Festka has an all-new Spectre Gravel, a race-ready gravel bike inspired by the fastest road racing bike. While it retains the characteristic vibration damping that comes from the way Festka builds all of their carbon bikes, this new gravel bike is not meant for casual adventure rides. This is a gravel bike that wants to go fast!
Festka Spectre Grvl handmade Czech carbon gravel race bike
Festka calls their Spectre road bike the absolute “stiffest and most explosive” bike they have ever built. Created to satisfy Festka co-founder and ex-Conti Pro racer Michael Moureček’s need for speed, it features exceptional stiffness from its headtube, down through the downtube and bottom bracket, then out through the chainstays to the rear axle. On the other hand, the dropped mono-seatstay and 27.2mm seatpost combined with the unique rider-tuned nature of the frame’s robot-woven carbon tubes, means the bike still promises to eat up road buzz for all-day comfort and deliver improved rear wheel traction.
Now, the Festka Spectre Gravel does all of that but with bigger tire clearance so you rides are not limited by smooth road surfaces.
Michael always wants to ride fast. And gravel riding was no exception. So he demanded a single bike that blended that all-road style of versatility with bigger – but not too big – tire clearance.
He wanted a gravel bike that felt as fast as his Spectre road bike when he stomped on the pedals. And at the same time, a bike that he could ride with 40mm gravel tires to go fast on dirt and gravel roads… or could swap in something like 32-35mm road tires to stick to hard surfaces.
And of course, a UDH to accommodate the latest SRAM Red XPLR AXS gravel transmission groupset.
The result is this new Festka Spectre Gravel.
With a max tire clearance of 700c x 40mm tires, it might seem under-biked compared to most new gravel bikes that we talk about these days. But Festka calls this a “race-ready gravel bike engineered for maximum speed and performance”. Plus, Festka already had the Scout for a few years if you were looking for bigger tires, or more of an adventure-style ride.
Tech details
Each Spectre Gravel is produced by hand in Festka’s Prague workshop. There, size-specific Czech-made carbon frame tubes are individually mitered, assembled in a jig, and then each joint is overlaid and laminated by hand in a painstaking process. At Bespoked in Dresden’s airport over the weekend, Lenka – one of Festka’s frame builders – worked throughout the handmade bike show on one Festka frame, showcasing the time-consuming process. Building up the transition material from one tube to the next, adding layers of raw carbon fiber weave, resin, and then tape overwraps to compress & hold them in place.
- full carbon tube-to-tube construction with CompoTech robot-wound tubes
- handmade in Prague, Czech Republic
- 52mm headtube for fully integrated internal cable routing through the headset
- Enve All-Road In-Route full carbon 1.5″ tapered steerer fork
- 1x only, 46T max chainring
- electronic shift only, wired or wireless: i.e. AXS, Di2, EPS/WRL
- UDH for compatibility with all drivetrains
- 40mm max tire clearance (specifically, width as measured)
- 27.2mm round seatpost with conventional external clamp
- BB86 PressFit bottom bracket
- max 140mm rear rotor
- 1035g frame weight (albeit an unpainted size M, as claimed)
- available in 7 stock frame sizes (XXS-XXL), also custom geometry possible
Festka Spectre Gravel – Pricing, options & availability
The new Festka Spectre Gravel is available to order now direct from Festka or any of their dealer bike shops around the world. Frames are made to order, with about a 3-4 month lead time. The new gravel bike comes in a wide 7 size range, and as is typical with Festka, more custom sizing is typically possible for those that have more unique fit requirements. We’re waiting to hear back an exact number on price, but we suspect it will start around the same 7000€ that it costs for a Spectre road frameset.
This bike shows the standard paint scheme for the Spectre Gravel with the majority of the carbon structure visible through just a glossy clearcoat. But of course, Festka also creates some of the most amazing paint jobs we’ve seen on a bike, so you could always transform one of these new Spectre Gravel race bikes into a piece of art if you have the time and budget.
