REGROUP CUSTOM
PHOTOS
Daniel Koeth
WORDS
Adam Eggebrecht
TYPE
Road
FRAME
Mosaic RT-Zero — titanium with a carbon seat mast, from the Zero Ops program
GROUPSET
SRAM RED XPLR AXS — 1×13
PAINT
Mosaic Artist Series “Shattered Camo” in desert tan
WHEELS
Zipp 353 NSW with integrated tire-pressure sensors
SADDLE
Leather-wrapped edition of Bjorn Setka 3D-printed saddle — same shape, same sizing
COCKPIT
Paint-matched front end, bar tape by Busyman Bicycles, Melbourne
TIRES
Pirelli P Zero, 35mm — the RT-Zero’s maximum
DETAILS
Sturdy Cycles 3D-printed titanium brake levers; Carbon-Ti disc rotors
I’m recording this from a hotel patio in Slovenia, looking up at the Julian Alps after a lovely morning’s ride with my partner, Andrea — which feels like a funny place to talk about a bike built with somewhere much flatter in mind.
This is the new Mosaic RT-Zero: titanium, with a carbon seat mast. I’ve always been a fan of the ti-carbon marriage. My Bastion is the same idea with a different accent, and there’s something about the way those two materials ride together that keeps pulling me back.
The color is desert tan because, well, we live in the desert. The paint is Mosaic’s Artist Series in a layout they call Shattered Camo, and it turned out really cool. Credit where it’s due: my friend Doug has a tan bike from a brand we won’t mention, and I always thought it was a great color. So — thank you, Doug.
The build is an experiment on two fronts. It’s my first road bike with 1×13 — I run 1x on my gravel bikes, but I wanted to find out for myself whether the range and the jumps genuinely work on the road. And it’s wearing 35mm rubber, the most the RT-Zero will take, on the new Zipp 353 NSWs with the tire-pressure sensors built in.
There’s a reason for both. This bike’s real job is Wisconsin. When we visit my in-laws, the riding is a rail trail that washes out in places, plus proper climbs when we head into the Driftless Area. A gravel bike out there is overkill, and a race bike on skinny tires is under-gunned. Big rubber, one ring, thirteen speeds: that’s the sweet spot this bike is aimed at.
Then there’s the detail work, which is where a build like this gets personal. The brake levers are 3D-printed titanium from Sturdy Cycles in the UK — the only maker I’ve found, anywhere, doing them. The bar tape is by the infamous Busyman in Melbourne, who is always doing great work. The saddle is the leather-wrapped version of a 3D-printed original, same shape and sizing as the lattice one. And the rotors are Carbon-Ti, because on a bike like this the details count double.
Here’s the honest part: I haven’t ridden it yet. It was finished just before we left for Europe, so it’s waiting at the shop while I sit here looking at somebody else’s mountains. The paint is sweet, the parts are the ones I’ve been wanting to try, and the first ride will tell me whether 1×13 belongs on the road. I’m stoked to find out.
FEATURED
Zero Ops is Mosaic at full reach — handmade titanium with a carbon seat mast, built to your exact geometry and finished by their artists. Yours starts with a conversation in Tempe.
