Custom gravel bikes are some of the most aesthetically pleasing bikes your can buy. Not only that, you can get them tailor-made to your body for that perfect fit. There are many different types of custom gravel bikes on the market, handmade masterpieces, made from anything from adventure to racing.
Gravel biking has exploded in popularity in recent years, with riders seeking adventure and a versatile bike that can handle a variety of terrains. Custom gravel bikes have become a popular choice for riders who want a bike that is tailored to their specific needs and preferences.
Custom gravel bikes are designed and built with the rider in mind, taking into consideration factors such as riding style, body type, and preferred terrain. They allow for customization of everything from the frame material and geometry to the components and accessories, resulting in a bike that is uniquely suited to the rider’s needs.
In this blog article, we’ll be exploring the best custom gravel bikes on the market today. Whether you’re an experienced rider looking for the ultimate gravel bike or a beginner looking to get into the sport, our guide will help you find the perfect bike to suit your needs. So let’s get started and take a closer look at the best custom gravel bikes available today!
Mosaic Cycles
A small company in Colorado, with the combination of art and craft, has defined who they are. Mosaic Cycles build bicycle frames. Their worry is not whether or not their frames will work or not, of course, they do, their concern is less pragmatic than that but no less important; ‘how much better can we make this?’ Offering a plethora of bike models available from dealers all over the globe. The bike pictured above is a standard GT2-45 with a little bit of color added to the frame. Learn more
Naked Bicycles
Naked Bicycles Gravel bike is an elegant titanium gravel machine! A full modern adventure machine! All-day backroad explorations. Gravel rides. Light singletrack. Multi-day bikepacking quests. Built to handle any undertaking, any season. Loads of room for plush tires to smooth out the bumps! Full fender and rack mount options to support your journeys.
Sputnik
Tailor-made gravel bikes to last a lifetime. The Sputnik Supernova Series is a favorite, loving the 90’s iconic paint scheme! When you order your Sputnik Supernova, it’s designed, built, and assembled from scratch in their workshop because every rider has their own perfect fit. The frame geometry is made to fit the owner’s riding style and is built by hand to perform in a way that you have not experienced before. Orders are limited to keep the quality and service high.
Forwards.cc
The GR20 gravel bike by Forward is stunning, “we wanted to design a bike, a combination of the finest parts all having the most outrageous party, enjoying being together as one. We want to offer customization, beautiful attention to detail, and all at an extremely competitive price.” Learn more. They cover all types of bikes from adventure, CX, to racing. Customized however you like!
Moots
Moots offer a selection of custom-made titanium gravel bikes; Routt RSL, Routt 45, Routt YBB, and my personal favorite would have to be the Routt ESC. Perfect for those looking to escape through the deepest gravel that leads to forgotten two tracks with some single-track fun! The ultimate custom-made adventure gravel bike. An escape-ready drop bar bike that can hold up to 2.4’’ tires and take you well beyond the far-off routes you’ve been dreaming of. Located in Colorado, Moots have been handcrafting bicycle frames in the Rocky Mountains since 1981, earning a reputation for building some of the finest quality titanium road, mountain, cross, and of course gravel bikes.
Prova
These bikes are supremely elegant, with the Mostro being a personal favorite. Perfect for escaping the city and fits above the Molti road in the Prova range. It combines progressive geometry using a longer front center with a shorter stem with room for 700×50 or 650Bx2.1 tires. The use of a dropped drive-side chainstay with a 3D printed yoke also allows the use of a conventional road double crankset. Mark Hester is the owner and builder, based in good old Land Down Under – Australia, in Heidelberg Heights.
Officina Battaglin
Battaglin is a brand that specializes in creating stunning custom gravel and road bikes. Their Portofino range, which is made in-house in Marostica, Italy, is a unique series of frames that feature the classic flourish of lugs, instead of the more modern TIG welding.
Their latest addition to the Portofino line is the G, which is their first gravel model. The G shares much with the Portofino R, with both frames starting with a customized oversized steel tubeset, and matching custom lugs. The Portofino G’s head tube lugs are particularly impressive, wrapping around a substantial 1-1/2” straight head tube, providing plenty of room for internal routing of hoses and housing. Battaglin layers on disc brakes and thru axles, dropped seat stays, a T47 oversized and threaded bottom bracket, a hidden seatpost binder, integrated headset bearings, and fully internal routing, giving the bike a clean, modern look. The bike looks like a modern superbike but with the added classical flourish of lugs that are highlighted in blinding polished chrome.
Every frame is custom for the buyer, with the geometry, finish, and build, all decided by the buyer. The Portofino G’s tire clearance is limited to 40mm, providing the reactive handling of a road bike, instead of resembling a drop-bar mountain bike. Pricing for the Battaglin Portofino G starts at €5,000 for a custom frameset, and complete bikes start at €7,790.
Festka x Glorious Scout Pop-Art gravel bike
The Festka x Glorious Scout Pop-Art gravel bike, a custom collaboration with graphic artist Matt Stanbury, was the most popular custom bike among social media users in 2023. This striking design is now part of Festka’s limited edition series finishes. Glörious designed the primary colors and donut-themed pop combo for his own Scout adventure gravel bike, but Festka was so enamored with it that they decided to turn it into a super limited edition bike.
The limited edition bike includes BikeAhead’s flashy 6-spoke wheels in their latest BiTurbo Aero configuration and Campagnolo’s lightest gravel groupset, the 1x 13-speed Ekar mechanical. It is also one of the earliest Festkas to feature the full 1.5″ headset to route cables into the frame, but it still has a more serviceable cable routing setup.
Festka x Glorious pop-art design is limited to just 9 total framesets, with each being slightly different. Additionally, there is a pop-art Festka x Glorious T-shirt available for purchase.
Onguza Original Gravel Model 1
Onguza has recently released its very first production bike, the Original Gravel Model 1. This premium steel gravel bike is made in Namibia, with each frame being carefully crafted by hand in their Omaruru workshop. The Columbus Life steel tubing is fillet-brazed, hand-mitered, and filed to perfection. The frames are double-butted and feature a straight 44mm headtube that’s compatible with tapered steerers, stainless threaded BSA bottom brackets, and stainless UDH-compatible dropouts.
The frames also have a double arch seat stay bridge and clearance for 700 x 47mm tires. Additionally, they feature internal rear brake cable routing, two standard bottle cage mounts, optional top tube bag mounts, and a classic 27.2mm seatpost with an external clamp. The frames are painted in sage green as standard and come with a full-carbon Columbus Futura fork and a Zipp carbon stem, both painted to match in yellow and black cow spots.
The bikes come in 5 stock sizes, from XS to XL, with standard gravel geometry designed by Craven. However, Onguza is also open to building custom geometry for riders who don’t fit within their standard range.
DeAnima Soul Custom
What a way to finish this article, the DeAnima Soul Custom Gravel Bike is a peace of all-road art. An all-day carbon gravel frame built for the trails, designed specifically for the ultra-light minimalist bikepacker. could this be the perfect do-it-all gravel bike? Ideal for someone who one day wants to ride the fire trails but then change the gravel wheelset for road tires and mix it up at the local crit. And without the weight penalty and slack handling of a standard gravel bike, the skies the limit. It’s also good for a weekend exploring for the more adventurous among us.
About The Author
