enjoy it very much. It is very clean and neatly assembled. Great quality.

Thank you for this amazing bike and the great service”

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

A NUA DOWN UNDER

John wrote to us all the way from Australia, impressed by our bikes. He realised he’d finally found what he’d been searching for all these years. He needed a well-equipped bicycle, big on quality and small on maintenance. One which he could use for his daily 50 km commute as well as for weekend adventures. In addition, he wanted something designed and made to measure. Something special. Very special. What better than a Nua? After almost a hundred emails and many hours of work, his Nua was born:

The process of defining John’s bike aesthetically was interesting. At first, he tended towards a strict classicism, but over time that changed to a mixture of classic and modern. The result was a neoclassical style which we love!

A Rohloff Speedhub IGH can circumnavigate the world several times in it’s working life, so it will certainly stand up to John’s level of use for a good few years.

Combined with a Gates Carbon Drive CDX, it makes for a reliable, silent transmission which needs no more maintenance than an oil change every 5000 km.

The wheels are hand built, with H+Son Hydra rims, Sapim D-Light spokes, and some gorgeous aluminium nipples, anodised in orange, also by Sapim. The front wheel uses a Chris King hub, so as to be up to the standard of the rear Rohloff hub.

John wanted the best brakes available. We suggested Trickstuff Cleg 2, and it was a case of love at first sight. Unfortunately, they weren’t available in the colour he wanted, so we had to order them in orange and blue, and then spend a good few hours polishing off the blue!

The quality of these brakes is impressive. They’re made in the heart of the Black Forest, and we think they might be the best brakes in existence.

In keeping with the orange theme, and also with the high-end componentry of this bike, we chose a Chris King i7 tapered headset, in “mango”.

If you’ve been following our adventures you’ll know that we love Gilles Berthoud saddles, especially the Galibier model with its titanium rails. In our opinion, it’s the best leather saddle in the world (not to mention the lightest).

Another component we have a bit of a fetish for are Compass tyres. They’re flexible, lightweight and they look great. Perfect for a top-end build. Here you can see them with some beautifully discreet Curana mudguards, necessary on a bike which will be in daily use, rain or shine.

To sum up, one of the most complete and best-equipped bikes ever to come out of our little Barcelona workshop. Now it’s riding the streets of Victoria, half a world away! We’re very happy with it, and so, it would seem, is John:

“I am very, very happy with my Nua. This bike is such a joy to ride, fits me perfectly, and the overall look exceeds my wildest expectations.”

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

KOUROCHE’S 2-SPEED

The first Nua in Miami is very special, and its owner, Kouroche, has become a good friend since visiting us in Barcelona a few months ago. He had been in love with our bikes for a good while when he finally decided to order a Nua Doppio, customised to his taste. This is the result:

Kouroche decided he wanted the crankset spider orange, so of course we painted it orange for him.

And we complimented it with a few other orange touches. Such as this superb quality Chris King i7 headset in “mango”:

Orange rear sprocket spacers:

And even orange gear cable casing:

This bicycle is the first which we’ve constructed with the rear light and headlight integrated into the seatpost and handlebar respectively.

The lights are nice and bright, and very discrete when not in use. They’re powered by a lithium-ion battery with its own USB charger.

Another first for us on this bike is the side stand.

A Brooks saddle in black leather with titanium rails will provide elegant good looks and comfort for years to come.

In a nutshell, a simple yet superb quality machine, sporty yet comfortable, elegant but with a touch of fun, exactly as our friend Kouroche had requested. Upon receiving the bike, he had these kind words to say:

“Hi Roberto, I just got the bike and it is even better than I had imagined it. It is very light which is impressive….
it is a beauty and piece of art. I am very happy with it”

Thankyou Kouroche for your friendship and your generous nature. And also for sending us this foto of your new Nua with Miami Beach in the background:

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

TOBI’S NUA

Zürich is a relatively flat city, but it does have some fairly steep hills in its northern suburbs, so when Tobi came to us looking for the perfect bike for his daily commute and occasional excursions to the lakes, he knew that a 2-speed hub would be ideal. The Kappstein Doppio, for example; integrated into the bottom bracket.
As little plastic as possible, lots of titanium, and practical, maintenance-free components such as a belt transmission. These were the reasons Tobi asked us to make his bike. And a couple of months later, his Nua was born:

The Kappstein Doppio 2-speed BB hub:

Controlled by a minimalist shifter on the handlebar:

The Gates Carbon CDX Centertrack belt drive. Clean, silent, and maintenance-free for the duration of its 20.000-30.000 km working life:

Titanium, more titanium and a bit more titanium….immune to the corrosion which salt on frozen roads causes in other materials:

The saddle and grips are from the Brooks Cambium range, this time in “natural” colour. It’s the first time we’ve used this colour, and we really like the way it combines with the titanium, giving the bike an ethereal look:

In a nutshell, a bike which is as simple as possible and as top-quality as possible. And one with which Tobi is extremely happy:

“it’s super fun to ride 🙂 super agile, also quite fast! Loving the gear set up! “

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!

HORNIK’S DOPPIO

Our Nua Doppio has been a big hit, and it’s not hard to understand why. With its sporty yet elegant styling, its exquisite 2-speed bottom-bracket gearbox (ideal for most urban situations), and its minimalist wheels with 12 pairs of triangulated spokes, we knew we were on to a good thing.
But while some people have ordered the Doppio “as-is”, others have felt the need to personalise their machine, creating their own custom version. This was the case with our Nua Ambassador in Düsseldorf, P. Hornik, who opted for some interesting upgrades to come up with his own personal and unique Nua Doppio. This was the result:

The Kappstein Doppio gear hub, integrated into the bottom bracket, is the nucleus of the system. Weighing in at only 750g, it has a ratio of 1.57, resulting in two speeds sufficiently widely spaced to offer great versatility. Paired with a Gates Carbon Drive CDX belt, it’s poetry in motion.

It’s controlled by this tiny and incredibly cool shifter (not the brake one, the tiny black one next to it).

We installed Formula T1 brakes, lightweight yet powerful.

Another upgrade requested by our client was this Brooks C-13 saddle with carbon fibre rails. Here you can see it atop the always fabulous Thomson seatpost.

And here is the matching Thomson stem, which combines with our titanium bar to form a solid and stylish cockpit.

The Gates belt requires precise alignment, so we always machine the aluminium spacers ourselves to achieve the perfect fit.

Here you can see the lovely Acros semi-integrated headset, a little bit of creative flair with the separators, and the stunning welds on the Nua Ti-CORE titanium frame.

As as you may know, we like playing with anodising our titanium frames, creating a unique look for each bike that leaves the workshop.

In a nutshell, a lovely urban rocket which absolutely delighted its new owner.
In his own words:

“I’m totally stoked with the bike. It feels only perfect. I want you know I love this masterpiece!”

That’s all for now. If you’d like to receive regular newsletters with updates about our latest custom builds and ideas for your dream bike, sign up here.
Safe and happy cycling!