State Titanium All-Road Build & First Impressions

My love affair with State Bicycle’s “All-Road” series of gravel bikes was sparked by their 4130 model, which I reviewed in this post.  After riding that bike for two years, I only had one complaint: the weight.  Twenty-seven pounds in its stock configuration (spec sheet here), and closer to forty when outfitted with racks and bags.  The chromoly steel tubing yields a smooth ride over rough terrain, but that’s a lot of bike to get moving!  As I huffed & puffed my way up yet another bridge, I considered the eternal question of cycling.  An age-old conundrum that every cyclist eventually finds themselves pondering: what if I could have the same bike, but lighter and better?  Enter State’s Titanium All-Road gravel frame.  After saving up and waiting a year for State to build a new run of these frames, I finally got my hands on one.  Read on for the build, first riding impressions, and a little titanium bike history.

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State 4130 All-Road Gravel Bike – Custom Build

Last year, I decided that I wanted to buy a modern gravel bike to see what all the hype was about: one-by drivetrains, tubeless tires, carbon wheels, disc brakes.   After extensive research, the State Bicycle Co.’s 4130 All-Road caught my eye.  I was attracted to the cool semi-raw phosphate finish, having experimented with different unpainted metal finishes in the past.  I was also impressed with the clearance it has for super-wide tires, bigger than any other stock gravel bike at the time.  That’s a feature that’s increasingly come into style over the past twelve months, and which proves that the folks at State know what they’re doing.  Originally, my plan was to buy just a frameset and build it entirely custom.  The price for a complete 4130 All-Road was so low, I decided to get one stock and customize it by replacing parts over time.  Read on for details on my custom build and more photos!

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Maruishi Emperor RE-C-A Touring Bike

The Maruishi Emperor has been a popular line of touring bicycles in Japan since at least the 1970s. The Emperor line covers a number of different models, but like the Maruishi brand itself, there is little information on them available in English. After much research, I have identified it as an RE-C-A “Camper” model, released in 1976. It caught my eye as a frame set on Yahoo Japan auctions, as the triple-triangle style of frame design is uncommon, even in Japan. After it arrived in my shop and sat for a few months, I built it up using period-correct parts that came from a Zunow KYGM I am restoring. Read on to learn more about this bike, along with some history of Maruishi.

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