Taking home the award for Best Gravel Bike, Breismeister Bicycles showed off their ability to manipulate steel into a beautiful bike. The brand offers lugged or brazed bikes, in road, cyclocross, mountain bike and, now, gravel frames.
The head tube used a combination of lugged and brazed construction, which always adds a subtle depth to the frame. The narrow mono-stay and brake bridge is one of their signature designs.
Other bikes used a more modern tapered head tube…
…and Syntace X12 thru-axle dropouts.
Even if you don’t go wild, little touches like the hole in the brake hose port and color-matched fender-mount bolts are what separate custom bikes from the masses. Check them out at BreismeisterBicycles.com.
BUILT x KENT ERIKSEN
Built. was showing off their titanium mountain bike frame…and a few remnants of the Kent Eriksen brand, which head builder Brad Bingham bought not too long ago. Now, they’re making both the Built. and Kent Eriksen brands under a single roof.
The bike used their multi-part dropout, which sandwiches the frame between the hanger and the threaded axle insert. The benefit is that if either of the parts gets damaged (bent hanger, stripped threads, you can easily replace just that single piece and get right back out on the trail.
They also showed off their solution for Di2 seatpost battery mounts, which uses a small set screw to keep it locked in place.
Their titanium stems can be custom made to any angle and length.
This adventure bike-to-be had plenty of bag and bottle mounts.
For the second year in a row, Brad took home the Best TIG Frame award, this time for an S&S coupled travel frame.
With welds this clean and smooth, it’s no wonder they’re a successive winner. Check them out at KentEriksen.com and BinghamBuiltBikes.com.
CO-MOTION GRAVEL TANDEM BIKE
This special edition Co-Motion gravel tandem bike is just one of 30 made, celebrating 30 years in business. Retail is $12,600 for the complete bike, which was a finalist for best tandem bike in the show.
This new finish is a wet paint application that gets its visual texture by dragging a brush through it before drying and clear coating. Find them at Co-motion.com.
