Reader’s Rig: Juraj’s Custom Rocket Titanium

Words and photos by Juraj Nagy

Hello, my name is Juraj. I’m originally from Bratislava, Slovakia. I lived in New Jersey for four years and have been living in Switzerland, with a plethora of riding options of any kind, for the past seven years. I am lucky to live in Chur in the southeastern canton of Graubünden, located in the Swiss Alps, which is well known not just to the mountain bike community from the movie Home of Trails starring the MTB superstar Danny MacAskill and local hero Claudio Caluori.

I’m 45 and have been active around bikes for more than 30 years. I started as a dual-slalom racer, spent a few years riding bike trials, and after many years of trail and enduro riding, quite recently discovered the beauty of a gravel biking and bikepacking by buying a Specialized Diverge and tons of inspiration found here on BIKEPACKING.com. I liked the bike, especially the Future Shock (first generation), but as a long-term MTB rider, I felt it lacked the stability and robustness of a mountain bike and also other bikepacking-specific features.

After riding the Diverge for around a year, I started searching for a new gravel and bikepacking rig with drop bars that would be suitable for bigger adventures, as with age, I’ve tended to shift from high-speed technical Enduro riding to more relaxing bikepacking adventures. However, no bike or frame fulfilled my dreams in terms of geometry, weight, tire clearance, and other features.

Being used to the MTB feeling, I wanted more of a mountain bike being modified into a gravel mountain-cross bike than a beefing-up a road bike. I wanted something longer and slacker (what else these days, right?) to be able to ride with a stem no longer than 80mm, not too long of a seat tube, tons of gear bosses, large tire clearance, etc. The closest drop-bar bikes back then were the ones like Mason ISO, Ribble Adventure bike, and Smokestone Mr. Harry. In the meantime, bike such as the Chumba Yaupon came out, which would be probably the closest, but that was a couple of years after I built my bike.

There was always something that did not 100% appeal to me on the production bikes, whether it be too of short reach, too long of a seat tube, too steep of angles, the weight of a steel frame, the cable routing, and such. Then I came across pictures of the Corvid Cycles MAP bike, and I fell in love with the look instantly, with its perfect proportions, features, pretty much everything. Unfortunately, living in Europe, as well as that Chad of Corvid Cycles was super busy at that time and booked out with other projects for months ahead, I had to look elsewhere. I did my research on the internet and luckily came across the brand Rocket Titanium Bikes based in Austria and its owner Roland. He is also a professional photographer and a passionate cyclist.

• Frame Rocket Titanium Bikes, 100% custom
• Fork Whiskey No. 9 MTN Boost LT or Rock Shox Reba 120mm
• Rims DT Swiss XM 481, inner width 30mm, 32 holes
• Hubs DT Swiss 240 Boost, J-bend, 32 holes
• Tires Vittoria Mezcal 29×2.1″ Anthrazit or Maxxis Rekon 29×2.6″ tanwall
• Handlebars Ritchey WCS Venture Max XL, 520 mm wide
• Headset Hope, orange
• Crankset X01 Carbon, Boost, 170mm, polar grey
• Chainring Absolut Black 36T, oval, orange
• Pedals Shimano XT PD-M8120 SPD-Trail
• Cassette SRAM XG-1295, 12-speed, 10-52 T, polar grey
• Derailleur SRAM XO1, polar grey
• Brakes HOPE RX4 SRAM, post mount, orange
• Shifter(s) SRAM Force 22, left for dropper post
• Saddle Bike Yoke Sagma, 142mm wide, Medium elastomers, orange
• Seatpost Ritchey WCS Flexlogic, 31.6 mm, 15 mm set back, 400mm
• Stem Race Face Turbine 60 mm / 6 deg.
• Front bags Salsa EXP Anything Cradle
• Frame bags Capricorn Bags custom
• Rear bags Apidura 17L saddle bag
• Accessory bags Revelate Design fork bags, Birzman and Blackburn feedbags
• Other accessories Ratio Tech. 11 to 12 teeth conversion kit

We jumped onto the project with me feeling that I knew exactly what I wanted geometry and feature-wise and with the Corvid MAP bike as a general template. Creating your own frame is an incredibly exciting yet complex process. Within around two months, we created five drawings until we were satisfied with it, at least on paper, and it went off into production. I did not know how it would come out until I sat on the bike and, with huge relief, could tell it was precisely what I was hoping for.

I also wanted an external cable routing for easy maintenance, with the shifter and rear brake cables running tucked under the top tube, as I am convinced that’s the right way. Cables under the down tube are exposed to the elements and may be in the way in case of mounting cages etc., on the down tube bosses. Other features include internal dropper-post cable routing, bosses for mounting top and frame bags and a bike rack, and tire clearance up to 29 x 2.6″. The bike can handle anything from tarmac up to hitting rough single trails. The geometry is suspension corrected hence compatible with a 120mm suspension fork, which I ended up riding far more often than the rigid one.

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