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!