AVALANCHE ROAD & GRAVEL - STAINLESS

MANUFACTURING DATE : JUNE 2025

CYCLIST : Man , 1m 85

PRESENTATION:

This bike is designed and built from the ground up to deliver high performance and efficiency, whether on the road or on trails. Constructed from brazed stainless steel tubes from Columbus’s XCR line, the custom frame offers excellent responsiveness without sacrificing comfort. Fully silver-brazed, this manufacturing process allows for gentler heating of the tubes, thereby preserving the mechanical properties of the stainless steel to the greatest extent possible. The thinness of the XCR tubes also results in a bike that is as light as it is dynamic, rivaling even some mass-produced carbon bikes. The components were also selected to create a lightweight and responsive machine.

For ease of handling on both roads and trails, the frame was designed to accommodate 47mm-wide tires. The fork selected here, from N°6 Composites, combines the ability to mount wide tires with fully integrated hose routing—essential features for Jonathan, the bike’s current owner.

COMPONENTS

Optimized for versatile use and smooth performance on both roads and trails, an electronic SRAM Red AXS single-chainring drivetrain was chosen to combine the practicality of a single chainring with a wide range of gear ratios, thanks to the 13-speed configurations offered by the brand. This drivetrain, the top-of-the-line offering from Sram, features excellent build quality and lightweight components.

The design of the Avalanche dropouts allows the derailleur to be mounted directly to the frame, without derailleur hangers. The idea behind these dropouts is to maintain a distinctive design detail that sets the bike apart, while adhering to a standard that is now widely adopted. Each of our dropouts is 3D-printed from stainless steel in Spain, near the Pyrenees border, to keep parts sourcing as close to the workshop as possible.

Jonathan chose to equip his bike with a pair of Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels, a versatile road and gravel model. On this new model, the rim profile has been redesigned for improved aerodynamics. The outer width is 32 mm, with an inner width of 25 mm and a height of 40 mm, which helps reduce tire deformation and thus rolling resistance. Lightweight yet very responsive, they are an ideal choice for Jonathan, whose athletic profile seems to fit this description perfectly.

Let’s also talk about lightness in terms of the choice we made for the seatpost/handlebar combo, which is made here by Darimo—a brand we’re particularly fond of (especially Laurent). Custom-made in Spain by a small, family-run company, the quality-to-weight-to-price ratio is, in our opinion, unbeatable, with a wide range of choices and options, which fits perfectly with our custom-built approach.

Finally, and to wrap up with a few components whose small size doesn’t reflect their importance, the (now) well-known Chris King brand was chosen for the headset and bottom bracket. This American brand needs no introduction, as its components are reliable, durable, and backed by a lifetime warranty. In addition to their undeniable mechanical qualities, the brand often offers a beautiful range of finishes. At Avalanche, we embrace (and encourage) our customers’ attention to detail when choosing their components, and the colors selected for these two parts even served as the basis for the paint scheme.

PAINTJOB:

Jonathan had, from very early on, a pretty clear idea of how he wanted his bike to look. A combination of two bright, contrasting colors, for a vibrant, eye-catching bike. Rather than a classic gradient, the two colors blend together here in a much more subtle way, through a pattern of geometric dots. (Of course, you can imagine that this was much more complex to paint than a gradient, but the result was worth it:) Finally, in true 90’s style, a textural effect was applied exclusively to the logo lettering, playing with the contrast between black and turquoise. This painting effect, usually easy to achieve on an entire frame, was much more difficult on such small surfaces, but the subtle, offbeat touch it adds to the final composition seemed to us to suit Jonathan perfectly. A small, discreet ghost was painted on the frame at our request, as a nod to the nickname “Fantômas” given to Jonathan by some of his friends.