We've been on a No.22 Aurora trip of late, but this week's featured build firmly turns the cockpit away from the road towards the gravel, and No. 22's blindingly quick Drifter X.
With its svelte CNC butted titanium tubes, massive 700x45 tire capability and integrated titanium seat mast, the Drifter X is a rare machine indeed: a gravel bike with an elevated aesthetic, equal parts dirt and dapper. It's a heady mix.
Our client came to us for this build with the wind in his sails. Or at least, a tailwind from the road. He'd been on the asphalt on his existing AC rig for the past two years but sought a gravel bike to get here and there and return home from work on the busy city streets.
Note the bike's clean lines - our client is in the design business and opted for an unadorned frame embellished with the barest decor, for which the matching Silca titanium cages perfectly align.
Given the frame's all-terrain credentials, we went with the workhorse-reliable SRAM Red' Mullett" group and the brand's XX SL T-Type transmission augmented with a Ceramicspeed bottom bracket. The Drifter's next-generation Enve SES 3.4 wheels doff a cap to the road, but the bike's knobbly Rene Herse Manastash Ridge tires indicate that things are going to get very dirty indeed.
The cockpit comprises the No.22 ISM (Integrated Seat Mast) and the Form Cycling Throne RS saddle, with Shimano XTR Pedals, an Extralite HyperStem and the Enve AR handlebar with Fizik Microtex completing the touchpoints. Hope RX rotors and a set of Ti bolts from Better Bolts sign off the build and send this gorgeous titanium dirt flyer out into the wild.
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