Bike Check: Legor Cicli’s 650b steel all-road bike

This, the WTUA gravel, is the latest model from Legor Cicli, the work of an Italian framebuilder living in Barcelona and featuring 650b tyres on a steel frame. 

I met Mattia Paganotti, the Italian behind the brand in Girona at an Enve press launch recently. He had brought his latest creation along with him. So, naturally, I took the opportunity to take a closer look at the bike and chat with him to find out more.

Mattia began working under the guidance of Italian framebuilder Gino Lissignoli in exchange for fixing his lathe. He then worked with Zullo for two years and became friends with Dario Pegoretti who taught him more, before going into business first making frames for Crema Cycles and then turning out his own brand Legor Cicli. He makes about 60 to 70 frames a year and the one pictured above is a brand new model.

It's called the WTUA gravel and is built using Columbus Spirit tubing with lots of straight lines and clean welds. There are some nice details, a T47 bottom bracket, externally routed cables and oversized tube diameters. Because of the stiffness of the carbon wheels and thru-axles, he tells us he can use a 28.6mm seat tube because it offers a bit more flex which helps with the handling and grip. Out back there’s a thru-axle and the disc brake is mounted on top of the seat stay. 

The bike has been designed around 650b wheels, the hot trend in adventure and gravel biking this year. Clearance is ample for up to 2.2in tyres, and it’s fitted with Compass Switchback Hill 650b x 48mm tyres. The tyres, he tells us, are fast on the road and there’s grip on the gravel, and they’re comfortable as well. He says this bike has changed his idea about gravel bikes.

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An Enve carbon fork slots into the head tube and there's a dynamo front hub powering the front and rear lights, with the cable connecting the lights to the hub taped to the fork blade. He's even managed to make a feature out of the electrical tape securing the cable in place. A Rotor single ring chainset pairs with a Shimano XT Di2 mountain bike rear derailleur and road bar shifters and brake levers, using XTR post mount disc brakes. 

Wheels are also from the mountain bike side of things, Enve’s M50 carbon hoops shod with the aforementioned Compass tyres. An Enve handlebar, stem and seatpost with a San Marco saddle complete the interesting build. 

It’s a cool looking bike with go-anywhere purpose, and Mattia tells of how he’s been riding it everywhere around Barcelona, using it for road and off-road roads, as his Instagram photos prove. He says he uses for those rides when he’s not sure if he wants to stick to the tarmac or head into the hills because the tyres provide the capability to tackle it all. It looks like a really fun bike, and if it wasn't too small I would have stolen it for a blast around the streets of Girona.

More at www.legorcicli.it

Photos © Augustus Farmer