Biest of the Bengt

This fantastic bike I built for my long time friend Bengt Stiller, himself an avid ultra cyclist, photographer and book author. We met years ago back in 2016 at the Vienna Fahrradschau when Bengt was presenting the first issue of his new "Legends of Steel" book. We instantly became friends and it felt like we would have known each other already for years. Bengt moved here and there but we always kept in contact and so he became part of the Gramm and Fern family. Sponsored by Gramm Tourpacking, he successfully competed in many international ultra races such as the Silkroad-, Atlas Mountain Race and many others. For me it was always clear that at one point I would have to make a bike for Bengt and back in 2023 he decided to race the Hellenic Mountain Race and so we built a bike for that event. I threw in all my experience to make the very best all-road bike for him, light weight, fast and super versatile, as well as super comfortable for riding such ultra long distances as he does. His bike and geometry was a completely new development and after his extensive testing his prototype now became the blueprint for my latest generation of all-road bikes so far. The frame features super wide tire clearance for up to 2,4x650B tires which makes it technically into a mountain bike, but it could also be run with 700C and narrow tires which transforms it into a high performance gravel-, road- or randonneur bicycle. Truly a one-bike-for-everything concept and if you add all the racks and custom Gramm Tourpacking bags this bike will be your best travel companion for any longer bikepacking trip as well. The frame is made from the very best ultra thin wall tubing which Columbus has to offer and even though it's built for hard off-road riding I went for the limit in terms of making the lightest possible frame. Tune did its best to make the bike even lighter and threw in just the top of the line products they have to offer, sponsoring hubs, seatpost, saddle, stem and handlebar, pulling the weight of the complete build down to 9,9 kilograms. Not bad for a fully equipped steel bike with racks, lights and dynamo (mandatory it's a SON). After riding the bike now for more than two years without paint in order to be able to change some details on the frame if necessary, it became time to finally put some color on it. And here our friend Mario of Wideways, who works closely together with our buddies at Dlouhy Cycles, came into the game. Mario is a true artist and he did an amazing job of painting Bengt's bike in a flashy grey structure with bright pink flashy flash flashes, as only he could do! So Bengt my friend, I wish you many happy miles to come on your beautiful little Biest of the East, you little beast! ;) Special thanks go to Goetz at Dailybread Cycles and Rene Herse Tires, thanks to SON, SRAM and Duke for additional support.