It’s no news that bike manufacturers, despite all pushing the boundaries of what is possible in bike design, often forget about the extreme ends of the size ranges – the short and tall cyclists out there. With the launch of the Titanosaur gravel bike, Curve Cycling aims to address this long-standing oversight in the cycling industry when it comes to rangier riders.
“We’ve asked ourselves time and time again, should we hit go? Should we unleash the Titanosaur into the wild?” says Curve Cycling. “It’s a risky move, but we’re ready to take the plunge with the support of fellow cycling enthusiasts.”
Titanosaur is a titanium gravel bike that Curve has been testing for four years, and now it’s fundraising to bring the bike into production. The Titanosaur is named after the largest dinosaur to have ever roamed on Earth, and this is no coincidence. Curve has designed this bike for tall people to redefine what someone who’s over 183cm (6ft) tall might want their bike to look like. As Curve admits: “It’s a super niche product within a niche within a niche”.
But what exactly makes the Titanosaur? First of all, it’s crafted from titanium, with 3D-printed elements adding to its strength and allure – nothing really out of the ordinary there though, as a lot of Curve’s premium builds are made of this material. But when it comes to the sheer size of the bike… that’s where things get different.
With sizes ranging from M up to 4XL, this behemoth of a bike isn’t well suited for anyone shorter than 172cm tall, so we shorties can forget about it straight away.
Most brands do cater for tall riders to some extent, but similarly to very small bikes, those extreme sizes tend to get a little bizarre-looking geometry with extremely tall headtubes and frames that look disproportionate to the wheels. That’s not the case with the Titanosaur – its chainstay lengths alone vary from 570mm to 580mm (on a gravel bike this is usually around 420mm), meaning you’ll need to have an extra long chain – or combine two chains – to even get the bike on the road or trail.
The wheels on the Titanosaur will definitely not look out of place. Curve says that it’s only the largest XXXL size where the bike’s silhouette starts to resemble that of a normal 700c wheeled bike. The benefits of the larger wheels extend beyond just looks though, as the larger diameter should help them to keep spinning easily and roll over obstacles that little bit smoother.
Despite the colossal size, Curve promises “an unparalleled riding experience”, whether conquering rough terrain or navigating city streets. The builds will also feature a new carbon fork that can carry a total of 14kg of cargo, and Curve’s 36” carbon rim ‘Coop Hoops’.
Those wheels are wrapped in Vee Rubber 36 x 2.25” T-Monster gravel tyres, which Curve admits are perhaps not the best tyres out there but at the moment, pretty much the only option compatible with the large wheels.
If all this got you excited, then perhaps you want to be one of the 20 who could make the bike a reality? If you do, then the deadline to invest is looming close. Dubbed the “Fist-Pump of Interest” (FPOI) on 21 March 2024, this marks the pivotal moment when the fate of the Titanosaur hangs in the balance. With a commitment fee of AUD5,000 (£2,590), prospective owners will secure their own dinosaur bike.
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If Curve doesn’t get 20 people investing, it will “refund the money to those who made commitments, cancel the project and quietly sob to ourselves for a few weeks or years”. Well, hopefully, it won’t come to that!
The full price of the Titanosaur stands at around £7,250 (AUD13,999) for the Force AXS level build, or a little less for the SRAM Rival AXS level build. The prices include global delivery.
Before you commit, there’s a final warning from Curve… with the Titanosaur, you can prepare to be the centre of attention, as curious onlookers marvel at the sight of this creation.
“This bike is not for introverts. Riding a Titanosaur is like walking a puppy on the beach. It’s a great way to meet people and will work faster than any dating app.”
You can reach out to Curve Cycling through its website to enquire more about this bike and funding its development. Don’t forget to let us know in the comments what you think about the 36-inch wheels, and the bike in general!
There are also many more Bike at Bedtime features for you to check out over here
11 thoughts on “In need of an XL gravel bike with 36-inch wheels? Curve Cycling has answered your prayers… but you’ll need to fund its production”
Borat if was wearing lycra
Borat if was wearing lycra under his grey suit would be super happy
I would be interested though in trying a 36 inch bike. In order to be a potential buyer, I would prefer a price that suits more to a bicycle and less to a car.
Please tell me what very
Please tell me what very limited edition hand made car you can get for £7,500.
While your point is valid re it being an expensive way to test out a new concept/idea, that’s a completely normal thing in any industry – early adopters always pay a premium.
Of course not, but to be
Of course not, but to be honest when I see limited edition and handmade it means to me unnecessarily expensive with fancy stickers. I really like mass produced items, anything that can be automated is way better for me.
Let’s face it even the super expensive Ti frames at Moots, they require a half manhour of expert cranfmanship (the welds) with the rest being easy to made by easy to train personnel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvqo9Ino1lE . So the rest is of course smart design, but marketing mostly increases price.
There are many tall guys, so if a Decathlon GRVL 120 is sold for £600, I believe it would be reasonable to sell 3 big sizes for a 36 inch bike with similar specs (much higher than my bike, which in turn seem much higher than the 90s mtb I first rode) at £1000 with the only differences being the frame, fork, big hoops and long spokes.
@Rendel Harris agree totally, but when I lock my bike outside with my cromo highly praised D-Lock, I know that it is 60 seconds, a battery angle grinder, and some bored bypassers away, so I would never invest too much in my commuter.
cyclisto wrote:
Decathlon – massive company, that can use ecomonomies of scale to leverage the outsourcing of the mass production of frames in factories already mass producing grames, and of a bike with reasonably settled/established geometry (i.e. little R&D).
Curve – tiny company (by comparison), who in this case have designed a whole new frame geometry from scratch, and who are, at this stage anyway, in no position to make any frames without reasonable prior commitment, never mind thinking about or stumping up the considerable budget that would be required to establish any form of mass production.
Please consider comparing apples with apples, instead of your example of an apple and an orange.
Of course, Curve is low
Of course, Curve is low volume, but if Decathlon built this bike with its economies of scale would cost like £700, £1000 is for a manufacturer willing to do it in a somehow big scale but bigger than the 20 pieces series, like the fatbikes scales where good deals exist https://www.konaworld.com/collections/fat-fifty.
joules1975 wrote:
An orange 5, and an apple iPhone 5 – definitely different things
cyclisto wrote:
It’s a lot of money but it is unique product and will at least initially be in a very small edition and so justifies its pricetag much more than some cookie-cutter mass-produced offerings from the major manufacturers. Also, I’m not in the business of defending the high prices now required to buy new top-end bicycles and I wouldn’t pay them myself, but at a conservative estimate cycling instead of using a car or public transport saves me about £3500 a year (yearly Zone 1&2 Travelcard £1700, weekly train trip to see family £500 extra per year, car insurance when we got rid of it in 2021 £500 per year, maintenance £250 per year, fuel £500 per year, parking permit £150 per year et cetera et cetera…) so in that context £7500 doesn’t take a very long time to recoup.
Got excited at 2590, then saw
Got excited at 2590, then saw it was deposit. Even though I would be size m, I’d love to try one, though not at that price. Only if I were 7′ tall might it be justified. Nevertheless I think there is a case for a more basic model as there seems to be a fair bit of interest.
Will this fit in the racks on
Will this fit in the racks on GWR trains?
Meh. Small wheels and only
Meh. Small wheels and only looks to have 5 possible bottle mounts.
one issue briefly mentioned
one issue briefly mentioned is the availability of tires in this size
to remedy would require the cooperation of another industry to design and supply