About a year ago, many of our Asheville, NC, friends started showing up to the ‘cross races aboard a sleek looking carbon bike emblazoned with raised silver letters spelling out GRAVA. More and more of them started riding them, including some of the Industry Nine folks, and getting good results in the local and state series. That model’s called the Maple Sally, and that’s a story we’ll tell in another post soon.
Now, Lenoir, NC, based Grava Bikes is bringing their next model’s production to the States, and they’re looking to Kickstarter to make it happen.
Called the Revenuer, its name refers to the revenue collectors from the long defunct Bureau of Prohibition, whose agents would comb the Blue Ridge Mountains seeking illegal moonshine stills. Many of those dirt roads and secret paths now make for excellent riding through the area, and this bike’s made to handle them all…
The frame will be made of Dedacciai and Columbus Zona tubing. The standard head badge will be a tribute to the Revenuer’s badges, and the first five backers will get a custom brass plaque with “Kop van de wedstrijd” (head of the race) brazed onto the frame along with the option of a special white and black paint scheme. The standard paint scheme, shown here, will use a matte black base that’ll stand up to less than ideal conditions.
The frame’s geometry leans towards the racy, but has a bit longer wheelbase than a pure road machine and uses TRP’s cyclocross disc brake fork, blending on- and off-road traits to match their goal of having “one bike, many rides.”
A PFBB30 lets you run any type of crankset.
It has clearance for 700×44 tires front and rear
Out back are Paragon Machine Works’ Wright-style 12×142 dropouts and post mount brake tabs with replaceable threaded inserts.
Going with a steel frame hearkened back to founder frame designer Shawn Moore’s early racing days. It also made it easier to source domestic production. But they wanted it to be thoroughly modern and work with today’s components, hence the thru axles and 44mm headtube that’ll fit straight and tapered forks. They say these attributes provide the snappy performance we all expect nowadays without diminishing steel’s inherent ride qualities.
The chainstay has a nice graphic resembling tax stamps, but with Grava’s logo centrally located.
Price for frame, fork, Cane Creek headset and Salsa Lip Lock seat collar is $1,599. Branded trinkets are available through the campaign for smaller supports starting at just $40, but jumping to $800 puts a deposit on a frame. Pony up the full $1,599 in advance and you’ll get the frameset. $2,499 gets you the special paint scheme, and $6,000 gets you a complete bike, two nights B&B stay and guided rides around Appalachia. Our bet is there’ll be some ‘shine along the way, too.
Check out the Kickstarter campaign here. The frames have been prototyped and tested, all that’s needed now is the funding to launch production.
