Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
The third spotlight in our Reader’s Rig Week comes from Copra Bikepacking founder Timothée Concaret in Paris, France, who shares his custom titanium gravel bike from Soulrider Frameworks in Istanbul, Turkey. Check out Timothée’s travel-ready bike here…
Words and photos by Timothée Concaret
Hi! I’m Timothée, a product designer and furniture maker based in Paris, France. I’m also making bike bags under the name Copra. Long story short: in 2019, after working for several years in industrial design and architecture, I began to think that products can be made differently. Name, locally, at a small scale, and from durable materials.
I quit my job, and a friend and I founded Formel, a furniture brand where each product is made by a small team in our workshop in Paris from local and sustainable solid wood. That same year, I began making bikepacking bags for my own needs. After one year and countless errors, I was no longer just making bags for friends but for people I didn’t even know, and what began as a hobby was slowly becoming a real job.
I’m glad to say that for two years now, I’ve only had two bikes (actually three with the recent addition of my Omnium cargo bike): my daily bike, an All-City Nature Boy Disc that I converted from singlespeed to 11-speed, and my gravel bike, made by Yasin from Soulrider Frameworks in 2023. In 2018, when I bought my first adventure bike, a Genesis Croix de Fer, I rode it a lot until I noticed it was quite heavy. I started to look around the internet for a replacement and heard of an artisanal brand based in Istanbul, Turkey, that builds bespoke steel and titanium bikes.
- Frame: Soulrider Frameworks Titanium Gravel
- Fork: ENVE Adventure Fork
- Rims: H+Son Hydra 700c
- Hubs: DT Swiss 350
- Tires: Hutchinson Touareg 700 x 45mm
- Handlebars: Salsa Cowchipper 46cm
- Headset: Chris King InSet 7 matte jet black
- Crankset: Ingrid CRS-POP black 38T
- Pedals: Shimano SPD
- Cassette: SRAM Force 42-11
- Derailleur(s): SRAM Rival 1
- Brakes: SRAM Force CX1
- Shifter(s): SRAM Force CX1_
- Saddle: Specialized Expert
- Seatpost: Deda
- Stem: Easton 90mm
- Front bags: Copra harness + 14L Dyneema drybag
- Frame bags: Copra half-framebag in X-Pac X50 Multicam Black
- Rear bags: Copra Booty Bag 15L X-Pac RX30
- Accessory bags: Copra Buddy Bag, Copra Camera Bag, Copra full-length top tube bag
- Other accessories: Supernova Lamp
I ordered the cheapest gravel bike possible from him, and two years later, I sold my mountain bike and asked Yasin to build quite the same bike but in titanium and with increased tire clearance. I don’t really like road riding and always use my gravel bike with thinner tires when needed. The question of one bike to rule them all has been on my mind for a long time, and I think I’m very satisfied with this bike for everything from 200-kilometre rides on asphalt to 10-day adventures on mountain bike routes.
You can see more of Timothée’s work on Instagram.
Send Us Your Bikepacking Rig
Use the form below to submit your bikepacking rig. We’ll choose one per week to feature in a Reader’s Rig Dispatch and on Instagram. To enter, email us your best photo of the bike (preferably at a 90° angle), your Instagram username (optional), and a short description of you and your rig. If your bike is selected, we’ll need a total of five photos and a little bit more info.
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Further Reading
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