Bike of the Week: The Teal Corretto

For some, the allure of a custom bike is for something hand crafted, the creation of a skilled craftsman/woman, building their dream machine. For others, it comes from a more practical need, having unique fit requirements where an off the peg bike simply won't work. This week we present a bike proving that both of those desires can be met, and can be executed with incredible results. A teal Baum Corretto, providing extreme levels of beauty and function. 

As we know, every human is unique. In this case, our rider had especially long legs for his height. With a saddle height of 785mm and a saddle to bar measurement of 505mm, a typical squared off geometry was not going to work. In these scenarios, there are plenty of builders out there who can design an appropriately fitting bike.  Building a bike that meets these kind of fit needs, rides phenomenally, and still looks aesthetically balanced is an entirely separate feat. A good amount of time was spent really working on the bike geometry to balance all of these needs, resulting in the bike you see here. Mission accomplished, we'd say. 

With the fit dialed in, we moved onto the paint. The bike is designed around Baum's GTR sold paint scheme. For the base, a deep glossy teal, with just the right level of metallic sparkle. It's accented with metallic coper tips, and a pearlescent off-white for the stripes and logos. It all came together as an absolutely stunning work of art. 

The cockpit set up comes from a medley of suppliers. The handlebar and seatpost are Enve, while the stem is 3T. While it's popular to keep these bits matching, they all have the Baum paint treatment, keeping it all complete and cohesive. The actual contact points are a Fizik saddle and bar tape. This time coming in the form of an Arione Evo R1 and the old Endurance tacky tape. 

No batteries, no masters. Even in today's modern age of technology, there's still something to be said for a mechanical drive train. While we've come to love electronic shifting, it's really doesn't offer any true performance improvement and if you've got a set budget, opting for mechanical can allow funds for some other trick upgrades (more on that below).Here we've employed a Sram Red drive train. It's light, reliable, and you never need to remember to charge it. Well, we did build it with a Quarq, so there's a batter in there, but if it goes out it wont stop anyone from getting on a ride. The crank is mated to 50/34t chainrings while out back is a 11-28 cassette. A combo ready to tackle any climb. 

Wheels are a set of Zipp 303s. NSW edition to be exact, with the premium cognition hubs. The NSWs roll faster, so it helps to be able to stop faster, which the Showstopper brake track helps achieve. Tires are the new Continental GP5000s. 

Continuing the theme of going faster and stopping faster, we've added a few finishing touches. A Ceramicspeed bottom bracket and pulley wheels keep the drive train extra smooth and ensure there's nothing in the way of delivering watts from crank to rear wheel. Then, a set of EE brakes for that extra bit of stopping power and weight reduction.

And to top it all off (quite literally) we popped in a EE headset topcap and plug. An easy way to shave about 30g from a typical compression plug. 

And that concludes this installment of Bike of the Week.  A top notch build proving that no matter your reasons for going custom, a proper bike can be delivered. If you've been feeling the need to go custom, no matter the reasons, don't hesitate to reach out.