Home > Bike Types > Gravel Bikes

Battaglin’s shiny Italian lugged steel Portofino G for Gravel goes off-road

The Italian Officina Battaglin workshop has its first true gravel bike with this shiny new chrome-lugged Portofino G.

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike
26 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

A seemingly natural evolution of the updated Portofino R road bike that was just overhauled last December, the new handmade-in-Italy Portofino Gravel is the kind of bike just begging to be ridden down dirt roads between olive groves and over the rolling white gravel roads of Tuscany.

Remember how when Campy introduced their Ekar gravel groupset, they said Campagnolo had been building bicycle groupsets since before there even were paved roads? Those pre-asphalt roads are exactly what this beautiful Battaglin Portofino Gravel bike was built to explore…

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel gravel bike

Let me start off by saying that one of my favorite bikes, and one of the oldest I still regularly ride, is a lugged steel cyclocross bike that a friend custom-built for me more than 15 years ago. Shout-out to what was Clark Custom Cycles. So now jump ahead to roughly four years ago when I first saw Officina Battaglin’s modern custom chrome-lugged but still rim brake Portofino steel road bike, and I thought to myself ‘that would make a beautiful gravel bike’. Well, now that time has come, and it is so much more refined than that first Portofino.

Now, this isn’t meant to be some backcountry adventure bikepacking gravel bike. This is a gravel bike for riders looking to ride fast across any type of road surface – asphalt, dirt, gravel – but wants a bike with more soul than an off-the-rack carbon bike.

What’s new in gravel?

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, 40mm tire clearance
c. Officina Battaglin

The key technical detail of pretty much any gravel bike is its tire clearance, and the Portofino G is designed to fit a max 700 x 40mm tire. That places it squarely in the all-road to fast gravel category, just where Battaglin wanted it while maintaining the eponymous workshop’s “distinct road racing DNA”.

While gravel is booming… we didn’t want a bike that resembled a drop-bar mountain bike, or a relaxed geometry for bikepacking. We wanted a gravel bike with the reactive handling of a road bike.

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, fully internal routing, headtube lugs

The new Battaglin Portofino G gravel bike is very similar to the recently updated Portofino R Road bike, but it does get its own unique head lugs to fit an off-road specific downtube and a straight 1.5″ headtube that allows Battaglin to build the bike with completely internal cable routing around a standard round tapered steerer full-carbon gravel fork – even with mechanical 1x Ekar shifting and the possibility for dropper post routing for those who want it.

Tech details

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, angled

The core tech of a Portofino really are those custom oversized steel lugs that Battaglin developed to work with the latest modern lightweight shaped, multi-butted Sprit HSS-level steel tubing that they have custom drawn for them by Columbus. The lugs allow for a strong frame with very light tubing and a “unparalleled riding experience”.

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, frameset

But it also does lock in the bike a bit more in terms of custom geometry. Yet, Battaglin maintains some flexibility and describes that gravel geo starting point as the evolution of what the brand developed for pros in the 1980s & 90s when their lugged steel bikes raced the likes of Paris-Roubaix, now having adapted it for more modern mixed-surface gravel riding and racing.

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, ne wlug details

The gravel bike also borrows a few more bits of tech from the recent flagship road bike. That includes a 31.6mm seatpost secured with the new hidden clamp built into the seatlug (also helping with dropper post compatibility), the new 68mm wide T47 threaded bottom bracket, upgraded 12mm thru-axle dropouts that incorporate the flat mount disc brake caliper and clean derailleur cable routing, and lastly dropped seatstays.

Battaglin Portofino Gravel – Pricing, options & availability

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, individually numbered

Officina Battaglin only builds a limited number of bikes in their Marostica workshop west of Venice in northern Italy each year. So, every Battaglin bike is a limited edition, and just 70 new Portofino G gravel bikes will be made available in 2023, with frameset pricing starting at 5000€.

Like all of their bikes, that gets you custom geometry including a personal fit consultation with Giro-Vuelta winner Giovanni Battaglin, and the made-to-measure, individually-numbered frameset including a painted-to-match full carbon gravel fork in your choice of color of Battaglin’s signature high-gloss cromovelato finish with a polished chrome logo fade, and a certificate of authenticity… as if anyone could duplicate this bike.

Officina Battaglin Portofino Premium custom road bike, modern oversized Columbus Spirit lugged steel custom Italian road bike

Since this is a highly integrated design, Battaglin will mostly sell the Portofino G as a complete gravel bike, with complete builds in the ballpark of 800-8500€. Extra components can also be color-matched in cromovelato as an upcharge, like that seatpost or customizable stem, if you feel the need to go ultra-shiny.

Battaglin Portofino G lugged steel Italian custom gravel bike, Campy Ekar complete

Options are effectively limitless – although a full Italian Campagnolo Ekar build like this is a lightweight, high-performance no-brainer. 1x or 2x, mechanical or electronic, affordable or ludicrously expensive wheels, really only your budget is the limit. Build times vary, but expect at least 4 months to get a bike this customized.

I think it’s time that I seriously consider getting a custom Italian lugged steel gravel bike.

OfficinaBattaglin.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

26 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Matty
Matty
1 year ago

it’s pretty, but mechanical 13 speed going through all those kinks in the cockpit makes for nasty shifting.

Fake Namerton
Fake Namerton
1 year ago

Cool bike. Can’t wait to read what ridiculous problem you pedantic mouth breathers have with it in the comments section tho.

carbonfodder
carbonfodder
1 year ago
Reply to  Fake Namerton

Try to show a little bit of respect for differing opinions than your own. You might actually learn something from a ‘pedantic mouth breather’

Fake Namerton
Fake Namerton
1 year ago
Reply to  carbonfodder

Ok tough guy in the bicycle rumor comments section.

Greg
Greg
1 year ago
Reply to  Fake Namerton

You mad bro?

Fake Namerton
Fake Namerton
1 year ago
Reply to  Greg

So mad.

WhateverBikes
1 year ago
Reply to  Fake Namerton

Wow, you need some anger management. Go for a ride, and if that doesn’t help, go find another hobby please. The only one being pedantic here is you.

Joenomad
Joenomad
1 year ago
Reply to  Fake Namerton

Are you angry because your mom is making you move out of the basement and find your own dump.

Fake Namerton
Fake Namerton
1 year ago
Reply to  Joenomad

My mom is dead you jerk. Go ride a unicycle

hegreen
hegreen
1 year ago

But who will have the courage to put a bike as beautiful and shiny as this one on gravel…

Jason DW
Jason DW
1 year ago

Ooo nice!

blahblahblah
blahblahblah
1 year ago

real nice

Richard
Richard
1 year ago

Bella cosi.

Craig
Craig
1 year ago

Absolutely stunning bike

BillB
BillB
1 year ago

That might be the prettiest bike I’ve ever seen that wasn’t a Colnago…

Joh
Joh
1 year ago

It’s like going gardening in white suit and gloves. Have fun and enjoy

Jeff Peirce
Jeff Peirce
1 year ago

It’s lovely. But since an angry person is challenging us to find our negativity I will point out that out of 150 or so serious riders in my community none is on a steel bike… just carbon and alloy…. and these things do not sell in numbers that even at 10 times more would justify all the press that new NICE steel bikes get.
I get it, web sites need content. And this thing is art. But it’s pretty irrelevant to the people who actually ride their bikes, except as gear porn.
I’m glad it exists, though and I wish I could afford to buy one just to hang in my living room.

threeringcircus
threeringcircus
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Peirce

Jeff’s point underscores the impact of marketing. It’s a pity so many serious riders will never know the pleasure of a steel framed steed.

Mark
Mark
1 year ago

Aesthetics aside, what’s so great about steel frames? I rode steel for many years and don’t miss flexy BB’s and occasional death wobbles.

Pete
Pete
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark

On dirt they’re just little weebles, they may wobble but don’t fall down!

Mike
Mike
1 year ago
Reply to  Jeff Peirce

Nah, it is all about weight. Road and gravel bikes over 20lbs just feel super heavy when riding any type of climbs.

Tony
Tony
1 year ago

I have the road version

Colin Tierney
Colin Tierney
1 year ago
Reply to  Tony

Is it amazing? Just had the call and about to push the G button.

Exodux
1 year ago

The “Comment” section is usually the best part of the articles on BikeRumor

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.