Curve Cycling teases Titanosaur gravel bike with 36-inch wheels

The gravel bike market has boomed over recent years as brands have sought to meet the varied demands of the gravel discipline. It’s often led to some unique bikes as brands push the boundaries of design, but Curve Cycling could be about to take things to the next level with its Titanosaur gravel bike which features — fittingly for its name — monster 36-inch wheels.

At least, it will feature 36-inch wheels if Curve Cycling’s crowdfunding campaign is successful. The Melbourne-based company will only start manufacturing the bike if 20 people commit to the crowdfunding effort. Anyone who commits will be in line to receive one of the bikes, with their funds acting as a deposit. If all goes ahead, Curve Cycling says that a final payment will then be due prior to delivery in nine to twelve month’s time.

• Read more: Curve Cycling’s latest Walmer Bar is one of widest carbon drop handlebars available

Far from a brand new product, the Titanosaur has been in the works for a number of years now but hasn’t been made available to the public. That, according to Curve Cycling, is because the company wasn’t sure whether there would be enough interest in the bike, with the crowdfunding effort serving as a solution.

“Why are we crowdfunding this? Time and time again we’ve asked ourselves, should we hit go? Should we launch the Titanosaur into the wild? It’s a risky and costly move,” Curve Cycling’s co-founder, Jesse Carlsson, said in an article on the company’s website. “We have no idea whether any of you out there in the real world are truly interested in buying a Titanosaur — it’s a super niche product within a niche within a niche. We need your help.

“Getting financial commitments from 20 riders will confirm there is sufficient interest to push forward with this awesome project and bring stunning titanium bikes to the tall people of the world. The early financial commitments will fund the costly final stages of development which includes producing a custom fork mold as well as lab testing the final rounds of prototype forks and frames.”

Curve Cycling’s uncertainty about interest levels in the bike are understandable. The bike bucks every trend with its large 36-inch wheels, which far eclipse the 700c or 650b options that are specced on the majority of bikes. These large wheels give away the bike’s intended market: tall people. Standard 700c wheels look out of proportion with larger frames, which doesn’t necessarily pose practical problems but can look strange, according to Curve. Its solution is the 36-inch wheels.

“For people standing taller than 200cm, 700c wheels start to look comically small,” Carlsson continued. “Bikes for tall people have enormously long head tubes and the frames look wildly out of proportion to the wheels. It’s unavoidable. While bikes scaled up around the same standard wheel size work fine, they rarely look good. This means tall people have to make a choice. Get a bike that fits or get one that looks good. Not anymore.”

© Curve Cycling

The bike is designed for taller riders or "shorter people who are extroverts"

Beyond the wheels, the rest of the bike follows Curve’s signature design modus operandi, including the titanium frame. Riders will get to choose between a build centred around SRAM’s Rival AXS groupset or the Force AXS, with the bike costing $12,999 (AUD) or $13,999 (AUD) depending on the respective set-up.

To reserve a bike, a $5,000 (AUD) commitment is required as a part of the crowdfunding effort which will act as a deposit. Anyone interested will need to contribute to the crowdfunding by the 21st March deadline and that money will be refunded if 20 people don’t commit, at which point Curve joked that it will “sob to ourselves for a few weeks or years”.

Check out the full planned spec for the Titanosaur on Curve Cycling’s website, linked here.

For more of the latest tech updates, check our tech news page.

SRAM

SRAM is a components manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois. The company mainly produces drivetrains, for a wide variety of disciplines, alongside many other components. SRAM’s has acquired other brands within the industry such as Zipp, RockShox and Quarq.