Grand-Tour victories are the line that separates good riders from champions. A first-place finish in the Giro d’Italia, the Vuelta a Espana or the Tour de France, the toughest races in the world, cement a rider’s place in history as one of the greats.
Giovanni Battaglin belongs to the elite group of riders that have won two Grand-Tours in the same year. As the second rider in history to achieve the Giro-Vuelta double, he ranks among the most talented stage racers of all time. Before him, only Eddy Merckx. After him, only Alberto Contador.
At the time, the peloton was made up of some ferocious racers legitimately described as the most inspiring in history. Luis Ocaña, Joop Zotemelk, Freddy Maertens, Roger De Vlaeminck, Hennie Kuiper, Marino Basso, José Manuel Fuente: they all would ride to leave nothing on the table. There were no radio and in-ear headphones, just 6-speed steel bicycles and legs. The rhythm was always high, and the dominant verb in every race was just one, “attack”.
It was an era of talented athletes, and the explosion of the audacious Battaglin got him plenty of attention.
Full Dynamix is a gravel-only brand, with a long history in cross-country mountain biking. The brand was founded in 1999 by Giovanni Battaglin. The technologies of the frame are the result of studies and experiments that revolve around gravel cycling, developed by testing the outcome of every one of our choices directly on white roads.
Gravel S – Italian-made Steel Gravel Frame
“Silky Smooth Gravel Riding”
Gravel S is a gravel frame made from Columbus tubing for those who look for maximum comfort on dirt.
Handbuilt by Italian masters framebuilders, it will take you on dirt roads for hundreds of miles with steel’s unique smoothness.
Gravel S is an Italian product that displays beautiful Italian craftsmanship. The Italian framebuilders are artists of welding.
When they take the torch in their hands, it’s always to join the tubes through flawless welds, that create strong, long-lasting joints.
But Made in Italy is not just a choice that honours our artisanal heritage.
There are 3 practical reasons why our steel gravel frames are manufactured by Italian artisans:
- A gravel frame is constantly subjected to stress, so it has to be very resilient. During the welding phase, the framebuilder needs to be in perfect control of the temperature, in order to avoid overheating the tubes and thus making them more fragile, which increases the risk of cracks or breaking. It is demanding work, that requires time and patience. Basically, the exact opposite of what big factory operations do to reduce the costs and increase production volumes.
- Being in complete control of the building process gives us the possibility to keep testing and improving the innovative solutions generated in the development phase.
- Local handcrafting is the only way to create a product that is unique for you, custom made from your specifications and body measurements.
Columbus Life Custom Tubing:
Columbus stands for the #1 steel tubing ever, pure and simple. Thanks to a 40-year collaboration, Columbus customized the LIFE tubes to our specifications, coming up with a triple-butted Omnicrom set. An exclusive solution in terms of design, stiffness and lightness.
Gravel S features a thru-axle both in the fork and in the rear triangle.
Opposed to the quick release, the thru-axle increases the frame stiffness and helps with overall control when you pedal at high speed, even if the terrain is irregular and could make it difficult for you to pedal with confidence.
It would have been easier to use a standard derailleur hanger. But it would have been treason to the Italian craftsmen that turn their inventive ideas into real products. That’s why we’ve designed our own CNC-machined hanger, with a specific shape that makes for the correct force distribution when braking and helps maintaining the alignment of the frame while it’s being built.
It’s replaceable, so you can easily fit a new one in the case it breaks.
Specifications:
- Tubing: Columbus Life custom design.
- Fork: Full carbon monocoque tapered fork with thru-axle, 1 1/8″ to 1 1/2″.
- Weight: 1,980 gr (medium size), with all parts except thru-axle.
- Cable routing: External.
- Bottom bracket: BSA (68 mm) English-threaded.
- Groupset compatibility: X1 and X2 compatible.
- Brakes: Hydraulic disc brakes, flat mount.
- Hangers: Aluminium interchangeable rear hangers.
- Rear thru-axle: 142x12mm.
- Seatpost diameter: 27.2 mm.
- Tire clearance: 700c x 41 mm / 650b x 50 mm.
Available in six sizes from XS (505mm top tube) to XXL (610mm top tube).
Read more about the Gravel S here.
Gravel C – Italian-made Carbon – Only 60 Available Worldwide. Full speed on dirt.
Gravel C is a handmade carbon-fiber handmade frame, built to efficiently tackle gravel roads.
This is the frame in the Full Dynamix range that you want for challenging situations, all-around gravel grinding and aggressive riding styles.
The lightness of the carbon fiber and the racing geometry will make for a bike that is extremely efficient in rhythm changes and responds well to sudden accelerations.
Gravel C presents all the features required by an expert cyclist, who knows the ultimate in bicycle technology and wants to race on uneven ground at full speed.
The Full Dynamix frames are artisanal products built with the tube-to-tube construction. An exclusive combination of patient handcrafting and precision instruments.
In the era of product standardization and frames that are mass produced, we believe in the value of Italian craftsmen that taught the world how to build bicycles. But ours is not just a choice tied to the glorious Italian frame building tradition.
There are reasons that justify the manufacturing of our gravel carbon frames by Italian artisans:
- Bonding the tubes together with carbon layers allows to control with great precision the width and the different layering of the material, so the frame is particularly suitable for absorbing the vibrations of irregular terrain.
- Being in complete control of the building process gives us the possibility to keep testing and improving the innovative solutions we find in the development phase.
Full Carbon 3K Frame:
Even in gravel, a frame meant for competition must reach an excellent ratio between lightness and stiffness. For this reason, Gravel C is created entirely from 3K carbon, the material that makes it so efficient and suitable for high-performance.
Thanks to the tube-to-tube building construction and systems that eliminate the air and the dust during the manufacturing process, Gravel C grants you the absolute certainty of a stiff and finished frame.
Gravel C features a thru-axle in the fork and rear triangle. Compared to the traditional quick release, the thru-axle increases stiffness and eases the riding when you pedal at high speed, even though the terrain may be irregular which adds to the challenge of controlling your bike.
The Gravel C’s tapered head tube enhances steering stiffness, providing better control of your bike when cornering.
Specifications:
- Frame: Full 3K carbon fibre.
- Fork: Full carbon monocoque tapered fork with thru-axle, 1 1/8″ to 1 1/2″.
- Weight: 1,180 gr (medium size), with all parts except thru-axle.
- Cable routing: Internal.
- Bottom bracket: PressFit BB92.
- Groupset compatibility: X1 and X2 compatible, Shimano Di2 / Campagnolo EPS compatible.
- Brakes: Hydraulic disc brakes, flat mount.
- Hangers: Aluminium interchangeable rear hangers.
- Rear thru-axle: 142x12mm.
- Seatpost diameter: 27.2 mm.
- Tire clearance: 700c x 41 mm / 650b x 50 mm.
Available in six sizes from XS (505mm top tube) to XXL (610mm top tube). Read more about the Gravel C here.
You might want to be a bit clearer at stating where you are just quoting from their website and not giving your opinion.
Steel frame looks really nice. Tall geometry too, which I like but is quite different from the more CX derived bikes that you racers seem to favor.
Tom, press releases are usually quoted verbatim from the information I’m provided. Granted, I had to correct some issues due to translation, but that was the case here. Maybe I can edit to add quotation marks in the article a bit later – not being snarky. I do appreciate your feedback.
Just a line at the top that says “the following comes from …” would help a lot (I assume it goes at the top or did you add the top historical section?). Also typically editor changes to quotes are put in [ ]. Sorry to be picky but teaching technical writing will do this to you.
Tom, appreciate the tips! I don’t know everything and I am always learning.
Possibly the first two words of the title that say “Press Release” is a clue that the following post is a press release from the manufacturer, and not a review or opinion piece by the blogger?
The steel frame is a nice colour, but there really should be more, and bigger, stickers and logos…
When my kids were little they’d put dinosaur stickers all over my frames when I wasn’t looking. Would that help? 🙂
This article could be condensed to: “here is a bike brand that is irrelevant to the American market. Here is a link to their website so you can read their marketing”
Why do you say it’s irrelevant?
The lengths someone in the U.S. would need to go to in order to our actually purchase these frames makes it irrelevant. There may be two shops in all of America that deal this brand. Those shops will not have one on hand and the margins an LBS would have when ordering one through the distributor make it impractical for them as a business. The brand’s website does not sell direct. I’m sure someone could get their hands on one but, in all reality, no U.S. consumer would rationally go to those lengths for these frames. There’s nothing groundbreaking about the frames themselves, so it can’t be considered some sort of precursor to developments on bikes that are actually sold in the states. They are neat frames and all, but no one reading this post in the U.S. is going to turn around and buy one of these- even if they wanted to. Another cool bike in an ocean of cool bikes, but not particularly relevant.
Luke, my understanding is Full Dynamix plans to sell directly to the consumer. Obviously, the website needs some work before that happens.
Strange they didn’t supply stack and reach numbers.
Part from that, i didn’t notice anything innovative (new) in these frames!?
They do for the steel version.
C’mon guys,
JOM provides a great service with this website, and while he’s not a world class journalist, the articles are informative, unbiased and interesting, but more importantly I’ve never detected any egotistical racer boy attitude. Perhaps you’d prefer him to NOT post….
Steve, I am so sorry I couldn’t make it back to Bendigo during this trip. But have no fear, I will return again soon… and finally, hope I can get out for a ride with the L.A.G.G.! So many beautiful places in Australia to ride on gravel roads, but never enough time. Today, I was messing around on the Mount Panorama motor race circuit at Bathurst!
No problems, JOM…. I probably couldn’t keep up with you anyway, LoL.
I’m still discovering new awesome gravel roads and developing new courses, that’s the addictive lure of gravel cycling that’s got me hooked.
This Saturday I’m participating in a local GRAVEL group ride organized by a mate, who’s enjoying the taste of the RLT. Sweet gravel roads, some single track and even hike a bike, AWESOME! At last, the LAGG has company.
I appreciated the article. This is a brand I’ve never actually heard of before. The steel frame is pretty interesting and cool looking (minus the graphics of course;) I realize this is mostly copied copied text from the manufacturers website but I’m ok with that because it’s something I didn’t know about.
If anyone feels the can do better than this, well have it. No one is stopping you. Just like the majority of us regular folks, JOM has a job, a life and no doubt plenty of other obligations. Yet he srill finds time to update and manintian this site was new content. I applaud him for the effort
Long live JOM and The Gravel Cyclist.
Thanks Tim, I really appreciate nice comments such as yours. Gravel Cyclist is a labour of love! Tomorrow, I head back to the United States armed with a bunch of future content for the site. So much video to edit, but I think everyone in the Northern Hemisphere may appreciate seeing a bit of warm weather riding!
I for one appreciate the website JOM, keep up the good work. We cyclists are a picky breed of beings:-)
I also am a bit perplexed by the italian steed. It is a novel approach, the geometry is unique in comparison to others, 70mm bb drop, longer chainstays, the stack and reach are a bit tall and short for my liking, so it does measure up different, and the tyre sizing as well….41mm….
my question too is why the or what the is with the hole in the center upper middle fork?? its not like your going to mount up road calipers as they recommend hydro disc, so whats that???
other than my pickiness above, it is an italian beauty for the eye candy, welds are very nice and the innovation on the rear drop out is interesting
so all in all, different, so where does it fit in??
good question, not exactly sure for me
I see nothing perplexing about the geometry numbers. Looks rather elegant despite all current “standards” being rendered in fairly classic steel-frame lines. Might you mount a generator headlight in the drilled fork crown.
I think the Aldi solution is needed for the bicycle industry. There are way too many beautiful Gravel bikes to choose from…. I get dizzy from reading JOM’s reports…..I curl up in a fetal position in a dark corner of my shed….eyes bloodshot from blinkless staring, dried saliva trails encrusted down my chin, sobbing, giggling….shaking, “Too….many….gorgeous…bikes”
What’s the Aldi solution? : ONE BIKE TO RULE THEM ALL!!
To stir more interest in gravel racing maybe promoters could add
a “steel frame only” category?
Weight is not all that important to us gravel heads.
I’m just sayin’
I’d like to see this sub-category further refined. White bar tape and saddle only, with a minimum of three excuses as to why you’re having a crappy day on the bike 🙂
I have a frame set Full Dynamix Gravel S made by Battaglin Cicli.
Advantages:
I do not see yet.
Disadvantages:
1. Lead time: approx.20/25 days. In fact, 82 days !
2.Before Christmas, Battaglin Cicli reported that the frame is in painting now and will ship after hollidays, but the frame was ship on February 15!
3. Bad packing of the frame, only the air bubble film and as a result, the frame was damaged during transportation.
4. The frame does not have one fastening for fender.
5. Service is not. I sent the order of the damaged part (derailleur hanger) but I didn’t get feedback.
Alex, have you got any feedback from full dynamics?
How much did the frame cost?