Curve Cycling’s new GMX+ Steel: A bicycle for very big adventures
When an iconic Aussie bicycle brand releases the steel-framed version of its much-lauded titanium adventure bike – and offers a colourway in tribute to an iconic Outback roadhouse – you know it’s going to be well designed, tough, and just damn cool. Meet Curve Cycles’ GMX+ Steel, available in Roadhouse Pink and Nitro Chocolate.
When an iconic Aussie bicycle brand releases a steel-framed version of its much-lauded titanium (ti) adventure bike – and offers a colourway in tribute to one of the Outback’s most iconic roadhouses – you know it’s going to be well designed, tough and just damn cool. Meet Curve Cycles’ GMX+ Steel, available in Roadhouse Pink and Nitro Chocolate.
Steel is definitely real
Curve’s not so subtle nod to the famous Oodnadatta Pink Roadhouse is accompanied by a more serious acknowledgement of Australia’s famous ‘overlanders’, those hardy bike-borne explorers of the late 19th and early 20th century, who criss-crossed this vast country of ours on their steel bikes.
Fittingly, Curve has utilised no ordinary steels (note the plural) for this iteration of the GMX+, with Columbus Cromor and 4130 chromoly used for the frame. According to Curve’s Jesse Carlsson, these two steels work best to achieve that balance of geometry, size, ride quality and price.
Forkin’ impressive!
Along with that awesome new steel frame, the GMX+ Steel comes with Curve’s new Seek 430 FM fork. This carbon-fibre fork is rated for a maximum load capacity of 14kg – 7kg per fork leg – with four reinforced M5 mount-points per fork blade (Curve developed its own thru-mounts for these points). The Seek 430 FM features updated brake hose and dynamo cable routing, along with compatibility with flat-mount brakes. Impressive stuff.
Add the standard frame features of the titanium GMX+ frame that are included in this steel version – wide tyre clearance, a plethora of mount points (including offset mounts on the downtube, and mounts on the rear stays), along with the option of flat or ultra-wide drop bars, and plenty more, and it is a bike that will, literally, be able to take you anywhere, comfortably and reliably. This new steel rig builds on the sterling reputation of its predecessors – the ti GMX and ti GMX+ – which have taken riders across the Aussie outback and deserts, as well as seen competition in events such as the Tour Divide and Race to the Rock.
Don’t be slow
The Curve Cycles GMX+ Steel is available as a frameset (retailing at $2499) or complete bike, with SRAM’s wireless Rival-Eagle eTap AXS 1 x 12 as a drivetrain choice. And yeah, we reckon that Roadhouse Pink colourway will sell out in no time, too (Editor Justin Walker is trying to find a way to sneak one into his bike shed as we write this).
If you’re tempted, head to Curve Cycles for more info.
