Olympia’s new aluminum Handy gravel bike mixes roadie wisdom from more than a century of crafting bikes, with the more modern tech, geometry, and durability honed also in the mountain bike realm. We all know the freedom a gravel bike brings where you can pretty much set out on a ride without a destination in mind. And now the alloy Handy is another way to choose your own adventure, at an affordable price.
2019 Olympia Handy alloy gravel road bike
Olympia Cycles has been making road bikes for 125 years, so maybe it’s about time the decided to roll some drop bars off the tarmac, again. I mean, you know any bike they made before 1900 was effectively a gravel road bike already!
While the most recent bikes we’ve seen from Olympia celebrating their history have been super expensive, and pretty much all carbon, the Handy eschews fancy, in favor of affordable practicality.
Tech details
The result is a modern double butted, shaped 6061 aluminum frame with a 1.5″ full carbon tapered fork, dropped seatstays, 12mm thru-axles, and flat mount disc brakes. Along the way it also gets internal cable routing through the front triangle, mounts for a rear rack & full coverage fenders, a pressfit BB86 bottom bracket, and 30.9mm seatpost. The frame is 1x specific, not including routing for a front derailleur.
The Handy is more smooth Strade Bianche than rocky Torino-Nice so it sticks with 700c wheels and tires around 38-40mm wide, and doesn’t add extra expedition style bottle or cage bosses.
Its geometry is a pretty middle of the (gravel) road endurance setup, with long 425mm chainstays for stable handling. The alloy Handy is available in three stock sizes, and a single gray & black finish.
Pricing & availability
The new gravel bike is available in a single complete bike build for 1713€, with a complete SRAM Apex 1x drivetrain & an 11-42T cassette on Miche Race DX alloy wheels.
Claimed complete bike weight is 10.4kg, and the handy is available now from Olympia dealers.
Olympia calls the Handy an all-in-one bike “for cyclists whose main priority is not top speed, but being able to ride anywhere.”
