Kath wrote to us a first email starting like this:
“Absolutely love your bikes....I currently own two titanium bikes and really love that material. I don't see any ladies in your gallery? I'm just under 5'4" 10 stone 7lb.... I ride around 130 recreational miles a week during the summer less in the winter. Much of my riding is day rides out and back as well as a number of overnight rides 2/3 nights at a time - often alone. I live on the edge of the Brecon beacons and have some good hilly terrain to get stuck into. I'm retiring shortly and looking for my forever bike with as minimum likelihood of mechanical failure as possible - because of lone rides…”
It was a pleasure to deal with Kath to configure her Nua. Truth is, she gave us a refreshing point of view about a lot of things, and her always happy and fun personality made the process very enjoyable.
This bike is a very special project because of her needs.
The custom frame, for example, is designed around 650B wheels and narrower tires, as the small size of the custom frame made it desirable.
After rolling road bikes for a long time, Kath preferred integrated brake shifters to command the Pinion, but due to the perpetual lack of availability of these, we had to use a rotary shifter installed on the tops of the drop bar. We usually use a Pilot SuperShifter, which is designed to fit onto any standard road handlebar, but its large diameter wouldn't have fit very well in Kath's small hands, so we decided to order a very special split handlebar, where we could mount the standard Pinion rotary shifter.
Kath was in love with a Lynskey titanium rear rack, so we had one specially brought in from the USA. By the way, the original stays were so ugly that we ended up using Tubus stays, much better and more aesthetically pleasing.
The Brooks B17 S saddle is also out of our catalog, but it is a special version for ladies, so it was essential to go with it.
Fortunately we could make change Kath’s mind about some more classic ideas (like using rim brakes or auxiliary brake levers on the bar tops), and after many emails and geometry drawing versions, to get the perfect fit, we got to the configuration that, 4 months later, saw the light on our small workshop, in Arbúcies.
Here is Kath unboxing her Silice Pinion and giving it a good ride somewhere in the UK.
"...I'm delighted and over the moon...fit seems perfect...so comfortable with the wider tires, smaller wheels no overtoeing - great, lights and the build quality are excellent....weight is good too, the rotary shifter I really think I'll like... she's pretty too - we're going to have lots of adventures together..."
We hope you liked this Nua as much as we did building it. Until next time!
If you want to see more about our models and components, or if you want to configure your own Nua, do not hesitate to enter our builders in the "Bikes" section of our website or just write to us at contact@nuabikes.com.