8bar’s popular aluminum Mitte road, all-road & gravel transformer bike has just gotten a facelift. As affordable as ever, with even more options for customization, the new alloy Mitte carries over all of the same adaptable road to gravel to bikepacking abilities of the original, but in a more refined package.
8bar Mitte affordable & customizable aluminum all-road & gravel bike
What started out four and a half years ago as a crowdfunding campaign quickly becoming 8bar’s most popular bike for its versatility, later spawning two generations of Reynolds 520 steel versions too. Now the original alloy bike has also been given an overall update, boosting tire clearance in either on-road or off-road adventure modes.
What remains is the great 3in1 bike concept – a frame with adjustable chainstay length and two fork options that let you pick from road, gravel & adventure bike personalities.
That also means it can be set up as a singlespeed, or even with an internally geared hub as an urban commuter. Like 8bar says, “one bike, many options!”
Alloy All-Road & Gravel – Tech details
The new Mitte moves to a double-butted 6061 alloy tubeset with un-ground welds, with a claimed frame weight of around 1700g. Each one getting updated, three different fork options are still available – a 400g carbon road fork, a 900g aluminum gravel fork, and the 500g carbon gravel fork.
The all-new alloy Mitte retains many of the original’s standards – like front triangle internal routing, 3 sets of bottle bosses, internal tapered headset, a BSA threaded bottom bracket, 27.2mm seatpost, post mount disc brakes, and mounts for full-coverage fenders & a rear rack.
Now though, the Mitte gets a more solid machined set of sliding dropouts and crimped chainstays that add room for bigger rubber, and an extra 5mm of adjustment for even quicker road geo (apparently a kickstand mount too). Tire clearance increases from the gravel max 40mm & road max 25mm, now up to 700c x 45mm or 650b x 2.0″ in gravel mode, or 700c x 28mm in the new carbon road fork.
Geometry is for the most part the same as the original, but 8bar has since added an extra size on either end up to five sizes (XS-XL), to fit more riders. Besides the variable chainstay length from 410-430mm, swapping to the road fork, steepens the geometry by 1° at the headtube, lowering the bottom bracket 8mm.
Interestingly, while the more expensive Mitte Steel opts for 12mm thru-axles, the alloy Mitte sticks with quick release axles to let you use existing wheels to expand its versatility without spending as much on new wheel setups.
8bar Mitte – Pricing, options & availability
Complete geared GRX 2×10 gravel bikes start around 1600€ now (currently on sale) with the alloy fork, or the same for all-road with a carbon fork (a singlespeed will start at 1339€). A GRX 1×11 gravel setup with the carbon fork starts around 2000€.
8bar’s online complete bike customizer lets you literally pick and choose every component, so you can leave out anything you already have to keep costs down. It also lets you add the full 3in1 setup to your gravel build for an extra 700€, bundling the second carbon road fork, alloy road wheelset, tires, tubes, rotors & cassette so you can swap depending on your mood.
The new alloy Mitte is available now also as a 350€ frame-only in three standard colors – matte polished raw alloy, matte black, or deep sea blue metallic – or you can have it custom painted in any standard RAL color for an extra two hundred euros.
