TORESVELO is the workshop of Anton Gorbunov, located in the exotically-named southern Russian city of Astrakhan. The last we saw from him was a zebra-themed MTB, and his latest is this slender S&S Coupled trail rider.
For those disillusioned with the current swathe of overbuilt mountain bikes, this new offering from Russia will provide inspiration. Anton’s customer wanted a bike that could travel abroad with him, so those S&S Couplers will enable that wanderlust.
Anton built the frame with Zona tubing from Columbus Bicycle Technology — a simple fillet brazed construction, reinforced at the head tube with gussets on the top and bottom of the front triangle.
There’s no derailleurs or gears to complicate matters. It’s just a simple bike built for off-road fun. Even the drivetrain consists of a no-fuss belt drive, which makes for no more greasy hands when assembling the bike at the airport or in the hotel room.
Despite it’s old school silhouette, Anton’s hucker has all the mod cons, like an XTR crankset, Paragon Slider dropouts for belt adjustability, Formula R1 disc brakes, and the indomitable Chris King hubs.
Anton crafts his head badges by hand and there are, in fact, two versions: a large one for 46mm and tapered head tubes and this smaller one for 36mm tubes. He’s been building for five years now, and this hucker sure puts Astrakhan on the frame building map.