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Litespeed x Wheels Mfg: A Titanium Gravel Machine Built for Unbound
Some bikes are built to check boxes.
This one was built to turn heads in Emporia.
For Unbound Gravel 2026, Wheels Manufacturing teamed up with Litespeed Bicycles to create a titanium gravel bike that blends modern gravel performance with a clean, stripped-down aesthetic built around speed, simplicity, and premium craftsmanship.
At the center of the project is the new Litespeed Toscano, a handcrafted titanium gravel platform designed for riders who want the responsiveness of a race bike with the capability to disappear down endless dirt roads. Lightweight titanium tubing, aggressive gravel geometry, and massive tire clearance make it the perfect foundation for a modern gravel build.
But this one goes deeper than frame material.
The build showcases Litespeed's new Cerakote finish options, bringing an entirely different visual language to titanium. Instead of covering the frame with thick paint, Cerakote adds an ultra-thin ceramic coating that delivers durability, corrosion resistance, and a distinctive finish that feels more industrial and performance-driven than traditional paint.
For this collaboration, raw titanium surfaces meet custom Cerakote detailing and a full collection of anodized blue Wheels Manufacturing components. The contrast between the brushed titanium, muted coated surfaces, and bright anodized parts creates a bike that feels equal parts race machine and showpiece.
Built With Purpose
This build features our soon-to-be-released gravel chainring, designed specifically for the demands of modern gravel riding. Strong, lightweight, and engineered for rough terrain, the chainring pairs with our SOLO-XD single speed conversion system to create a drivetrain setup that is quiet, dependable, and refreshingly simple.
Additional Wheels Manufacturing components featured on the build include:
SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit
New Gravel Chainring
DROPOUT-666 Single Speed UDH
Outboard T47 Bottom Bracket
Seatpost Collar
Headset Spacers and Top Cap
Water Bottle Cage Bolts
All finished in anodized blue.
The final result is a gravel bike that feels intentional from every angle. No unnecessary clutter. No wasted details. Just titanium, precision components, and a build designed to stand out in a sea of carbon bikes and sponsor logos.
This project is also a celebration of American manufacturing and rider-driven product design. Litespeed has spent decades building titanium bikes in the USA, while Wheels Manufacturing continues to develop precision components and tools in Colorado for riders who care about how their bikes ride, look, and hold up over time.
If you're heading to Unbound Gravel, stop by the Wheels Manufacturing booth at the All Things Gravel Expo and check this one out in person.
Trust us. Photos won't fully prepare you for this bike.
Raw Titanium. Single Speed. Unbound Ready.
There’s something special about a raw titanium gravel bike done right.
For this year’s Unbound Gravel Expo, Wheels Manufacturing teamed up with BlackHeart Bike Co. on a custom Gravel Ti build designed around long miles, rough roads, and clean details. The result is a modern titanium gravel bike finished with a full collection of Wheels Manufacturing components in our custom Raw Aluminum colorway.
This build also marks the soft launch of our new SRAM 8-bolt direct mount gravel chainrings, officially available July 2026.
Built for Big Gravel Miles
Machined in Colorado from premium 7075 aluminum and available in 40T, 42T, 44T, and 46T sizes, the new Wheels Manufacturing gravel chainrings were designed for riders who want a drivetrain that feels fast, efficient, quiet, and dependable over massive gravel miles.
The new chainrings feature:
SRAM 8-bolt direct mount interface
Optimized tooth profiles for modern SRAM drivetrains
Lightweight yet incredibly strong 7075 aluminum construction
Available in seven anodized colors
Designed and machined in Colorado, USA
For this BlackHeart build, we paired the chainring with our SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit and 21T cog for a clean “magic gearing” setup built specifically for the rolling terrain and relentless conditions that make Unbound Gravel legendary.
Wheels Manufacturing Components Featured on the Build
To complete the build, we added a full collection of Wheels Manufacturing components in black and our custom Raw Aluminum colorway:
New SRAM 8-bolt direct mount gravel chainring
SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit with 21T cog
T47 Inboard Bottom Bracket
DROPOUT-666 Single Speed UDH
Seatpost Collar
Bottle Cage Bolts
The Raw Aluminum finish pairs perfectly with the natural titanium frame, creating a clean, understated look built around performance and durability.
About the BlackHeart Gravel Ti
The BlackHeart Gravel Ti is a modern, aero, fully integrated gravel bike designed for covering long distances quickly.
Its long and slack geometry keeps the bike stable and planted on rough terrain while still feeling nimble and intuitive when the road gets loose and fast. With clearance for up to 50mm tires, a threaded T47 bottom bracket, SRAM UDH compatibility, and support for electronic 2x or mechanical 1x drivetrains, it’s designed to be ridden hard and maintained easily for years to come.
Build Highlights
BlackHeart 3Al-2.5V double-butted titanium frame
ENVE Gravel In-Route carbon fork
BlackHeart one-piece carbon bar/stem
SRAM Force 1x XO cranks
Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheelset
Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H tires
Why Titanium?
Titanium has always held a special place in gravel riding.
It’s durable, corrosion-resistant, recyclable, and delivers a ride quality that feels smooth and composed over long days in the saddle. Combined with modern geometry and fully integrated design, the Gravel Ti is a bike built for adventure without compromise.
Founded in 2018, BlackHeart Bike Company creates titanium and aluminum bikes that balance performance, versatility, and beautiful design for everyday riders and racers alike.
Learn more about the BlackHeart Gravel Ti
See It at Unbound Gravel
If you’re attending Unbound Gravel, stop by the Wheels Manufacturing Outdoor Expo Booth May 28–29 to see the build in person and get a first look at our new gravel chainrings before their official July 2026 launch.
See you in Emporia.
The single speed kit for 32" wheels is here!
Introducing the New SOLO-32 Single Speed Conversion Kit
For years, riders have trusted our beloved SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit to keep things simple, quiet, and reliable.
But then the 32" wheels showed up.
And suddenly your cog looked... small.
So we fixed that...
Meet the SOLO-32 — the world’s first single speed cog sized to match your 32" wheel.
More teeth than you’d ever want to count. More presence than your rear triangle was designed for. Now you can go single speed on your giant hoops without looking undersized.
Because if bigger wheels are better...
your cog should be bigger too.
Go Bigger. Pedal Faster. Regret Nothing.
Engineered in Colorado.
Machined from extremely serious intentions.
Absolutely unnecessary in the best possible way. 🚲⚙️
Happy April Fools!
Revel x Wheels Manufacturing: A Teal Titanium Tirade Bound for Cyclingworld Europe
Revel x Wheels Manufacturing: A Teal Titanium Tirade Bound for Cyclingworld Europe
There are bike builds, and then there are bikes that stop people in their tracks.
Our latest collaboration with Revel Bikes lands firmly in that second category. We teamed up to put together a titanium Revel Tirade dressed head to toe in teal Wheels Manufacturing components, creating a build that feels equal parts trail machine, showpiece, and love letter to modern mountain bike design. And now, we’re bringing it to Cyclingworld Europe in Düsseldorf, Germany, March 20–22, 2026 to help show off a little of what Colorado does best. (CYCLINGWORLD EUROPE)
If you know Revel, you know they don’t do boring. The Tirade is their titanium 29er hardtail, built around modern trail capability with the clean feel and ride quality only titanium can deliver. Revel describes it as a bike inspired by their Rascal, made for riders who want the capability of a longer-travel bike with the simple beauty of a titanium hardtail. It is also single-speed compatible thanks to Revel’s sliding dropout design, which made it a perfect canvas for this project. (Revel Bikes)
That single-speed compatibility was our cue to have a little fun.
For this build, we decked the Tirade out with a full spread of teal Wheels Manufacturing parts to create something that feels cohesive, custom, and unapologetically eye-catching. The build features our SRAM 3-bolt chainring, Stack Right headset spacers and top cap, water bottle cage bolts, BSA 29mm bottom bracket, SOLO-XD single-speed conversion kit, thru axles, and seatpost clamp. The result is a titanium hardtail with a clean, purposeful look that still hits hard from ten feet away. This one is all about the details. From the cockpit to the rear hub, every accent works together to bring the bike to life.
What makes this project especially fun is how naturally the Tirade lines up with what we love to build at Wheels. Revel’s titanium platform is packed with modern touches, including an integrated headset, thru-axles, internal cable routing, threaded bottom bracket, and UDH-compatible sliding dropouts. On the Tirade specifically, Revel calls out its “rowdy titanium hardtail” personality, 29-inch wheels, and sliding dropouts that make a single-speed setup completely at home here. In other words, this is not some forced show build. This bike makes sense, and that is what makes it so good. (Revel Bikes)
And then there is the setting.
Cyclingworld Europe has grown into one of Europe’s major bicycle shows, held at Areal Böhler in Düsseldorf, with more than 400 exhibitor stands and 500 brands expected for 2026. It is exactly the kind of place where a build like this belongs. Not tucked away in a corner. Out in the open, where people can walk up, lean in, and start picking apart every teal detail on a titanium frame that already has plenty to say on its own. (CYCLINGWORLD EUROPE)
For us, this project is bigger than a display bike. It is a chance to team up with another Colorado brand, build something special, and bring that energy overseas. Colorado has always had its own way of doing things when it comes to bikes. A little dirt under the fingernails. A little style. A lot of function. This Revel Tirade captures all of that in one build.
If you’re heading to Cyclingworld Europe, come find us and check it out in person. Photos are one thing. Standing next to a tealed-out titanium Tirade is another.
Colorado to Düsseldorf. Let’s go.
Chumba Cenote x Wheels Manufacturing
A Copper-to-Blue Singlespeed Showpiece for ENVE Grodeo
There are bike shows, and then there’s ENVE Grodeo.
Every June, ENVE turns their Ogden, Utah headquarters into a two-day love letter to custom bikes and dusty roads. Friday is the Builder Round-Up open house an invite-only gallery of some of the most creative frame builders on the planet, complete with factory tours, food trucks, and a lot of nerding out over details. Saturday is the GRODEO ride itself: a big, self-navigated ~90+ mile gravel loop in ENVE’s backyard Wasatch mountains that’s more about community, challenge, and good times than a finish-line clock.
This year, we teamed up with our friends at Chumba to bring a very particular flavor of fun to the show: a Chumba Cenote singlespeed, built around our SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit and dripping in Colorado Copper, black, and blue.
What Is ENVE Grodeo, Anyway?
If you haven’t been, Grodeo is ENVE’s version of a perfect gravel weekend. The Builder Round-Up on Friday is an open house where a couple dozen builders roll in with their wildest road, gravel, and MTB creations often with new ENVE bits bolted on and hang out with riders all afternoon. Think art show meets factory tour meets mini festival.
On Saturday, the GRODEO ride heads straight into ENVE’s local mountains on a big backcountry loop long climbs, chunky descents, and a course that’s more “choose your own adventure” than taped-off race track. It’s fully supported but self-navigated, limited to a relatively small field, and intentionally not a traditional race. You can ride it as hard or as chill as you want; the point is the experience.
It’s the perfect backdrop to show off a bike that’s built to be ridden hard and stared at.
Why Chumba?
If you’ve followed Wheels Manufacturing lately, you’ve probably seen our growing relationship with Chumba USA. They’re a small, rider-owned brand building metal bikes in the U.S. gravel, mountain, and all-road platforms designed for real-world riding, from local gravel laps to big bikepacking missions. Chumba Bikes
Chumba’s whole thing is:
Made in USA frames in titanium and steel
Ride-first geometry—progressive without being silly
Custom spec and finishes so each build actually reflects how you ride
We’ve already teamed up with them on previous show bikes, and every time the collaboration feels natural: their frames and finishes plus our bottom brackets, thru axles, and small parts make for bikes that are both beautiful and meant to get dirty.
So when the opportunity came up to do a Cenote gravel build for ENVE Grodeo, we knew we wanted to lean into something a little rowdier and a lot more colorful.
Meet the Cenote: Built for Modern Gravel
The Cenote is Chumba’s progressive suspension-corrected gravel platform designed for the kind of events that mix fast gravel, broken jeep roads, and honest singletrack into one big question mark of a route. Chumba Bikes
A few highlights from the frameset:
Geometry that blends concepts from their Terlingua, SL, and Yaupon platforms
Longer front-center, slightly slacker head tube angle, and a touch steeper seat tube angle for confident handling with a short stem and wide bar
Built around a 40 mm suspension fork like the Cane Creek Invert, while still playing nicely with other big-name gravel forks
Sliding dropout options that let you run UDH, T-Type, singlespeed, or a traditional geared drivetrain
Clearance for big rubber (up to 29 x 2.0") while still feeling lively with 700 x 40–50 mm tires Chumba Bikes
In other words, it’s exactly the kind of bike that belongs at Grodeo and it’s an ideal canvas for a singlespeed build.
The Color Story: Copper to Blue to Raw
For this ENVE Grodeo show bike, Chumba absolutely went off on the finish.
The Cenote frame carries a copper-to-blue and raw motif:
Rich, warm copper tones up front
Deep blues that echo anodized components and ENVE graphics
Raw metal peeking through to remind you this thing is meant to be ridden, not just photographed
The finish ties directly into our Colorado Copper parts and the accent colors on the build, so from a few feet away the bike reads as one cohesive piece, not a frame plus components bolted on after the fact.
Wheels Manufacturing Touchpoints
To tie the whole bike together, we kitted it out with a handful of our favorite pieces:
SOLO-XD Single Speed Conversion Kit for XD/XDR hubs in a mix of Colorado Copper, black, and blue
A Wheels Manufacturing seatpost collar in black for a clean, low-profile clamp that lets the frame finish take center stage
Colorado Copper headset spacers to pull the warm tones from the frame straight up into the cockpit
Colorado Copper T47 Bottom Bracket for rider who appriciate a little color with those smooth pedal strokes.
The SOLO-XD kit is the heart of the build. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s our adjustable singlespeed conversion kit for XD/XDR freehub bodies—designed so you don’t need a new wheelset just to go singlespeed. You get:
A machined cog
Lockring
A stack of spacers that let you fine-tune chainline and visual balance
On this bike, the trio of copper, black, and blue creates a subtle gradient that echoes the frame finish while still doing the boring stuff well, like holding chain tension and keeping engagement quiet and solid.
Why Singlespeed at Grodeo?
Could we have built the Cenote with a wide-range 1x drivetrain and called it a day? Absolutely.
But Grodeo is the kind of event where singlespeed just makes sense:
Long day, big climbs, chunky terrain
Everyone’s there to test themselves and their gear a bit
The vibe is more “shared adventure” than elbows-out race
Rolling into a non-race race on a singlespeed gravel bike is a statement: you’re here for the challenge, the simplicity, and the stories you’ll tell at the end of the day.
The Cenote’s progressive geometry and suspension-corrected front end give it plenty of control on the rough stuff, and the SOLO-XD kit keeps the drivetrain about as simple and reliable as it gets. Pick your gear, commit, and go turn pedals.
Chumba x Wheels: More Than a One-Off
For us at Wheels Manufacturing, collaborations like this go way beyond a show weekend.
We love working with partners like Chumba who:
Share our obsession with precision and durability
Believe in domestic manufacturing and small-batch craft
Want to build bikes that will still feel relevant and rideable years down the road, not just look good on a show floor.
The Cenote singlespeed for ENVE Grodeo is another chapter in that story a rolling example of what happens when frame builders, component makers, and events like Grodeo all pull in the same direction, make bikes that riders actually want to take out and thrash.
Where You’ll See It Next
We’ll be sharing more detailed photos and build notes from the Chumba Cenote ENVE Grodeo bike across our channels soon. Keep an eye on:
Wheels Manufacturing blog and social feeds
Chumba USA’s channels for their side of the story
ENVE’s Builder Round-Up coverage to spot the bike in the wild ENVE Composites USA
In the meantime, if this build has you thinking about:
Going singlespeed on your gravel bike
Adding a bit of Colorado Copper flair to your current ride
Or spec’ing Wheels parts into a future Chumba build
…reach out. We’re always happy to talk gear, builds, and bad ideas that might actually be good ones.
The Highs and Lows of the Colorado Trail – As Seen on Bikepacking.com
This summer, Wheels MFG marketing manager (and resident trail masochist) James Flanagan finally lined up for the Colorado Trail Race on a full-suspension bike built around a Wheels drivetrain and a prototype chainring. Bikepacking.com just published the full story and video, following his highs, lows, storms, hike-a-bike, and all the little moments in between when a neat CTR plan meets real Colorado trail. It’s less “I crushed it” and more “here’s what actually happened out there.”
For us, it’s the perfect mix of real-world product testing and honest storytelling from someone who lives and rides where our parts are made. If you want to see our components getting a proper Colorado shakedown and ride along for James’ attempt, you can check out the full feature and video here:
👉 The Highs and Lows of the Colorado Trail – Presented by Wheels MFG
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