The coastal route from Sydney to Melbourne isn’t called the Princes Highway for anything. It’s the Australian classic ‘surfari’, taking in some of the most iconic beachside landscapes Australia has to offer. The region is a rider’s paradise as well, and this Prova Molti was created specifically for exploring it.
While the highway is a well-trodden path, there is a myriad of smaller roads and paths connecting near-forgotten villages and farms that course over a rollercoaster topography. Dominique and his mates have a favorite loop that starts out on asphalt but continues into gravel, where they previously had to turn around.
That was the case until Dominique picked up his fresh fillet brazed Molti from Melbourne’s Prova Cycles. Mark Hester, the builder at Prova, already has a strong reputation in Australia for his engineer’s experience and attention to detail, and the latest result will enable Dom to keep riding beyond the bitumen.
Mark intentionally mixes up the tubing selection for his Molti frames to achieve the optimum combination of flex and rigidity. The ovalised Reynolds 853 top tube works with the larger diameter Columbus tubes to improve acceleration and cornering. This is more of a racing chassis than a road bike.
Given Mark’s previous engineering career in motorsports, you can be assured that this mix of tubing isn’t based on a whim. His final year thesis project was the design and manufacture of a carbon fiber monocoque chassis that placed second in its Australian class in 2004 and fourth in the US in 2005.
The Molti also utilises Mark’s proprietary 3D-printed stainless seat binder and in-house machined flat mount disc brake bosses, which provide a valuable 3mm more rotor clearance when removing the wheels. Little details like this reveal how closely Mark examines a frame’s performance.
Mark is quick to extoll the virtues of the 34-44mm head tube with the 1-1/8 1-1/4 ENVE GRD fork, compared to 1-1/2 tapered forks, and references the history of MotoGP bikes after they converted to carbon frames. Stiffer is not always better.
On to the rest of the build: the wheels are a pair of ENVE tubeless disc rims with Chris King R45 hubs wrapped in 35mm Panaracer Gravel Kings. The ENVE GRD forks’ integrated fender is matched in the rear by a carbon number by the UK’s Swarf Cycles.
They’ll be coming off so Dom can enjoy the rest of Australia’s drier weather but will be replaced in Winter when the tires will be thinner too. A pair of Cerakoted King Cages from Kumo Cycles accentuate the metallic brown 70s German autohaus paint with orange panels, applied by Melbourne’s Steve Gardner.
A custom Busyman Bicycles saddle has been designed to represent tarmac breaking up into gravel. A SRAM Force 1x drivetrain was paired with Easton’s EC90 carbon crank arms and a Cinch power meter. It might only be a steel bike, but the Molti is as close to a full-tech custom supercar as you can get.
Mark Hester and Prova Cycles will be exhibiting at the Australian Handmade Bicycle Show in Melbourne, over the weekend of the 27th-29th April. Get your tickets here.
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Massive thanks to Andy ‘FYXO’ White for the great photography — head to his site for more.
