Old meets new as Officina Battaglin launches stunning steel gravel racer
(Image credit: Battaglin)
Officina Battaglin has today announced its first foray into the gravel market in the form of the Portofino G, a custom steel bike with oversized lugs and a special-looking 'cromovelato' paint finish.
The Italian brand was founded by former Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España winner Giovanni Battaglin and his son Alex. It specialises in high-end custom steel bikes and has redesigned its road-going Portofino R road model to create the gravel-going Portofino G.
According to the brand's CEO, Alex Battaglin, the brand wanted to take the comfort of the roadgoing Portofino and transfer it to a gravel platform.
“If there’s one thing the Portofino is renowned for, it’s the supreme riding comfort," Battaglin claimed. "Reimagining it as a gravel machine that would bring this smooth ride on unforgiving roads had always seemed like the natural evolution.”
Custom cromovelato finishing is available with each build (Image credit: Battaglin)
The Portofino G might use the roadgoing Portofino R as a starting point design-wise, but it will feature a custom steel frame featuring a newly-designed Columbus steel down tube and completely redesigned head tube lugs. The lugs are finished in polished steel, of course, and the frame is topped off with a carbon fibre fork, a 68mm T47 bottom bracket and completely integrated internal cabling.
The bike may be new, but Battaglin looked back to the custom geometries it created for professional riders tackling Paris-Roubaix in the '80s and '90s to inform the Portofino G's geometry.
"We felt like a proper gravel version of the Portofino had to maintain the company’s distinct road racing DNA," Battaglin continued. "We went back to the closest thing to gravel racing our company had done: the custom bikes we developed for pro riders in the late '80s and early '90s for the Paris-Roubaix. At the time, the Paris-Roubaix was the professional competition that brought lugged steel bikes to be raced on unpaved roads. Those geometries were the starting point for developing a gravel-specific frame geometry."
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Seamless cable integration comes courtesy of the custom stem and handlebar (Image credit: Battaglin)
Naturally, then, the Portofino G will be a more road-focused gravel bike, with sharper handling characteristics, as well as 40mm tyre clearance; more commonly found on 'all road' bikes such as the Ridley Grifn.
"We didn’t want a bike that resembled a drop-bar mountain bike, or a relaxed geometry for bikepacking. We wanted a gravel bike with the reactive handling of a road bike."
The frame has clearance for up to 40mm tyres (Image credit: Battaglin)
The Portofino G is a high-end exclusive gravel bike with 70 build slots allocated for 2023. Battaglin provides a wide range of custom options for customers and each build will begin with a consultation with both Giovanni and Alex.
Completely custom steel geometry is part of every build, and a new custom paint scheme using polished chrome which then fades to a Cromovelato colour is used. Cromovelato is a special coloured chrome effect, and customers will be able to select custom Cromovelato paint for the frame upper section and certain parts. Each frame also comes with an individually numbered plate and certificate of authenticity.
Naturally, such an exclusive level of custom manufacture doesn't come cheap, and Portofino G framesets will start at €5,000.
Tom joined the Cyclingnews team in late 2022 as a tech writer. Despite having a degree in English Literature he has spent his entire working life in the cycling industry in one form or another. He has over 10 years of experience as a qualified mechanic, with the last five years before joining Cyclingnews being spent running an independent workshop. This means he is just as happy tinkering away in the garage as he is out on the road bike, and he isn’t afraid to pull a bike apart or get hands-on with it when testing to really see what it’s made of.
He has ridden and raced bikes from an early age up to a national level on the road and track, and has ridden and competed in most disciplines. He has a keen eye for pro-team tech and enjoys spotting new or interesting components in the wild. During his time at Cyclingnews, Tom has already interviewed some of the sport's biggest names including Mathieu van der Poel, Tadej Pogačar and Alberto Contador. He's also covered various launches from brands such as Pinarello, Ridley, Specialized and more, tackled the Roubaix Challenge sportive aboard his own rim-brake Cannondale SuperSix Evo, tested over 20 aero helmets in the wind tunnel, and has created helpful in-depth buying advice relating to countless categories from torque wrenches to winter clothing.
