BOTW: Built for Carlos - Baum Celaris

Carlos came to us over ten years ago for a Baum Correto. That was the beginning of one of the most enjoyable client relationships we've had, partly because Carlos has exceptional taste, and partly because he funds each new project by selling the last one, which keeps things interesting.

This Celaris is different for us. It was the first one we sold after Darren developed the model, and we’ll be honest, we had a question going in. The Celaris is the most classically styled modern bike in Baum's current lineup, svelte with slimmer tubes and lighter overall. Carlos is a bigger, powerful rider, and that combination gave us pause. We consulted with Darren, and he assured us he could build this model in a way that would work great for Carlos.

Carlos hasn't sold it.

For someone who moves through bikes the way he does, that's the only review that matters.

Frameset

Everything routes internally, but here's the detail worth understanding: it does so without the massive cockpit infrastructure that full integration usually demands. Most internally routed frames require proprietary stems the size of a small block engine because of how housing enters the fork. Baum's solution is a 3D-printed hose port developed in-house, which lets them drill the stock fork, route everything cleanly, and fit a completely standard road stem on top.

The paint is a sand-to-graphite fade with the Baum logo stacked down the down tube in purple, sky blue, orange, and chartreuse. It shouldn't work. It absolutely does.

Drivetrain

Shimano Dura-Ace Di2, 12-speed. It's the groupset you spec when you want everything to work every time.

Cockpit

ENVE throughout. Carlos pushes hard enough that we weren't interested in going light here: bar, stem, and seatpost are all the burlier ENVE road spec, painted by Baum to match the frame. Nothing breaks the visual line.

The saddle is the most interesting thing up here. It's a PRO Stealth Saddle, recovered in Alcantara by Mick Peel at Busyman Bicycles in Melbourne before it ever saw the bike. Alcantara is a synthetic suede developed by a Japanese textile engineer in 1970. If you've been in a properly spec'd performance car interior, you've touched it. The bar tape matches.

Wheels & Tires

The wheels were built in-house around Duke Baccara carbon rims, DT Swiss 240 hubs, and Sapim CX-Ray spokes. The 240 is what serious wheel builders reach for when the conversation is about longevity and engagement rather than grams. Wrapped in René Herse Orondo Grade tires, nominally 700×31 but measuring nearly 34mm on the Baccara’s 28mm internal width — a whisper shy of the Celaris’s measured 35mm rear clearance. A properly sized tire at proper pressure transforms what could read as an austere race machine into something you’d actually ride all day. The clearance is the sleeper feature of this frame.

Finishing Kit

A Chris King Dropset 2 headset ties the front end together and completes the Baum Fuselage package. No other finishing details on this build deviate from the spec — which is itself a detail. Everything is there because it belongs, nothing because it fills a gap.

Why It Works

What Carlos has at the end of this is a bike built around ten years of accumulated knowledge: his riding, his power, his preferences, expressed through a frame Baum built to those exact specifications in a workshop in Geelong. That's not something you can spec from a dropdown.

And that's why, a decade-plus after his first bike from Above Category, a Baum, Carlos is still coming back.