When it comes to premium bikes, Festka is the perfect choice, assuming you can afford their frames. The Czech-based frame builder is now back with an even more exclusive offering.
Festka makes bike frames of carbon composite, which you can then pair with premium components to get the bike of your dreams. The only limitation on how said bike will perform is truly up to the future owner or, better said, to the depth of his or her pockets. Festka sells its frames mostly internationally, including to Hollywood A-listers like Orlando Bloom and some of the world’s richest businessmen.
Festka also does custom pieces, and a noteworthy example is the Porcelain Spectre we talked about in a previous coverstory. That one was done on commission, but the maker also offers other, slightly more affordable art bikes. This summer, Festka partnered with artists Ondrash & Kasparek, a duo formed by tattoo artist Ondrej Konupcík and Radim Kašpárek, to create a series of art bikes.
The first unit was based on the top-of-the-line Scalatore model. The second one, introduced this week, is based on the Scout, the latest gravel bike frame added to the Festka lineup, and wears a gorgeous, psychedelic-like matte coat.
The distinctive characteristic of Ondrash & Kasparek’s art is that they never paint directly onto the canvas, whether that’s an actual canvas or some other kind of surface like, say, a bicycle. Instead, they transfer color by painting on water, an original idea that translates into mesmerizing abstract art regardless of the surface it’s on. Festka compares it to beautiful “clouds of ink squirted by a psychedelic octopus.”
This Scout also proudly wears clouds of this type. To transfer the color onto the bike, the duo submerged it into water in a shallow tank and painted it onto the surface of the water using their handmade tools they call paddles. Once the colors were on the water and they had manipulated them into whatever shapes they wanted, the water was drained slowly, so that the color transferred on the frame and the saddle of the Scout.
Painting a bicycle posed a serious challenge to the artists but, they say, it was one they were willing to take. “We'd been attracted to product design for some time and when the guys from Festka asked us if we'd like to try something with their frames, we were both totally up for it,” they say in a statement.
Both the Festka Scout by Ondrash & Kasparek and the previously-introduced Scalatore are available for purchase. The artists can offer other designs for the Scout as well, and pricing for the item already completed is set at €25,990, which is approximately $30,000 at the current exchange rate.
Festka also does custom pieces, and a noteworthy example is the Porcelain Spectre we talked about in a previous coverstory. That one was done on commission, but the maker also offers other, slightly more affordable art bikes. This summer, Festka partnered with artists Ondrash & Kasparek, a duo formed by tattoo artist Ondrej Konupcík and Radim Kašpárek, to create a series of art bikes.
The first unit was based on the top-of-the-line Scalatore model. The second one, introduced this week, is based on the Scout, the latest gravel bike frame added to the Festka lineup, and wears a gorgeous, psychedelic-like matte coat.
The distinctive characteristic of Ondrash & Kasparek’s art is that they never paint directly onto the canvas, whether that’s an actual canvas or some other kind of surface like, say, a bicycle. Instead, they transfer color by painting on water, an original idea that translates into mesmerizing abstract art regardless of the surface it’s on. Festka compares it to beautiful “clouds of ink squirted by a psychedelic octopus.”
This Scout also proudly wears clouds of this type. To transfer the color onto the bike, the duo submerged it into water in a shallow tank and painted it onto the surface of the water using their handmade tools they call paddles. Once the colors were on the water and they had manipulated them into whatever shapes they wanted, the water was drained slowly, so that the color transferred on the frame and the saddle of the Scout.
Painting a bicycle posed a serious challenge to the artists but, they say, it was one they were willing to take. “We'd been attracted to product design for some time and when the guys from Festka asked us if we'd like to try something with their frames, we were both totally up for it,” they say in a statement.
Both the Festka Scout by Ondrash & Kasparek and the previously-introduced Scalatore are available for purchase. The artists can offer other designs for the Scout as well, and pricing for the item already completed is set at €25,990, which is approximately $30,000 at the current exchange rate.