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!

GRAHAM’S NUA

At Nua Bikes we make custom bicycles. And by custom, we mean that we’ll completely tailor a bike to the customer’s needs and wants. That can mean anything from simply using black spoke nipples when hand-making the wheels, to designing and constructing a modular, dual-purpose front luggage rack, or indeed finding a way to combine a Rohloff IGH with drop-bar brifters. We did all this and more for our latest build, which is as custom as our customer needed it to be.
Graham wrote to us wanting a commuter for daily use which could also be used for off-road adventures and weekend excursions with panniers. A few months later, this “randonneur adventure bike” was born:

This is the most complex and accessory-rich bike we’ve made to date. Nevertheless, it maintains the classic clean lines which are the hallmark of a Nua.

The Rohloff 14-speed IGH comes supplied with a twist shifter for use on flat handlebars, so using it with drop bars has, until recently, involved a bit of compromise. This Nua is one of the very first bikes to use the new Gebla Rohbox shiftbox, which allows us to use road bike shifters, no problems. Here you can see the Gebla shiftbox beside the original Rohloff model:

And here is the simple but effective internal mechanism:

Since the Rohloff hub already incorporates an indexing mechanism, we modified the SRAM Force 22 shifters, getting rid of a few extraneous bits.

This is how the whole thing looks: the Rohloff with its special shiftbox, the powerful SRAM hydraulic brake with a Hope rotor, and the Gates Carbon Drive Center Track belt.

And here are the shifters, now relieved of their superfluous parts and installed on a super-light 3T carbon bar with internal cabling. The right lever changes up a gear with each squeeze, the left lever changes down. Intuitive, quick, and direct.

Another interesting aspect of this bike is its front rack. Graham wanted a basket to put his backpack or shopping bags in for daily use, but he also wanted to be able to use front panniers on weekend trips. There are a couple of products on the market which allow this, but there isn’t anything (or if there is we couldn’t find it) which allows you to remove the top basket but still use the rack as a support for the panniers. So we designed and constructed a rack from scratch, which was time-consuming, but we’re very pleased with the result:

The top basket is practical for transporting everyday loads, even books if you’re so minded!

It’s been beautifully fillet brazed for us by Marcos from Solei Bikes, and finished off with a home-made base of carbon fibre sheets.

The basket attaches and detaches quickly and easily using four titanium screws especially turned for the occasion (M8 with the shank reduced to M6 so as to render washers unnecessary), leaving a light-weight structure which supports the Ortlieb panniers.

The front rack includes a bracket (specially designed and made, of course!) for the Supernova E3 Pure front light.

Which is powered by the best hub dynamo on the market, the SON Delux.

The lighting set-up is completed with a minimalist Supernova taillight, mounted on the fabulous Thomson seatpost.

And to crown the Thomson seatpost, what better than the new Brooks C-13 with carbon fibre rails.

All the components on this bike are top-notch, from the Chris King headset to the marvelously supple Compass tyres, and including our new tapered titanium fork with internal cable routing for post-mounted disc brakes.

To sum up, an exceptional bike: functional, robust, reliable and lovely. A bike which Graham will be able to ride pretty much anywhere that takes his fancy, both on the streets of San Francisco and in the surrounding mountains.
We’re extremely happy that the time and energy we’ve put into this bicycle have borne such satisfying fruit, and it would seem that Graham is too:

“The design, fit and finish is wonderful – exceeding my expectations. I am very happy with it and it is exactly what I asked for. Full of potential for years of adventure. I am really happy I contacted you!”

So happy in fact that he’s planning on ordering another bike from us, this time with a Pinion gearbox, but that’s another story……

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!

TOM’S NUA

Tom got in touch with us to ask us to make him a special bike. One which would be with him for the rest of his life. A bike he could enjoy on a daily basis, but which he could also use at weekends and on family holidays. This was the result:

Tom wanted as clean and simple a look as possible, so we used our complete Nua titanium set: seat post, stem, and handlebar, in addition, of course, to our Ti-CORE frame and titanium fork.

We decided to install a Shimano Alfine 8 IGH, ideal for the terrain Tom plans to use his bike on.

Among Tom’s priorities was an integrated lighting system. He wanted something discreet and maintenance free, so we went – once again – with the Supernova E3 system, minimalist and always reliable.
We were feeling creative, so this time we installed the tail light directly on the mudguard, using a special little bracket we made for the occasion.

To power these lights we decided to use the new Alfine hub dynamo, much smaller and lighter than its predecessor. To complete the trinity, we installed an Alfine crankset as well.

Tom’s Nua will primarily be ridden on city streets, but will occasionally be required to tackle a dirt track or a forest path alongside a river, for example. With this in mind, we chose Compass Barlow Pass 38-622 tyres, one of the best options out there for this kind of hybrid use. The super-supple casing makes them a delight to ride on any surface.

And their tan walls go beautifully with the honey brown leather of the Brooks saddle and grips. The saddle has a copper frame, the sight of which led us first to swoon with copper love, and then to install a gorgeous (and lovely sounding) copper bell by the Japanese firm Crane, and also to paint the covers of the hydraulic disc brake levers to match.

This bike has taken time to build, but it’s been worth it! We hope that Tom will enjoy his Nua for many years to come, as he rides it along the streets and woodland ways of his native Austria.

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.