If we had to guess what the most recent bike on the UCI-approved list was, we’d have never expected it to be this beautiful, but decidedly conventional Mosaic XT-1 titanium cyclocross bike. But when elite American cyclist Ben Frederick found out he was heading to Czechia to race the opening round of the CX World Cup in Tábor, Mosaic had to make sure he could line up at the start with his two custom-painted XT-1 cross bikes.
So we caught up with Frederick in the pits, to get a closer look at his titanium twins and to find his Small Monsters…
Mosaic XT-1 titanium cyclocross bikes of Ben Frederick
So, instead of some wacky new aero-shaped carbon road or gravel bike at the top of the ‘most recently approved’ column of the UCI’s list, it’s these conventional welded titanium Mosaic XT-1 cross bike.
In fact, the XT-1 isn’t even officially in the catalog of the Boulder, CO bike builder. The X-series technically got phased out and replaced with the G-series as gravel pushed cross out a few years back. But Mosaic is a killer custom frame builder. And all their bikes are “made to order from scratch including rider specific geometry, configuration and choice of finish work” so we’re pretty sure they’ll still make you an XT-1 if you want to do some serious World Cup cyclocross racing.
Hey, it’s already UCI-approved… as long as you get the same 56cm frame and geometry like Ben Frederick raced this weekend in Tábor.
Frederick’s Tábor twins
Interestingly, it may have just been approved last Friday on November 21st, but these aren’t even brand-new bikes.
That’s the beauty of titanium. Ben already raced these two on the circuit last season. I guess the UCI didn’t notice him on the start lines. But after the season, Mosaic stripped the bikes down, and repainted them in-house in their Spectrum Paint & Powder Works paint shop, in an even more colorful style.
Nebula on white or white on Nebula, you decide!
For the 2025/26 race season, Frederick’s titanium Mosaic XT-1 beauties get finished in a special edition of Mosaic’s Artist Series hand-painted Nebula paint job. But the layout is a Ben special, designed with color block stripes that match his own custom racing kit.
And just like last year, the bikes are mirror images of each other. Where one bike is white with colorful logos, the other is Nebula blue, purple & orange with white logos. Plus, that treatment even makes it into the fine details and logos of the Enve fork and Ritchey bar, stem & seatpost.
Killer attention to detail!
Then, for maximum style points, there’s plenty of matching purple & orange anodized Chris King parts.
Plus, a full suite of ultra-limited edition Challenge Team Edition tubulars with purple sidewalls. Ben raced most of his early US season on Grifos. But he broke out some newer Flandriens for the slightly more challenging conditions of the frozen Czech course. It was frosty with rock-hard ruts wherever it stayed in shadow. But a grassy top layer thawed in some places in the sun, which saw a large number of racers slip out unexpectedly in a few corners, including Ben based on his muddy left hip late in the race.
So, which of the two bikes is your favorite look? We think Ben’s must pick the one with the Nebula painted toptube and the Small Monster on the seattube, since he rode that one the whole race on Sunday!
Small Monsters
Ben Frederick is a bit unique on the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup circuit, as he races at the elite level of the sport, but holds down a regular full-time job. We in fact know him through his sales and service job at cycling clothing company OrNot.
But besides OrNot he was also a Ritchey athlete. That’s when we first learned of Ben and his Small Monsters project, a nonprofit “to reduce the stigma surrounding mental challenges and provide education and resources about concussion and other traumatic brain injuries“. See, back in 2015, Ben had a season- and ultimately racing career-ending crash with a traumatic brain injury that spiraled into a serious mental health struggle. He fought with depression, anxiety, and then an eating disorder that ended with him hospitalized.
“Struggling with a mental illness can be like having a BIG monster, scary and unseen,” says Frederick. “My hope is that people can bring their monsters out in the open to make them smaller, and learn to live with their little monsters.”
Ben says he learned to live with his monsters. And now he races with them on his kit and his bike, both to never forget his own struggle and help others to know they aren’t alone.
Learn more at TheSmallMonstersProject.com, including resources for those who may have had a concussion. Or check out Ben’s YouTube, where he openly shares more of the story that got him where he is today.
Pro Bike Build Details
- Mosaic XT-1 double-butted titanium frame, with new custom paint job
- Enve Cross full carbon fork
- Hunt 30 Carbon CX tubular wheels
- 33mm Challenge Flandrien Team Edition S3 cotton tubulars in ultra-limited edition purple
- SRAM Red AXS 12-speed 1x wireless groupset
- SRAM purple flattop chain
- SRAM Red 42T Quarq powermeter crankset
- Wolf Tooth LoneWolf Aero chainguide
- Ritchey WCS carbon Zero seatpost, C220 alloy stem & EvoCurve 42cm carbon bar
- one Silca Sicaro titanium bottle cage per bike
- Chris King headset, bottom bracket & seat clamp
- Fizik Vento Argo R1 saddle
- Shimano XT clipless pedals
Lead Lap in Tábor
Almost ten years after the crash that derailed his pro racing dreams and left him with the after effects of his traumatic brain injury, last year, Ben decided to give elite racing his all one more time, again. To see how well he could do, racing head-to-head with the best cyclocrossers in the world. His goal was to face the world’s best on the World Cup and finish with them on the Lead Lap. Those who watch closely how fast World Cup cross racing is, will often see how many riders get lapped or pulled before they can get in the way of the front of the race.
It’s no small feat to finish on the lead lap.
Last year, Frederick managed only one Lead Lap finish on the World Cup. Now, the 36-year-old has already matched that in the first World Cup race of this season. Not bad for an old guy with a full-time job in addition to his racing hobby. OK, he’s clearly not old (more than a decade younger than me), but still, no older racer finished on the lead lap, so there’s that.
Well done Ben, and beautiful bikes!
Let us know which is your favorite in the comments below.
