Bike Check: Gus's Prototype Ultra+, Fresh Off the Pan Celtic Ultra

Rides — Watch the full bike check on YouTube

"The Pan Celtics finished, all run and done. We're back in Malaga. Time to go through the Ultra+..."

That's how Curve Cycling's Expedition Guru, Gus opens his latest bike check. Straight off the back of the Pan Celtic Ultra, bike still dusty, bags still packed. It's a fitting way to introduce Curve Cycling's next endurance road build, since our titanium and steel gravel bikes and bikepacking bikes are designed out of our Melbourne workshop for exactly this kind of self-supported adventure cycling. In the video, Gus walks through the prototype Ultra+, the endurance road bike he rode across Ireland on the Pan Celtic Ultra: what it is, what he loaded it with, and how it held up over multiple 8-10 hour days in the saddle.

What Is the Ultra+?

As Gus puts it, the Ultra+ is "a model we're working on at the moment... due to be released very soon." It's an endurance road bike at heart, and the "+" is exactly what it sounds like, extra capability in tire width and tire volume. On this build, Gus ran a 40mm road slick with fenders fitted, a setup that would feel unusual on a typical road bike but makes complete sense once you see the geometry: a taller head tube than most road frames, and a saddle-to-bar drop that isn't extreme, aimed at riders who want a relaxed-but-fast position without giving up a slammed-looking stem.

A few standout features Gus calls out on the bike itself:

• UDH dropouts with a semi-hooded design
• A fully integrated internal fork — built using a neoplug system, bonded in-house at Curve's Melbourne workshop
• Fully internally routed Dynamo

On the tire performance specifically, Gus was blunt about it: "the whole way through the Pan Celtic, we had no discomfort issues of any kind... from your back, your lower back, to your hands, your shoulders, your neck, zero discomfort to speak of." He puts that down to the titanium frame, the geometry, and that 40mm tire volume combined with running the right pressure.

The Cockpit

Up front, Gus is running Redshift quick-release aero bar extensions, paired with a homemade phone bridge — zip ties and an offcut mounting a Quad Lock — so he can check the tracker and see where the rest of the group is at a glance. Two Blip shifters are mounted in the extensions so he can shift the rear derailleur without coming out of the aero position, saving his hands over a long day.

Also new on this build: Curve's carbon Warmer Race handlebar — 220 grams, rated to mountain bike standards and independently tested at EFB. It runs half the flare of the standard Walmer bar with a wider, flatter top. Gus's take: "very comfortable but also very stiff... quite the performance upgrade." The Carbon Walmer Race will only be available in 40cm.

Wheels are Curve's G4T, wrapped in 40mm Pirelli P Zero tires.

Navigation and Power on the Road

For places with patchy signal, Gus runs a Garmin satellite communicator up front — the device he uses on Curve's other expeditions in places like Mongolia and Argentina, with SOS calling and satellite tracking/ping built in.

Power comes from an Exposure Revo 5 dynamo system, which Gus flags as one of the coolest parts of the whole setup: high, low and flashing modes, wired through to a rear Exposure light, with no separate control box or computer needed — it's all housed in the one small, light unit. It plugs straight into the dynamo harness routed through the fork and steerer described above, so riders can charge a phone or power bank straight off the front hub.

What's Actually in the Bags

This is where the video earns its "bike check" title — Gus empties every bag on the bike.

Front bag, side one: Yorkshire Tea (and later, more tea — several times), sunscreen ("the land of milk and honey and whiskey and sun"), a hair tie, a lens cleaning cloth ("probably one of the most-used items of anything we carry"), electrical tape, an Opinel-style French farmer's knife with an integrated Allen key holder, Panadol and a few other essentials, and a valve core tool.

Tailfin frame bag (4.5L): a rain poncho sized for the phone rather than the rider, a backup Exposure Diablo front light that clips to the helmet — a 13-year-old light Gus only recently had serviced and re-batteried — chamois cream, more tea, a spare UDH hanger, chain lube and a chain rag.

Front bag, side two: the Pan Celtic brevet card and finisher's proficiency award, spare brake pads, spare Dynaplug bullets, spare batteries for the power meter, shifters and heart rate strap, a wheel bag for packing the bike into a box at trip's end, a bag of spare bolts and washers for bottle cages and racks, and spare AXS batteries.

Tool canister: 2 litres of water, a mini electric pump plus backup, a mini spare tube, a Wolf Tooth multi-tool, a tire lever, a spare tube, sealant, and a Dynaplug tool — double-ended, so four plugs are ready to go at a moment's notice.

Tailfin Speed Rack (10L, waterproof): Skratch hydration electrolyte powder, sandals for the pub ("it's actually quite dangerous to drink Guinness without something on your feet"), a bag of charging cables and an AXS battery charger, a toiletries bag, a spare t-shirt, shorts and underwear, a Primaloft vest for cold mornings, a rain cape and rain pants that never got used, and a Pertex down jacket for early ferry crossings.

Gearing on this Ultra+ is a 46/33 up front with a 10-36 cassette out back — a wide enough range, in Gus's words, to be "very, very capable" for whatever terrain shows up.

The Verdict

Gus sums the bike up simply: "very interesting bike... I think the perfect bike for a ride like this when it comes to comfort, but that mix of comfort and speed and efficiency." High praise from someone who just spent multiple days a day on it, unsupported, across Ireland.

The Ultra+ isn't available yet — Gus confirms it's "due to be released very soon" — but this is exactly the kind of real-world, self-supported testing we want a bike to go through before it reaches production.

Watch the full bike check on YouTube for the whole walkthrough, bag by bag.

More on the Story Behind This Ride

Curve has partnered with Pan Celtic from 2026 onwards — read more about the Curve x Pan Celtic partnership here. Want to see the current range while the Ultra+ finishes development? Browse Curve bikes here. And for details on the race itself, head to pancelticrace.com.