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The Nua Silice Ti Gravel Bike from Spain |
While carbon fiber, 13 speed electronic drive trains, and all-out racing design is the normal fare I would find within a press release in 2025, this time I was pleasantly surprised. Surprised because Nua Bikes, from Barcelona Spain does not seem to be a company focused on the "pointy end" of the gravel scene where very few people can hope to ever reside. No, their bike featured here, and several of their models, are all about adventure and fun.
Their revision of their Silice model is evidence of this focus. Yes, it is titanium and it is expensive, but at least it is a bicycle you can rely on in any weather and ride with confidence for years without it being made obsolete by some electronic update.
The new Silice features your choice of internally geared drive trains. Riders can chose either a Rohloff 14 speed IGH drive train (shown) or a bottom bracket based Pinion gear box. Either choice is driven by a Gates Carbon Drive belt for low maintenance riding.Wheels can be had with DT Swiss rims or Nua branded carbon fiber rims. The front hub is a DT Swiss 350, but you can upgrade to a Schmidt dynamo hub, (shown).
As seen in these accompanying images, The Silice is a turnkey, all-weather, unpaved road machine. The bike comes with a standard geometry which is right in the pocket for today's preferences. The tire clearance is an up-to-date 700 x 50mm, and 45mm with mudguards. While Nua offers stock geometry, a customer can design their own Silice using Nua's custom options. (See website for details)
While Nua seems to be all about internal gearing options, I did notice a derailleur hangar on the Silice, so one would assume a fully electronic drive train with external, 1X operation would also be an option.
As shown, the Nua Silice is a pretty expensive bicycle, but Silice bikes can be had for as little as $6,300.00 base price USD.
Comments: This is a refreshing change from bicycles I normally get news about which, for the most part, are all racing focused and have range-topping models well over the 10K price tag. Here with Nua you can get a unique, long-lasting bicycle which will be quite capable in all scenarios for quite a bit less money.
As an owner of a titanium bicycle with a Rohloff SpeedHub, I can vouch for the ease of maintenance and all-weather performance. With a dynamo hub system, *which I also have), this is a no worries bicycle which you can just hop on and go ride at any time of day or night as well. So, from the standpoint of value, it is hard to say you wouldn't, or couldn't get your monies worth out of this sort of investment, as long as you are a committed, year-around cyclist. A 10K plus go-fast gravel racer bike? Let's just say this would be more of a challenge in this regard.
Yes, one can do amazing things on any bicycle you want to make work, and anything can wear out, be broken, and have negative attributes. With this in mind, I can see many more benefits to a bicycle like this and do all the things and more than I could see doing on a Trek Checkout, for instance. Your mileage may vary, but to me, this is the sort of bike for the more practically minded cyclist. A pre-eBike "car replacement" choice, and still a very valid one at that.
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