We did a small run of Gaulzetti frames over the winter, and the last few are rolling in.  Unchanged in manufacture, the Gaulzetti Corsa -  Embro Edition was all about the finish.  We removed the Wallonian Rooster that's long been a staple of Gaulzetti, threw on some moka pots, and tossed in a bunch of matching bits from Chris King to pull it all together.

This particular example is Belgian Blue with Navy logos, gold Chris King everything, Shimano Ultegra 6800, and a Fizik cockpit to finish it off.  A hard-edged race machine but currently rolling on 27c Vittoria Pave tires, this bike was meant to be ridden hard and put away wet.

After riding a number of bikes with the new 11sp Ultegra group, we're hard-pressed to justify Dura-Ace to anyone but the most weight-obsessed out there.  Performance is phenomenal and we at Embro HQ tend to prefer the grey finish as compared to Dura-Ace's polished/black.

Recently Gaulzetti made a production change, using the same proprietary tubeset but now built by Kelly Bedford.  This adds a long history to the technology behind every Gaulzetti, combining Kelly's career in frame building with Gaulzetti's famous geometry and tubes.

Unfortunately we only have a few more of these in the pipeline as the Embro Edition project has ended.  Fortunately, the ones in process are all also going to be incredible.  Stay tuned....

We are all influenced by each other, whether we realize it or not. Just because you're a guy doesn't mean you can't wear pink. Just because you love bikes doesn't mean you can't be a petrolhead. Just because you really love chrome doesn't mean you can't also love a murdered out gloss black on matte black combination. And just because you love small batch, handmade titanium "artisinal" bikes made in some garage in New England, Colorado or Portland, doesn't mean you can't also love or work for a giant company like Specialized.

Case in point, the RustVenge by Brian Szykowny who is the rightful owner of #RustVenge and by the looks of his work, he's living the dream.

Whatever your opinion is on "Big Bike", it's hard to point a finger at one bike brand/company and say "you're destroying this industry!" and an opposite statement would be difficult to prove true as well, "you've saved the bike industry!". Top shelf race bikes are a niche within a niche in an industry run by, for a large part, passionate enthusiasts who take a lot of pride in doing it "their way" whether or not there is room for optimization - no company large or small can ignore the demands of the market. If most people want a red/black/white bike, then the company that makes the best red/black/white bike is going to grow the most. And The Big S makes a lot of bikes with this color scheme.

Embrocation hasn't really featured a Specialized before. Actually, I've never owned one [I have! - Grayson]. Stories swirl around the industry about their legal team, whatever, we'll save our opinions on that beeswax for the pub. But when we think of a big world-class company we think suits, compromises, "make the logo bigger" being echoed down the halls, powerpoint, excel and legal teams bigger than most bike shops. But the truth is, Specialized wouldn't be a world leader if it didn't consistently employ innovative, creative, talented and dedicated people. This project is a quiet punch in the face reminder of that truth.

But enough about politics and big business, this article is about ONE amazing bike. It started life as a engineering sample Venge with nothing but clear coat over carbon, but with the tools at his disposal, Brian went to work making this bike one of a kind. #RustVenge was born. Appropriately enough, it gets hammered regularly, and spends its time leaning on lot of podiums.

Brian himself did the rust finish, which believe it or not, is actual rust.  It's a surface finish with iron mixed into the paint, and after drying, an acid is applied to get the rust.  Once the rust was in place,  Ray the Vulture did the pinstriping and lettering.

The #RustVenge is running a stock Dura-Ace group and Roval wheels, all nice "top shelf" stuff, and yet the components seem modest compared to the frames treatment.

We're all influenced by each other. David Carson said "You can't not communicate". There are some people who are paying a lot of money to have a custom bike built in garages and are asking to make it look like this Specialized. Thats saying something. The #RustVenge is only one of a number of projects that have gone down in the Specialized paint booth, and we can't wait to share those with you as well.

*photos by Alex Chiu (wind tunnel and racing shot), Chris Riekert (NDS chain stay shot and cockpit), Brian Szykowny (all others)

You'd be forgiven if you missed this one a few weeks back. While Firefly obviously logs some incredible photos of their frames and complete builds, they don't go out screaming about them.  One of my favorite aspects about a typical Firefly build is the level of discreet detail, accomplished through perfect welds and subtle anodization, their frames are subdued but with so much detail.

This one goes a step further, while still maintaining the aesthetic they are so famous for.  I reached out to Kevin, their lead frame designer, and he had a great story to share about this build:

"That project was really fun. We built it for a customer who already had one of our bikes and was looking for something very special that we had never done before. We used his request as motivation to figure out how to bend main triangle tubing and create more substantial bends in stays. His specific bike was especially inspired by old Corima designs, which I've always loved. The tube bending project alone took about one year and involved some collaborative work with Loco Machine and Cantabrigian Mechanics.

The customer wanted the bike to be as clean and integrated as possible. To achieve that look, we hid the EE Cycleworks direct mount brake under the chain stays, and hid the Di2 battery and junction box in the custom integrated seat post. Rudi of Blackmagic paint painted the bars, rims, and cranks so they would have a uniform look. Justin at Luxe Wheelworks built the wheels with absolutely stunning gold Ti-Nitride Royce hubs.

For the finish, Tyler hand-drew the cross hatch graphic and turned it into a graphic that we anodized on the top tube and Mick at Busyman replicated on the saddle, saddle bag, and bar tape. Mick also created a leather wrap to tie the Di2 wire to the brake housing, and a black leather chain stay protector.

Finally, the customers three children drew the down tube graphics, handlebar graphic, and the Firefly logo behind the seat tube, and we turned their drawings into graphics that we could anodize on the frame.

As you can see, it took a lot of work from a lot of people, and we're very proud of how it turned out!"

Well, yeah.  You guys killed it again, you'd better be proud!  I can't wait to see what comes next.

Liz rolls this Mosaic Cycles XT-1 Disc in pink and rolls it fast.  You see, Liz is the better half of Aaron, the infamous head of Mosaic, so while we raved about how every bike he makes is perfect in our last post, no doubt this one gets even more attention than the rest.

This one is yet another "standard" build for Mosaic: Shimano R785 hydro Di2 disc, ENVE XC tubular rims, Clement tires, ENVE fork and cockpit, Fizik finishing bits.

Liz doesn't just look at this bike, either.  You see, Liz is fast.  Like, super fast.  So, while we all see plenty of garage queens hanging up staying out of the dirt, this bike gets put through its paces on the regular.

I highly recommend getting out to Boulder with your bike and touching base with some of the people at Mosaic.  Bring a CX bike, they love to get dirty, but you'll get an amazing tour of the Front Range by some great ambassadors of our sport.

The end result of framebuilding can be really sexy, and sometimes it seems framebuilders keep the best to themselves.  Hell, I don't blame them, there don't seem to be any framebuilders raking in the dough, so there should be another kind of perk.  Then there's Aaron Barcheck and this Mosaic RT-1 Disc.  Yes, it's exceptional, the welds are perfect, every part is expertly chosen and compliments the entire build.  But the exception with Aaron is that his bike is exactly like every other frame he builds: perfect.

You see, with bare Ti frames, every weld is out there for the world to critique.  If we're being honest, most of us really shouldn't be passing judgement on welds, but the internet is the internet and everyone is a critic.  But, I dare you to find even a single imperfection on a weld anywhere on his frames.

This one gets a worthy build kit as well.  ENVE supplied all of their bits, from the disc road fork, 3.4 Disc rims, bars, stem, to their seatpost.  The bare matte carbon and black finish is perfectly in line with the satin finish of the bare titanium frame.  A little flash was added to those 3.4 Disc rims, though, in the form of chrome decals.  Good luck finding a set for yourself.

No doubt Aaron would be more than happy to build one for you, Mosaic can be found here, and I fully recommend reaching out to them in advance and maybe taking delivery on-site.  The Mosaic factory has a lot of eye candy to be stoked on.

Sometimes we shoot a lot of bikes in a small window.  Sometimes when this happens, we forget we shot bikes.  Sometimes, even bikes like this Seven Cycles 622 SLX from Velosmith fall through the cracks.  How does that happen?  You got me.  This isn't exactly your average commuter, so to forget we had this gallery is kind of nuts.  Whatever.

Here it is, though.  Built by the masters at Velosmith, sporting SRAM Force to keep the achromatic theme alive, broken only by those beautiful gumwall Vittoria tires.

Lets start with the heart, the frame.  A titanium/carbon mix, the lugs welded titanium and the tubes made of Seven's own little mix of magic.  Nevermind the laser-cut "7" in the headtube lug, NBD.  Add to that a threaded bottom bracket (thank God) and Seven's own fork and you're off to a pretty damn good start.

SRAM Force, I'll leave you to your own judgement of the group, but the color profile works here.

Mavic 40c wheels were a favorite of ours, and as far as carbon clinchers go really do the job well.  Maybe a bit heavy, maybe the engagement is a hair slow, but I'll be damned if they weren't about the most durable thing to ever find its way onto my bike.  A year into my pair, plenty of time on some less-than-desirable roads, and they are perfectly true.

Cockpit sports Thomson everywhere, smart move of course.  It keeps with the American-made theme, it's shockingly durable, responsibly lightweight, and understated.  Ticks all of the boxes for this build for sure.

Last on the list, and one to never be overlooked, is the build.  In typical Velosmith fashion every last detail is covered and perfect.  Perfect.  They do not work in any other way.

Enjoy the gallery, drool a bit, then check out Velosmith and Seven for more.

Do you dream? Of course you do, who doesn’t? But how often do your dreams come true? They’re just dreams after all. Have you ever thought, “Hey, I am sick and tired of my dreams just being dreams? I want these dreams to be a reality, but how could I possibly do it?” You have to want it, you have to understand it, and then you have to REACH FOR THE DREAM! And we're here to help. That's right; you want to make that magical-rainbow-laser-unicorn-tropical-island-melting-clocks-brilliant-light-bouncing-off-of-the-floors-hyper-everything bike of your dreams a reality? We know how! With our proven process you can have that bike of your dreams, so join Manual for Speed and special guest Kanye West as we walk you through the necessary steps to making all your dreams come true!

The Wilcox's Seven Evergreen S is a bit of a special bike.  Anyone could order one, it's not special in that regard.  Call up Seven in a couple of months something virtually identical could be in your garage ready to roll.  You see, Wilcox's bike is special because of what it's done, where it's been.

Wilcox loads up for some monster rides and this is the steed that carries him.  Logging hundreds of kilometers, sometimes 1000k in the instance of the Crater Lake 1000k, this bike sees some wild mileage.  Of course, as is the case with titanium, a cleanup and it looks brand new.

These photos were snapped in the spring right after Crater Lake if I remember correctly, which explains some of the dust, but merely days after 1000k The Wilcox was out on rides in the North Shore of Chicago's suburbs exploring with Velosmith.

This Seven Evergreen S gets a really nice but not decidedly exotic build.  SRAM Red Hydro R provides shifting and braking duties, HED Belgium rims are laced to a generator hub in the front.  Good stuff.

Simple but effective, lets talk about the front light mount.  Super thin, what appears to be an aluminum plate under the headset baseplate provides a spot to mount the generator-powered light keeping it out of the way and off of his bars, allowing a handlebar-mounted bag when needed.

The ENVE CX fork gets some custom mounts for the generator light wiring and also to mount up a fender, all done so cleanly it would be easy to mistake them for stock.  Actually, it was a clean enough addition to the fork that I glossed over it while snapping the photos.

This is one gallery where I implore you to take your time and examine the pictures.  The beautiful bare titanium finish is distracting, I know, but there are so many amazing little custom details to find now that you know how this Seven is being used.