Check out the Project D, the coolest bike you’ll see this week

We bring you some stunning bikes in the road.cc Bike at Bedtime slot and this Project D – which doesn’t really have a model name – is an absolute beauty, coming with twin top tubes and seat tubes, flattened chainstays and… well, just look at it. Made from carbon fibre and steel, this is one gorgeous machine.

Project D is the work of Dominik Dominiak – cool name! – based in Lodz, Poland. He was exhibiting at the Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show in Dresden, Germany, over the weekend, where he wrapped up the award for Best New Builder and the Mike Burrows Award for Innovation. Project D was the only builder to win two awards.

> Check out 10 stunning bikes from Bespoked Handmade Bicycle Show 

“Overall, I wanted to create a comfortable riding experience – a modern steel bike with all the latest interfaces and capabilities,” says Dominik. “I have tried a couple of new high-end carbon bikes and disliked them – too rigid and I felt sore after one hour of riding – so I kept coming back to my old steel road bikes. This bike was born out of a desire to ride comfortably for longer.”

The frameset doesn’t have a name, as such. Dominik simply refers to it as ‘Dropbar’ because it can be tuned to both road bike and gravel riding – so that’s kind of the name, by default.

(Rory Hitchens/Greenleaves Cycling)

It is made from several different materials. The bottom of the frame is silver-brazed stainless steel. The down tube is Columbus XCr [stainless seamless steel], and the head tube, chainstays and dropouts are 3D-printed 17-4 stainless steel. The top of the frame – the seatstays, top tubes and seat tubes – are carbon fibre tubes.

The fork is 3D-printed from stainless steel in three parts: the crown and steerer are one part, and the two legs are produced separately.

Dominik says, “The idea behind using different materials is this: the bottom steel ‘backbone’ is great at [dealing with] high-frequency, jarring vibrations, and the top skeleton where the rider sits is responsible for taking on low-frequency vibrations.

“The ‘lightbulb’ idea behind tube splitting was that a single tube bends the same way in each direction, but take the same amount of material and split it into two tubes, and you introduce new degrees of design freedom.”

“Twin tubes add compliance in specific areas and directions. Twin top tubes help up and down head tube movement but the slight angle between them helps prevent head tube twisting and the noodly feel when cornering.

(Rory Hitchens/Greenleaves Cycling)

“Twin seat tubes help the seat swing back and forth a little but also enable a bit of sideways twist, which helps comfort.”

The 3D-printed chainstays are variable in both profile and wall thickness; take a look at how flat they are in the middle. The idea is to encourage a little up/down flex.

The head tube is 1.5in top and bottom (the external diameter is around 58mm) to enable internal cable routing, while the bottom bracket is threaded BSA. It has a bulge that enables the chainstays and down tube to be attached a little lower than would otherwise be possible, and still get in three cables without going to a T47 BB standard.

The wheels use 12 mm thru axles (12x100mm front and 12x142mm rear).

Dominik’s background is in biotechnology and environmental engineering, and the mechanical engineering is entirely self-taught. He still has a day job. The design process for the bike you see here started in January and he began building around May/June.

“I have been designing bikes for over 15 years but I actively took on building around five years ago,” says Dominik. “So far, everything I’ve built has been a one-off, but I plan to make more of the bikes I presented at Bespoked. Now that I have most things figured out, I would need around three months to make another one, fitting around my job and family.”

(Rory Hitchens/Greenleaves Cycling)

A Project D Dropbar (frame, fork, headset, seat hardware, axles and paint) would cost you about €5,000–€5,500 (£4,350–£4775), depending on the paint job.

If you’re wondering about the Star Wars figures sitting in front of the bike in the main picture, by the way, they’re there because, as mentioned above, Project D won two awards at Bespoked. The winner of each category received a one-of-a-kind handmade Star Wars-themed sculpture as part of their prize. Why Star Wars? Why not?

Project D is contactable via Instagram under project_d_bicycles.