At the start of every year, custom Czech carbon bike builder Festka digs back through their social media feeds to crown their most popular bikes. And for 2024’s top 5, it’s a mix of subdued classic and modern road bikes, plus a new race-focused gravel bike that we covered at Bespoked. Although beautiful in the details, this feels like a less flashy crop of bikes compared to recent years. Festka co-founder Michael Moureček attributes that to cyclists simply wanting to get back out and ride.
And the top bike is still a stunner, from the limited edition Elements collection with deep transparent paint inspired by fire!
Most popular 2024 Festka custom carbon road & gravel bikes
“The year 2024 was marked by minimalist designs. I believe this reflects the closing chapter of the post-COVID era, when people prioritized getting their bikes quickly over focusing on design. In 2025, we expect a significant shift toward personalized designs and unique builds. Even now, anyone can create their dream Festka bike using the configurator on our website and send it to us.“
– Michael Moureček, Festka Product Manager & Co-Founder
Let’s look back at those top bikes and get a little insight on what they mean for Michael. But first…
I personally have a bit of a soft spot for this fifth slot, as it reminds me of my own Festka.
Full disclosure: I bought a frameset from them as part of their original Project200 series back in 2012 before I started with Bikerumor, before Festka had actually started making their first carbon frames. That bike became the original Festka One Gravel, and has a similar, almost low-key transparent chameleon green paint job revealing the unique structure of the CompoTech wound carbon tubes underneath. And of course, even though mine is more ‘all-road’, it’s still hard to argue with that bling Campy groupset.
Of note… the One series is being retired, with just the last hundred complete bikes as a limited edition before Festka ends production of the frame that laid the foundation for the rest of their custom carbon bikes.
OK, back to the actual Top 5 bikes…
5th place: Festka Scalatore for Cyclist Wardrobe
“This type of design, based on transparent colours, changes with the intensity of light. In sunlight, the unique carbon structure becomes visible, while in the shade, the frame appears as if it’s fully painted. We’ve been creating these designs for years, but they gained unexpected popularity this year, especially when combined with 24k gold accents.“
4th place: Festka Spectre Marble for Velodrom Barcelona
“The subtle “marble” effect in this green is, in my opinion, a bold combination. Even I was surprised by how striking the frame looked in person. Without a doubt, this is one of the key trends of 2024, reflected in the work of other manufacturers as well.”
3rd place: Festka Spectre Gravel
“For me personally, this was the biggest surprise of the year. I didn’t expect such overwhelmingly positive reactions to this design from people of all age groups. The frame was showcased at Designblok and seemed to impress absolutely everyone—a rare achievement.”
We spotted this new Spectre Gravel back in October at Bespoked in Dresden. It’s the first all-new bike model for the brand since their 2021 Scout (now discontinued, but soon to be replaced by a revamped adventure Rover). While a lot of gravel bikes have gone for a do-it-all approach – and the Rover will still be able to do that – Michael wanted to create a race-ready gravel bike for himself. And it seems Festka fans were on board with the concept too.
This is an ultra-stiff 1x-specific gravel race bike meant to be as fast as the fastest road bikes, but still with enough space for 44mm tires. Note: Festka updated the Spectre Gravel with a bit more accommodating geometry since we first saw this complete bike which belongs to Michael Moureček.
2nd place: Festka Scalatore for Lab 306
“This bike carries an incredible personal story. Its owner had it built as a tribute to a loved one he lost. The clean design and choice of components create a seemingly understated bike that is, in reality, one of the most advanced bike in today’s cycling world.”
1st place: Festka Spectre Fire
“What more can I say than this: I ride a bike just like this one myself. While the design might appear simple at first glance, it’s actually crafted using transparent paint and intricate layering techniques to create darker sections. It’s a stunning showcase of our painters’ mastery, a design that looks unparalleled in real life—and one you’re unlikely to see replicated anywhere else.”
At the start of last year, Festka launched a limited edition Elements design series – painting custom Spectre road bike to evoke Fire, Water, Earth, or Air. The bike that introduced the series was this one, ridden around the streets of Kuala Lumpur by Festka’s other co-founder Ondřej Novotný.
Festka art director Tom Hnida designed the look with layer after layer of metallic and translucent paints to give the bikes a deep, rich candy finish.
And so far, it looks like Fire is the only Element series bike to be made available, yet. So the other 3 designs seem to still be in the works…
