THE NUA GRAVEL 1×11

Geoff wrote to us all the way from Australia. He explained that he planned to spend a few months in the south of France and would need a lightweight and versatile bike on which to explore the highways and byways and the beautiful offroad tracks typical of the region. On top of that, his new bike would need to serve as a daily commuter once he returned home to Australia. A couple of months later, his Nua was born:

This Nua is best categorised as a Gravel Bike: a machine which is equally comfortable on or off the asphalt. On this bike, Geoff will be able to ride pretty much anywhere.

The frame is tailor-made, with specially designed dimensions and geometry. Also custom designed are the chain and seat-stays, S-shaped to permit the use of Sram Rival road cranks, with a narrower Q-factor than usual.

Speaking of Rival 1 components, we substituted the original road-bike 11-36 cassette with an 11-42 MTB one to make steeper hills a breeze.

The hydraulic brakes are impressive, very progressive and strong.

The bike has been designed to be ready for whatever changes the future might bring: it has eyelet mounts for racks and mudguards, sliding dropout inserts ready for a Rohloff hub (as well as internal cable routing), a belt port to allow for the installation of a Gates Carbon Drive transmission, etc…..

It’s always a pleasure to use top quality components, like the Chris King headset, the Brooks leather bar tape, or the Gilles Berthoud saddle.

When we test-rode the bike we loved it, and it seems that Geoff does too:

“Hi Roberto, My Nua arrived safe and sound today and is even better in the flesh than the photos.

Thanks for all your help and time with the build…”

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Safe and happy cycling!

THE NUA AUDAÇ

The Nua Audaç is one of our favourite models, and also one of our most popular. Kitted out from head to foot with top quality components, it’s a bike which can do it all: from your daily commute to weekend excursions and light touring. It rolls equally well on asphalt or gravel, and will even venture into the mountains without turning a whisker. And it’s practically zero-maintenance, which means you can clock up the kilometres without a worry in the world.

This particular build, ordered by Mr. Baumann from Switzerland, is especially good looking, we think, and just goes to show that a practical and fully equipped bicycle can also be a beauty to behold:

The transmission is composed of a super silent 11-speed Shimano Alfine internal gear hub, (or with the option of an 8-speed Alfine or a 14-speed Rohloff), and a Gates Carbon Drive CDX belt drive. An oil change every 10,000 km and a replacement belt every 20,000 or 30,000 is all it needs in the way of maintenance.

The lights are perfectly integrated, and powered by a Shimano Alfine (or Shutter Precision) front hub dynamo, so they’re super bright with no need for batteries.

Hydraulic disc brakes by Shimano are a given, along with other superb quality components such as a Thomson seatpost and stem, a Brooks saddle and grips, a Tubus rack for side panniers, a titanium handlebar, and Curana mudguards with a Busch & Müller integrated tail light.

In a nutshell, a bike that’s versatile, long lasting, and elegant. Perhaps the only bike you’ll need for the next few decades.

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Safe and happy cycling!

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!

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!