Colnago revives iconic Art Decor paintjob for Nathan Haas’s custom Unbound G3-X

This eye-popping Colnago gravel bike is one in a series of five unique G3-X models from the Italian brand that are being revealed throughout 2022 and are not for sale.

It will be raced by Australian former road pro - and 2012 Tour of Britain winner- Nathan Haas in the UCI Gravel World Series, which starts with Unbound Gravel (opens in new tab) in Kansas on June 4.

Haas’s G3-X, which features on the top tube the iconic Colnago cyclist pictured from above, is also a tribute to Kansas. Also on the top tube is the motto 'ad astra per aspera', meaning ‘through hardship to the stars, which embodies the spirit of the pioneers as well as neatly describing the 200-mile Unbound race itself.

The Art Decor paint scheme is most often associated with the steel Master, which had a chromed steel fork and chromed lugs: although the monocoque G3-X doesn’t have lugs, the carbon fork has a mirror finish intended to echo that of the steel Precisa straight blades.

The G3-X is Colnago’s specific gravel model, launched in 2019 and already a winner of Unbound: Lauren de Crescenzo (opens in new tab) won last year’s women’s race on one.

Colnago describes it as having “an optimized geometry to accommodate wider tires, with steering angle and overall length designed to offer greater stability and comfort at high speeds [compared to its Prestige cyclo-cross bike]."

Haas is running a Campagnolo Ekar groupset (opens in new tab) - which will please Italophiles - and Campagnolo’s new Levante wheels (opens in new tab) with Vittoria Terreno Dry tyres.

Haas will start the main races of the UCI Gravel World Series calendar, plus some of the main gravel races of the international calendar: Unbound Gravel (USA) 4 June, The BWR North Carolina (USA) 11 June, The Rift (Iceland) 23 July, SBT GRVL (USA) August 14, and some of the Nova Eroica events (Italy and other countries).

In May Haas finished second overall in the second round of the UCI Gravel World Series, the Seven in Nannup, Australia.