Titici Flexy Gravel bike
Price £3,390 frameset, fully customisable, cyclefit.co.uk

In both this year’s Giro d’Italia and Tour de France there have been demanding sections on unmade dirt roads. For anyone who handles their precious racing bike with kid gloves this will have made for horrifying viewing. But you’d have watched with relish if you are one of the lucky few who own a Titici Gravel bike.

The handmade Italian bikes have just launched in the UK, with a five-strong range which includes both a road disc frame and a gravel bike. It’s been a long wait as the firm has been around since 1961.

The frames are all made from carbon fibre in the company’s factory in northern Italy. Each is offered in stock sizes or fully customised. You can select specific geometry, paint and components. Whichever frame you choose, the strikingly eye-catching feature that is common to all of them is the extraordinarily slim and flattened top tube. From the side it really is wafer thin. This is Titici’s Plate Absorber Technology – the tapered tube has a leaf-spring function which the company claims makes the bike 18% smoother over the roughest roads and rutted tracks. Disc brakes and wider tyres make this a bike to treat mean…

Cool kit

Tired legs after a long ride? Loosen them up with this rechargeable vibbbbrrrraatting massage ball. £89.99, pulseroll.com

Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @MartinLove166