Pilot Celes review

The Pilot Celes is a titanium bicycle, with Pilot offering custom geometry and bespoke builds as well as off the shelf options

Cycling Weekly Verdict

If you’re after a titanium frameset, and particularly if you are looking for a bespoke geometry or features, the Pilot Celes has a lot to offer. It looks great and you can have a build which fits your body measurements and suits your riding style. So it’s a pity that it doesn’t have the compliance needed for a comfortable ride on UK road surfaces.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Quality titanium frameset

  • +

    Bespoke option at reasonable price

  • +

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Uncomfortable ride on UK roads

  • -

    Slightly flexy bottom bracket

  • -

    Expensive

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You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Pilot Cycles is a small Dutch cycle brand, Its unique proposition is its range of custom built titanium framesets, including the Pilot Celes, with the geometry chosen by the buyer. There’s still a mystique about titanium: you get lightweight, corrosion-resistant tubing and a distinctive ride quality from the metal tubing.

While a Pilot Celes frameset with standard dimensions costs 1999 Euros, a fully custom frameset will set you back a not-unreasonable 2499 Euros. You’ll need to budget 349 Euros for the carbon disc fork on top of that. Built up with the new spec Shimano Ultegra Disc groupset, the complete test bike is priced at 4916 Euros.

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