Mosaic Builds the Founder’s Wife a New Bike for MADE

“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>

Mosaic is one of a few companies out there that offers a hybrid custom/production model. The brand makes performance titanium bikes all hand-built in Colorado and the vast majority of those aren’t just off-the-shelf but rather custom built to order for a specific customer. That means you walk into a dealer and the process starts with fit data. Mosaic then takes that fit data and turns it into a “custom frame draft to hit your fit and handling preferences absolutely perfectly.”

That’s just the start though. From there, you still need to pick a finish. The cut and dry of that is an option for one of “four Standard Painted Finishes as well as five Artist Series finishes.” Then you take those basic finish choices a bit farther by selecting one of “15 standard colors, 150+ extended line colors, and the ability to create custom colors upon request.” Mosaic also says “if you still don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, we’ll consider a custom job via our in-house paint shop – Spectrum Paint and Powderworks.”

In practice, that description doesn’t exactly tell the story. Yes, everything there is true but what you see in person is reliably greater than the sum of the parts. In particular, those artist series options pop in ways that are hard to describe. As you can see here, the Scale artist series is hard to overlook.

A frameset isn’t a bike though. Mosaic builds framesets and you’ll complete your build via your chosen dealer. Everything is on the table and every build is unique but what if the build was a little more personal? When founder Aaron Barcheck’s wife needed a new bike, she started with the “flagship” RT-1iTR integrated thick road which fits up to 700x35c.

That, or course, means a made to order custom frame. Then, added to the bare titanium was the latest artist series finish called Scale. Scale uses a unique to every bike set of randomized stampings then, as with any customer, comes the choice of color. Liz Barcheck went with “Ultraviolet” which was one of two new color choices announced at MADE and features a purple to blue color shift.

To finish off the build, Barcheck went with a number of pieces from Chris King. Unseen is the Chris King bottom bracket and, more visible, you’ll also find the Aeroset headset that works with “the ENVE In-Route and FSA Systems to complete your sleek custom build with tidy internal cable routing.” The “3D violet” colorway was clearly the only choice of colors here as it seems to perfectly match the overall color theme.

For the wheels, there’s more Chris King. The hubs use the same “3D violet” colorway while the rims are the ARD44 using FusionFiber’s thermoplastic technology. If you aren’t familiar with that term, FusionFiber is a CSS composites technology that allows for recyclability of carbon as well as a, claimed, superior damping effect on your rides. Chris King uses it to form a 44 mm deep rim with a hookless tire interface and a 25mm internal width. Total wheel weight is a claimed 1,525 grams.

To finish things off, Barcheck built off of a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset. There’s a 50-34 chainring and an 11-34 cassette with 12-cogs. The touch points are Shimano pedals with a Fizik 3D printed Vento Argo 00 Adaptive saddle. Barcheck’s hands will come to rest on an SES AR Road In-Route handlebar that’s connected to the frame with an Enve Aero stem.

You can see more Mosaic options at the Mosaic website. What do you think though, did Liz Barcheck build the perfect Mosaic?