Yearly, Czech carbon and titanium framebuilder Festka shares their hottest {custom} bike builds with us. And often it’s a gallery of a few of the flashiest bikes we’ve ever laid eyes on. However this yr was kinda totally different, with their High 5 of 2023 principally stuffed with uncooked carbon frames highlighting their distinctive woven construction, accented by a subdued splash of coloration. Nicely, principally. The #1 bike goes excessive with vibrant colours, and a very good story to again it up…
2023 Better of Festka {custom} street & gravel bikes
Just one gravel bike to 4 street bikes. And 4 full-carbon bikes to 1 carbon & titanium creation. Nonetheless 2 with mechanical shifting to three digital shift groupsets. 2 take a little bit of a weight weenie method, however all look mild. All with disc brakes and carbon wheels. No compromises on efficiency to be discovered right here.
Festka’s co-founder Michael Moureček supplies a little bit background on every of their high 5 bikes on social media in 2023:
#5: Festka Scalatore light-weight carbon street bike for Scampi Cicli
A superbly proportioned FESTKA Scalatore constructed with top-notch super-light elements from Chris King, Darimo and THM. A refined vendor’s logomark on the fork enhances the core design scheme of crimson logotype over bare carbon.
#4: Festka Scalatore OK40 light-weight carbon street bike for Ondřej Kubeš
This elegant Scalatore, Festka’s flagship mannequin, was a pet undertaking of a FESTKA worker – Ondřej Kubeš – who gifted it to himself for his fortieth birthday. The design he and artwork director Tom Hnida name neo-retro combines three motifs: pace, custom and the current.
#3: Festka Rover carbon gravel bike for Velodrom Katowice
This inconspicuous but completely constructed FESTKA Rover – our street/gravel hybrid – earned its podium spot not solely due to its pared-down magnificence but additionally because of the philharmonic corridor setting the place the vendor Velodrom Katowice had it photographed.
#2: Festka Doppler X Version titanium & carbon street bike for Bicycle owner Wardrobe
Our premium vendor Bicycle owner Wardrobe of Kuala Lumpur bided their time till they constructed up this Tenth-anniversary restricted version [ed. debuted back in 2020] FESTKA Doppler body sporting black DLC-finished Ti tubes.
#1 Festka Spectre Our bodies ultra-stiff carbon street race bike for Michael Moureček
BODIES, our collab with the artist Jakub Kois, was absolutely the spotlight of 2023, each by way of the graphic design and the launch of the brand new FESTKA Spectre mannequin. The enthusiastic response to the radically overhauled mannequin handpainted by the artist utterly exceeded our expectations and have become a centerpiece of our displays on the Bespoked handmade bikes present and the Prague design truthful Designblok.
If I hadn’t seen this bike in individual, I may need questioned how neutral Michael and his voting had been, however this bike actually pops. It additionally has a very good backstory.
After a severe damage on the bike that required main hip surgical procedure and rehab, Michael, an ex professional rider, was struggling to get again on the bike to the identical degree as earlier than the crash. And he was actually fighting motivation. Then he occurred to fulfill Polish artist Jakub Kois, and noticed one in all his illustrations, depicting a physique being crushed in the midst of a crowd.
Michael informed me that crushing feeling was precisely what he was feeling on the time. And the virtually playful depiction of the irritating feelings, sparked one thing motivating in him. In order that they determined to work collectively for a one-off bike celebrating that ache, however on the similar time brightly and playfully encouraging Michael to push on the bike once more.
And in the long run, the undertaking was so properly obtained that Festka opened up a restricted Our bodies version artist collection to be hand-painted by Kois. Simply 10 full-custom geometry Spectre Our bodies carbon street bikes are on supply for $16,800 / 18,500€, built-up with an uncompromising ending package. Discover out extra and reserve one right here.
