Gabe's Bastion Superleggera

This week's Bike of the Week is Gabe's Bastion Superleggera road bike. Gabe has been a very valued customer of Signature Cycles and has purchased six custom bikes in the past 25 years. Now, faced with the delightful challenge of catering to someone with a treasure trove of exquisitely crafted custom rides, we were thrilled to present our latest masterpiece to Gabe.

Riding over 10,000 miles per year, Gabe is a solid rider. Although he has never been into racing, he loves to ride his bike, and those within his town respect the miles and the sheer amount of climbing he does every week. We had the pleasure of Gabe joining us in 2018 when we hosted a European trip in Mallorca, Spain. We saw how well he climbed, getting better and stronger on the ascents with each day.

Climbing is what he loves, and his previous custom bikes have been centred around performance and the bike's ability to climb up long mountain passes. When finding a bike perfect for this type of terrain, lightweight is not always the answer – a climbing bike also has to have the right amount of stiffness and compliance that allows the rider to transfer the right amount of power to the rear wheel and propel the rider to the summit.

We knew that Melbourne-based brand Bastion would complement Gabe's riding style based on his weight and power output. We've been lucky enough to work with Bastion for many years, and they've helped us produce some exquisite bikes for our customers, including Zach's Superleggera and Joel's. While the progress is lengthy due to Bastion's precise and intense manufacturing process, the results are always worth the wait.

Creating Gabe's custom bike with Bastion allowed for the frame's geometry to be completely customised – something Gabe needs due to his unique flexibility that prevents him from using most stock frames. Bastion was, therefore, able to extend the bike's head tube to cater for this requirement.

With Gabe's previous bikes with us, he has always gone for a black, stealthy colourway. However, he took a leap of faith with this bike, mixing it up entirely. He wanted to showcase the bike's unique composition, so the lugs have a high-polished finish, and the tubes have a matte-blue tinted finish that, depending on where the light hits, has a different shine. Moving away from his usual black colourway has resulted in his Bastion Superleggera having a very sophisticated and timeless look.

We wanted to provide Gabe with the best ride experience, so we stuck with components we trusted. The bike features the top-of-the-line Shimano Dura-Ace 12-speed wireless gearset with lightweight Obermayer Evo wheels and CeramicSpeed upgrades. This will be the perfect set-up for tackling any climbs, long or short.

Gabe's bike screams performance, style and class, but most importantly, it highlights the unique ability to create a bike that will perform to the highest level, just for you. We hope Gabe enjoys every mile and every metre of climbing on his new trusted Superleggera steed.