As a young lad Stefan Schmolke, together with his brother Matthias, started racing. His passion for the sport and his technical interest in lightweight bicycle parts inspired him to study mechanical engineering. His thesis was done under the supervision of Hans Christian Smolik, Germany’s godfather of ultralight bikes and parts. In 1989, around the time he was about to graduate from university, he, together with his brother, opened a bike store, concentrating on high-end bicycle parts. The title of his thesis was: “New Materials and the Theory of a Carbon Fibre Handlebar”. Only one year after that he had proceeded from theory to fact. Some 25 years ago, he was the first one ever to make a road bar from carbon fiber. In 1992 he then founded SCHMOLKE CARBON, the carbon fiber bike parts manufacturer.

Check out our the full Schmolke Carbon line

Schmolke’s gravel frame is comprised of more angular tubes with an interestingly molded seat tube junction than their road bike. The Infinity frame has room for up to 40mm tires, and the frame has seatstay mounts for either fenders or racks. The carbon seatposts come in a wide range of sizes that are handmade to accommodate specific rider sizes.

The tubeless ready 28 spoke TLO Gravel wheels use DT Swiss hubs and have a 25mm inner width and hit the scales at (a claimed) 1390 grams. Compatible with Shimano, Campagnolo and SRAM cassettes for just under $3000.

The Infinity frame and fork weighs (a claimed) 1560 grams and is available as a frameset ($2800) or built with a Campagnolo Ekar drivetrain starting at $9200 or a SRAM Force drivetrain at $8925.

Currently, while the frames come out of Asia, all of the TLO (The Lightest One) components (handlebars, seat posts, crank, and stem) are made in Germany, with the carbon saddles coming out of Portugal.

For more info, head to www.schmolke-carbon.com