The Twelve Days of Breathtaking Builds: Day Two

DAY TWO: THE BLACK PEARL

Day Two's offering to the gods of the Twelve Days of Breathtaking Builds, a monochromatic Baum Corretto. It's made of titanium, mined from one of the world's few Ti ore producers in China or the former Soviet Union, then processed into tubing in the United States (like almost all titanium tubing used in bicycles, for the aerospace industry), and then butted/welded into a frame in Australia. Finally, it's shipped back to us in the United States for final assembly into one of the world's most renowned custom road racing bikes. While we build a lot of Baum Correttos, this one hit our heartstrings (and thus, the Twelve Days) because of its stark, slightly bleak, near total lack of color. The Baums we've been lucky to build over the past twelve months have been a relatively vibrant lot, and when we finished this one, the contrast was evident.

The perfectly executed monochromatic masterpiece, we want it for the days we feel more Bauhaus than Britney. Or scotch over sauvignon blanc. More Cheney than Biden. You get the point.

Many of the usual Above Category suspects provide the kit here - eeCycleworks brakes, a SRAM Red eTap wireless electronic groupset, a fi'zi:k Antares R1 saddle, and Baum's house-painted ENVE/3T cockpit.

Vittoria's Pavé tires in tubular trim, now something of a nostalgic throwback since the introduction of the new Corsa G+ line, adorn a pair of ENVE 4.5 hoops laced to Chris King hubs in...yes, black.

One of the only splashes of color on this Corretto are the red accents on eTap's intuitive shift paddles.