Not every new 32″ bike is simply riding a wave of me too, bigger wheel trends. This custom titanium TOOT aka TRed Tritone gravel bike built for Felix Ritzinger to race Gravel Burn is a perfect example of the Italian bike builder’s overarching custom concept.
Designed for a tall rider, looking to tackle long-distance, multi-stage gravel racing, it simply made the most sense to develop the bike around 32″ wheels for the highest performance. Enter the 32″ Toot Tritone
TOOT x TRed Tritone fully custom 32″ titanium gravel bike
Italian bike maker T°Red custom designs and builds each bike they create specifically for the rider and how they plan to ride. Their ADAPT (Adaptive Design Advanced Process Technologies) custom bike design process starts with a rider scan, virtual rider fit, and aerodynamics simulations to dial-in each bike for the individual rider. That’s the same process they use for amateur cyclists and pro riders alike.
Toot calls it a ‘digital twin’ of the rider that helps them perfectly fit and customize a bespoke bike to each cyclist. And it lets them visualize and optimize the final bike before it leaves the design stage.
Racing for clothing maker RH77, Ritzinger is more than 1.91m/ 6′-3″ tall, with especially long legs, and he often struggles to get an ideal fit on stock XL-sized bikes. So this ADPAT process helped Toot tweak a gravel race bike to his needs, and led to the conclusion that 32″ wheels would solve a lot of his particular fit & performance issues.
Is it TOOT, T°Red, TRed, even TiRed… then, Tritone or Triton?
To keep things a little bit confusing, T°Red has been the name of the company’s bike brand for more than a decade. And even that’s been written several different ways. But TOOT Engineering is and has been the name of the performance design & development team behind all TRed bikes and Toot-branded components. Toot is also the name used for their highest-level race bikes custom-built for professional cyclists, encompassing track, road, gravel, and even some cross-country. But even racers like Ritzinger use both TRed and Toot interchangeably.
As for the new ti gravel bike… Toot officially call it the Tritone, in their native Italian. But their site uses auto machine translation, so you’re as likely to see it listed as Triton on its English-language product page. So, we’ll try to stick with the original.
Why 32″ if not just to jump on the bandwagon?
TOOT Engineering explains that it essentially boils down to the simple geometry of a classic diamond-shaped bike frame for a tall rider (not handling geometry, just yet). In order to get the bar high and far enough above the bottom bracket for Ritzinger, a traditional 700c bike with a normal fork axle-to-crown length results in a tall headtube and a large open front triangle. That resulting larger-than-average distance between the down and top tubes, invariably means decreased frame stiffness, no matter the frame material.
So going to bigger wheels let Toot create a more compact frame that was stiffer and more responsive, while nailing Ritzinger’s fit. Small frames often end up too stiff, a real problem for comfort and grip on gravel. But the longer 32″ wheelbase here compensates
In fact, the reason Ritzinger (who’s RH77 team typically races on BMC bikes) came to TRed & Toot in the first place is that they previously built him a super-slammed Falcon track bike for the Berlin Six Days in 2025. That bike followed a similar philosophy of keeping the frame low and compact, with a rider-customized high & long cockpit (and wildly long seattube extension).
Ritzinger was psyched with that bike, saying, “I hadn’t felt since I was under 17: stiffness, reactivity, precision riding. With my height, my physique, I thought I’d never be able to feel them under my ass again.” So when it was time to build a gravel race bike for South African Gravel Burn, returning to TRed & Toot was a no-brainer.
Custom 32″ Ti frameset – Tech details
- fully custom titanium gravel bike developed around the rider
- all-new full carbon 32″ gravel fork developed by TOOT Racing, 445mm a-c & 110mm axle
- 3D-printed titanium tube junctions & dropouts, plus hydroformed ti tubing
- fully-integrated internal cable routing (wireless-only drivetrains)
- slack real seattube angle to offer three saddle positions with 0 offset or forward-facing +10mm or +20mm curved seatposts
- widely curved dropped seatstays for tire clearance and comfort
- 64mm (32″ x 2.5″) max tire clearance
- max 54T 1x chainring (with narrow 47.5mm chainline on 150mm road Q-factor cranks)
- Boost axle spacing
- UDH dropout
- T47 86.5mm road-style threaded bottom bracket
- integrated seatpost clamp
- 3D-printed titanium band clamp for braze-on mount mini chain guide
- handmade in Italy, in Montichiari in Lombardy
Unique 32″ gravel race bike build specs
- Toot Marassha GR ultra-narrow 38.5cm outside, +35mm reach, +50mm stack aero carbon handlebar & Toot alloy stem
- 9th Wave Sandstone SL32 LTD, 32″ x 52mm deep aero carbon wheels
- 32 x 55mm Schwalbe G-One RX Pro (32×2.4″ Silca Protocol RCG-3 tires in photoshoot)
- 44T 1x chainring paired to 10-52T Garbaruk cassette and SRAM Rival AXS Xplr
TOOT Tritone 32″ gravel bike – Options, pricing & availability
The trick to getting a 32″ titanium Tritone gravel bike is just reaching out to Toot. Each frame and complete bike they build is custom developed for each individual rider. Geometry, material, and stiffness characteristics are tuned to each rider, not a stock geometry chart or rider weight table.
A fully-customized replica of Ritzinger’s build will set you back approximately €11k. While Toot’s still-custom Club Edition complete build of the 32″ Tritone with a Rotor 1×13 groupset & M4 cockpit sells for €10,580.
As Toot describes their custom bike concept, “You don’t need to be a pro to ride like one. Every single rider who comes to us gets this exact same treatment and dedicated approach.” So, just get in touch to start building your own super bike – whether that’s a titanium, steel, or alloy bike, whatever discipline you ride, and whichever wheelsize makes the most sense for you!
