Cinelli teamed up with the design studio of late Italian graphic artist and product designer Alessandro Mendini for an ultra-limited edition of their Nemo gravel bike. Their most recent artist collaboration bike, posthumously pulls from the design sketches made by Mendini, a long-time friend and collaborator of Cinelli owner Antonio Colombo. Best known for neo-modern architecture and calligraphic, symbolic designs, the iconic style of his Mendini Studio is reborn in this limited run of just 30 eye-catching special edition steel gravel bikes thanks to a partnership between Colombo and Mendini’s daughters.
Limited edition Cinelli Nemo Alessandro Mendini steel gravel bike
The graphics are reminiscent of letters without quite actually being letters—in the words of the artist, “The stories and letters of these expressive alphabets are suspended meanings, waiting for their destiny to indicate their function.”
Tech details
The Nemo Gravel Alessandro Mendini was designed and handcrafted in Italy from lightweight Columbus Spirit HSS steel tubing. It mixes a bit of classic brazed style with modern welding.
The gravel bike features an elegant seat cluster around a 27.2mm seatpost, a tapered rear triangle that ends in lovely, windowed 12mm thru-axle, flat mount disc brake dropouts.
It gets an oversized headtube for the tapered steerer fork, external cable routing along the downtube, plus a 3-pack set of cage bosses on the downtube and direct mount bosses for a bag on the toptube.
The premium Italian steel bike is available in six stock sizes (XS-XXL), with quick handling gravel geometry.
Into The Finishing Details…
The bike gets an Italian build featuring Campy gravel drivetrain, Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H 35mm gravel tires, Fulcrum Rapid Red 500 alloy wheels, Selle San Marco saddle, a Cinelli Swamp gravel bar, plus custom painted-to-match Columbus carbon fork, Cinelli stem & seatpost.
It even comes with a matching Mendini Stilema Tre edition VeloSock to let you keep your home clean while displaying the bike prominently, plus a certificate of authenticity, a matching art print, cleaning cloth & cycling cap.
The Italian bike gets a suitable gravel groupset in Campagnolo Ekar 1×13 gravel-specific drivetrain – with a 40T cog on the carbon cranks and a 9-42T cassette out back.
Cinelli Nemo Alessandro Mendini edition – Pricing & availability
If you want to be one of the thirty people in the world riding around on one of these, you’ll need to shell out $6936 / 6000€. But it is only available direct from Cinelli starting today.
Worth it? Your call — but Alessandro Mendini’s pieces are in museums and private collections all around the world. Might be nice to have one in your garage… or even your living room.
