Sander's Scarab Apüna

This week’s Bike of the Week showcases another special project from Scarab Cycles, a company that we're always very excited to work with. All the way from the Colombian Andes, Scarab crafts custom bicycles with a Colombian soul to match.

Each bike is made to measure from the highest quality steel, and the paintwork, done in house of course, tells a story that in Scarab’s own words, “reaches back decades to the origins of the mighty Escarabajos” – these are the legendary Colombia pro cyclists including Luis Herrera and Fabio Parra.

This beautiful machine is a Scarab Apüna, custom built for Sander to be equally at home on light gravel trails as it is on the road. And that’s exactly the Apüna’s remit. Based on a road bike and made with ovalized Columbus steel tubing, creating a solid and responsive platform without sacrificing comfort or the legendary ‘feel of steel’, it can accommodate larger-volume tires up to 38mm in width, or 42 with 650B wheels.

For the name, Scarab took inspiration from the Colombian ethnic group in La Guajira, the Wayuu: Apüna means trail or path in their language – a perfect description of an all-road bike.

This is Sander's first project with Signature Cycles, but it’s by no means his first bike. As an experienced rider, he knew exactly what he was looking for in an all-road build. First of all, the frame had to be steel, for all the reasons above and so much more – nothing can match the sheer personality of custom steel, especially when it’s done by Scarab and looks like this.

For the paint, Sander initially wanted light blue and after some design revisions he landed on a classic combination of light blue and bold yellow. His chosen colors are very complementary and everybody who sees it agrees that the bike absolutely pops.

For the build, we equipped Sander’s Apüna with a Sram Rival group for precise 12-speed electronic shifting and a set of ENVE SES 3.4 wheels rolling on 700x35mm Pirelli Cinturato tires. There’s room for bigger tires of course, but 35s are versatile enough to roll fast on the road as well as providing plenty of grip and cushioning on the rougher terrain.

Bar, stem and seatpost are satisfyingly high end and come from Zipp, while for bottle cages and bar tape you can’t do much better than Arundel.

We couldn't be happier for Sander and his new Scarab Apüna and we hope it brings him many happy years of riding no matter what surface or continent he’s on.