Last year’s bike show season was our most successful yet. We even won Best Gravel Bike at the 2025 BESPOKED bike show in Dresden, but we didn't stop. The New Product Development (NPD) team headed back into the Curve Cycling Dream Factory, reimagined, put our newfound knowledge and techniques to use and forged ahead.
The team has been hard at work cooking up some brilliant new concept bikes for 2026. It’s time to showcase what we can do, across steel, titanium and carbon fibre, with some concept bikes forged from partnerships with our skilled craftspeople across the globe and others built in our new NPD lab in Melbourne. This year, we’ve refreshed old ideas and further developed new prototypes. From gravel race machines to big-wheel country-crossing cruisers were looking forward to showcasing a new round of impressive prototypes. As always, the custom paint concepts have been brought to life by our partner brand, Candy Factory Paintworks, run by Curve co-founder, Steve Varga.
With our new NPD lab and upgraded Adventure Dojo in Melbourne, as well as a brand new home in Malaga, Spain, our small brand has made some bold moves in the last 12 months. But we still have the same goal of building the products that we’re genuinely excited by and want to ride ourselves.
This is what we’ve been up to. These are the 2026 show bikes.
Meet 00Kev: Curve's Next Iteration of Hybrid Frame Tech
NEWLY CROWNED 'BEST GRAVEL BIKE' AT BESPOKED DRESDEN 2025!
Meet 00Kev. Award-winning prototype (not for much longer) gravel race weapon. Rolling science project. Introduced as a 90s sneaker hallucination. Built in Melbourne, painted on a farm, faster than a British spy in an Aston Martin. Our 2026 00Kev is presented in a more classically refined form. This bike won Best Gravel Bike at the 2025 BESPOKED bikeshow in Dresden.
Two years ago, we turned heads with our CarboKev concept bike, a striking blend of carbon and titanium that redefined what a performance gravel bike could be. CarboKev is now out in the wild, with the first customer orders being delivered later this year.
The carbon has spread like a virus through Kev’s limbs. Still in the late prototype stage, 00Kev is the most advanced race-ready Kev we’ve ever built. It’s lighter, stiffer, and stronger; the ultimate evolution of our hybrid carbon-titanium gravel platform.
Wrapped in artwork straight out of '90s sneaker culture, last year’s toxic green splatter artwork was a true punch in the face. This year’s execution is more refined, 00Kev is a true piece of functional art. It features transparent tints, rather than an opaque paint which accentuates the carbon weave, bringing additional depth and refinement to the overall finish. At first glance it appears to be simple and minimal, but as you look closer you notice the complexity of the materials on their own as well as combined. The depth of the clear coat acts as a magnifying glass, and as the tints are encased at different layers, the colours seem to shift as the light and viewing angle changes.
The Science Behind the Frame
Building trustworthy manufacturing capabilities takes time. We have spent years refining our understanding of bonding, adhesives, carbon behaviour, titanium 3D printing, and developing our repair capability. Our team has built confidence over time - five years ago, installing a carbon seatpost in a titanium frame was a nerve-wracking process. Now our squad can replace a carbon downtube on a prototype 00Kev frame and get back to testing without too much hassle. That work is paying off and our confidence is building.
Confidence, however, is empty and dangerous without robust testing. Every Curve concept bike is treated as a scientific experiment, validated not just on the trails, but In the lab. We’re committed to reliability, the kind that’s trusted in the world’s toughest races. We are expecting 00Kev to go live later this year, but we will not hit go until our testing hurdles have been passed.
While 00Kev looks incredible, that’s not enough. Like all Curve products it needs to be trusted for tough real-world riding. We don’t design our bikes to simply hang in galleries - they are meant to be ridden. We expect 00Kev will be used in top tier gravel races, and our testing standards reflect that.
What Makes 00Kev Different?
00Kev takes the CarboKev concept and extends it to a full carbon tube - titanium lug hybrid construction. It’s tougher, faster, stiffer and ready to haunt every gram of excess weight and flex from your ride.
With geometry inspired by our flagship GXR4 but tuned for more aggressive racing, 00Kev clears up to 29 x 2.1” tyres in the rear (but we expect at least 2.25” for the production model) and up to 29 x 2.4” up front.
- Stiff lower frame section: The carbon tubes used for the down tube and chainstays were selected for stiffness and efficient power transfer
- Comfort-focused upper frame section: The heavily ovalised top tube and minimal seatstays were selected for comfort and to offer some weight savings.
- 3D printed titanium lugs in high-complexity areas for strength, precision and freedom of form
This approach gives us a lighter, more responsive frame than full titanium, without compromising the comfort Curve riders expect for long rides.
Made in Melbourne, With the Best from Around the World
00Kev represents a hands-on collaboration across continents, and it all comes together here in Melbourne.
- 3D printed titanium lugs: Produced by our partners in China & partially post-processed in-house at former Curve HQ on (James) Bond Street with some help from our friends at Prova Cycles.
- Carbon tubing: Sourced from an expert marine industry supplier in New Zealand
- Assembly, bonding, finishing: Completed at Curve HQ in Australia by Jimmy Rostlund and Taylor Patrick.
- Paintwork: Created and executed by Curve co-founder Steve Varga at Candy Factory Paintworks.
Every custom-painted Curve bike, including this one, is now fully finished at Candy Factory Paintworks by Steve Varga himself, helping our riders bring their personalised dream builds to life.
Technical Highlights
- 00Kev features 3D-printed titanium lug with carbon tube construction. This combo lets us carefully tune stiffness, ride feel, and weight. The carbon tubes are bonded to the titanium using a high-performance aerospace adhesive, chosen for its strength, chemical resistance, and ability to operate across a wide range of temperatures without affecting the bond strength - which is important in the Australian climate. You don’t want your bike to blow apart in the back of a car on a hot Aussie summer day!
- The production version will use ultra-strong double-lap joins throughout the frame to maximise surface contact and bond strength. This prototype uses a mix of single and double-lap joints as part of our ongoing testing program.
- Look closely at the head tube. It looks tapered, but it’s not. That’s a trick of the eye, thanks to the clever shaping of the 3D-printed lower lug and off-axis placement of the carbon headtube segment. All printed titanium parts have been tuned for wall thickness and internal geometry to hit the sweet spot between strength and weight.
- Brake lines are fully internal thanks to a Race 415 carbon fork and a modified fork steerer. We’ve added a 3D printed titanium sleeve inside the steerer, called the Neo Plug, allowing internal routing without upsizing the upper bearing. And yes, this modified fork concept with bonded Neo Plug has been thoroughly tested at EFBE’s lab in Taiwan.
- The tubes themselves are premium standard-gauge carbon from NZ. The oversized downtube and chainstays deliver stiffness where it counts. The heavily ovalised top tube and minimal seatstays focus on compliance and weight savings. We expect that future generations of this concept will see more tuning of the carbon fibre elements.
- For crank clearance, we’ve used 3D printed titanium "Bend-Aids" in the chainstays. At the rear, the carbon seatstays are bonded into SRAM UDH and Transmission-compatible dropouts, which have been hollowed and lightened thanks to the freedom of 3D printing. The non-driveside dropout is shaped to take a 160mm rotor with the caliper mounted directly to the frame — no adapter needed.
- The bar is Curve’s brand new Carbon Race Walmer Bar. It’s narrower (40cm) than, and has half the flare of, the existing Carbon Walmer bars. Code named the Coolabah or the Sports Bar, this bar is seriously light (225g), has clever hose routing, ergonomic aero tops, blip-ready drops, and can handle internal routing. It has been rigorously tested to gravel riding standards.
Grade 5 3D printed titanium parts
- Head tube / down tube and headtube / top tube lugs for IS42/IS52 headsets
- Head tube top cap with steering limiter to prevent damage to the internally routed brake hose
- Bottom bracket cluster - T47 with integrated yoke
- Top tube / seat stay / seat tube cluster with top tube double lap socket shaped to match variable wall thickness top tube (thinner on major axis)
- Dropouts - SRAM UDH and Transmission compliant
- Cable ports (on frame and fork)
- Chainstay Bend-Aids - while we were expecting these to be for prototype use only, our first CarboKev frames will use this concept. The Bend-Aid concept has passed our testing standards.
- Neo Plug fork steerer sleeve / reinforcement for internal routing
- Internal bottom bracket cable guide
- Bidon brackets and seat stay abrasion guards
- Seat post sleeve and topper using Enve’s 2-bolt internals
Build Specs
- Tyres: Vittoria Terreno Race 29 x 2.25” / Vittoria Terreno Trail 2.1"
- Frame: Curve 00Kev 3D Printed Ti Lugs & Carbon Tubes
- Fork: Curve Race 415 (fits up to 29 x 2.4")
- Drivetrain: SRAM RED XPLR AXS 1x13
- Wheelset: Curve G5T[G] prototype gravel wheelset
- Stem: Darimo IX4AL - 90 x 12˚
- Handlebar: Curve Race Walmer 40cm
A Glimpse of What's Coming
00Kev is now a late-stage prototype, and it marks a major leap forward in our in-house manufacturing capability. The future of Curve’s hybrid platform is close and it is being built with the same obsessive care and science-backed discipline we bring to every product release.
Meet the UpRock32: A Modern Day Titanium XC Machine
Technical Highlights
The UpRock 32 is a fully featured UpRock but adapted to the 32” format. It still has all the much-loved features from the UpRock v2 making it a highly capable bike. It can be a flat-bar bikepacking machine for rough terrain adventures where suspension is a must. Or, take the bags off and rip around the local trails. Rohloff belt drive? No problems! Hangerless singlespeed? That’s possible as well!
The clever sliding-dropout system allows a multitude of drivetrain options, and the barely visible break in the driveside chainstay extends that to belt-drive too.
To complete the build, we’ve gone all out and included some exotic parts mixed with prototype elements. The Intend Samurai fork is a sight to behold with stunning CNC work and surface treatments throughout. The wheels are a smaller incarnation of our earlier 36” Coop Hoops (The Australotitan cooperensis is the largest dinosaur ever discovered in Australia - we like to call it Coop) - now in 32” form, the Coop Hoops can accommodate lightweight bladed spokes.
The artwork and paint detail has been executed, as always, by Candy Factory Paintworks. Taking a combination of the splatter style launched with the CarboKev and 00Kev, and the organic approach of some recent night-sky/galaxy experiments, this project dialled it up to see how a full frame could look. Built up over several layers, the paints are rubbed back, reapplied and repeated until an overall balance of colour and texture is achieved. It's then locked down with logos and clear coats until a nice flat final finish is reached. Some space-dust leaf flecks have been crumpled and blown into the clear coats for additional sparkle.
Build Specs
- Tyres: Vittoria Peyote 32 x 2.4”
- Frame: Curve UpRock 32” Prototype
- Fork: Intend Samurai XC 32″
- Drivetrain: SRAM XX
- Wheelset: Curve 32” Coop Hoops Prototype
- Stem: FSA KFX Drop Stem 60mm -20
- Seatpost: AXS 200mm Dropper
- Handlebar: FSA KFX Flat 760mm
Meet the Karoo: A reimagining of our original GMX designed for the rugged terrain of the Karoo
Ten years after the original GMX was launched, its latest iteration is alive. The first GMX was built for Race to the Rock, and Curve co-founder, Jesse Carlsson, raced the first edition on it in 2016. Now called the Karoo, this new model modernises our original GMX idea. It’s still a drop-bar, fat-tyre bike designed for an MTB XC suspension fork (or suspension corrected rigid fork) but the Karoo brings the concept right into 2026.
The Karoo continues Curve’s long-running campaign, spreading the word that drop bars, big tyres and rough multi-day bikepacking missions across countries belong together. Long before drop-bar MTBs came back into fashion, Curve was building bikes around the comfort, control and hand-position benefits of a drop bar, with the tyre clearance and carrying capacity needed for proper off-road travel.
The Karoo takes that idea further, with a ridiculous number of bottle cage mounts, including the offset downtube cage mounts that allow the use of a full-sized frame bag while still carrying three one-litre bottles on the down tube. The clever sliding dropout system, used on the Uprock v2, allows a multitude of drivetrain, axle and brake format options. While the barely visible split on the driveside chain-stay means the Karoo can handle belt drive as well.
Technical Highlights:
- New titanium fat-tyre drop-bar bikepacking platform ready for suspension
- Designed around a 120 mm suspension fork or 500 mm axle-to-crown rigid fork
- Compatible with Curve’s Seek 500 rigid carbon fork - huge load-carrying capacity of 8 kg per fork leg
- Clearance for up to 29 x 2.6” tyres
- Offset downtube (and under down tube) bottle mounts allowing frame bag use with three large bottles
- Seat stay bottle mounts for extra storage
- Sliding dropout system shared with UpRock v2 and GMX+ v2
- broad drivetrain, axle and brake compatibility
- supports Rohloff, SRAM T-Type, UDH and hangerless single speed setups
- different dropout inserts available depending on build
- Barely visible chainstay split for belt-drive compatibility
Build Specs:
- Tyres: Vittoria XC Mezcal Race 29 x 2.4”
- Frame: Curve Karoo Prototype
- Fork: Rockshox SID 120mm
- Drivetrain: SRAM Force / XO
- Wheelset: Curve Carbon Dirt Hoops
- Stem: Zipp SC
- Seatpost: AXS 175mm Dropper
- Handlebar: Curve Carbon Walmer 46cm
10 Years ahead of the Curve
The Karoo is the reimagination of the original GMX, released over a decade ago. This is not a gravel bike with bigger tyres. It is not a mountain bike with drop bars thrown on as an after-thought. It is a purpose-built titanium drop-bar bikepacking bike for rugged places, bigger loads and long days where suspension makes sense.