Although rough n' ready gravel bikes are made to go places that road bikes can't, they still look a lot like road bikes. Swedish builder Gustav Gullholm – known on Instagram as Dangerholm – set out to change that, by creating a one-off gravel bike made for mountain bikers.
At the heart of Gullholm's Scott Scale Gravel bike is a carbon fiber Scott Scale 910 hardtail mountain bike frame. Because the finished bike would have a SRAM AXS XX1 1-by-12 wirelessly shifted drivetrain, Gustav removed the frame's front derailleur mount, plus he covered over the ports that allowed the no-longer-needed front and rear derailleur cables to be internally routed through that frame. He than gave it a retro-90s yellow/white-fade paint job.
Instead of the drop handlebars featured on most gravel bikes, Gullholm went with a flat carbon Syncros Fraser iC SL one-piece bar/stem combo. Due to the fact that he didn't want to clutter up the bar's sleek looks, he proceeded to get it reinforced and then drilled holes in either end, so that the hydraulic brakes hoses could be routed inside of it.
The front hose comes out the underside of the Trek 1120 rigid carbon fork's crown, and proceeds down the fork leg to the brake – the rear hose is internally routed all the way back to the rear brake, coming out of the chain stay. An internal "steering stop" keeps the handlebars from being turned too far and crimping the rear hose. And the Trickstuff Piccola Carbon brakes are claimed to be among the lightest and most powerful on the market.
Gustav is quick to point out that for most folks, drilling into or otherwise compromising the handlebars is not a good idea. That said, German manufacturer Magura has previously experimented with routing brake hoses inside the bar.
Among the bike's most striking features are its custom-painted Biturbo RS one-piece six-spoked carbon wheels, made by Germany's Bike Ahead Composites. They feature DT Swiss hubs, and are clad in 29-inch Continental SpeedKing RaceSport tires – although these are marketed as mountain bike tires, they're also optimized to be fast-rolling, making them a good choice for gravel roads.
Some of the Scott Scale Gravel's other features include a Kogel bottom bracket with ceramic bearings; a Kogel Kolossos rear derailleur cage (on the SRAM derailleur) with oversized pulley wheels for less chain friction; Xpedo M-Force 8Ti clipless pedals; plus a Schmolke Carbon TLO seat post with a Tune Speedneedle 20Twenty carbon saddle.
The whole thing tips the scales at a claimed 7.5 kg (16.5 lb). And if all that isn't enough, Gustav says he plans on outfitting the bike with a 32,000-lumen lighting system for winter riding.
There are more details both in the Scott video below, and in Gullholm's own Pinkbike article.
Sources: Scott Sports, Pinkbike
