Greg has been working in and around the bike industry for over 12 years, with some notable accolades to his name. He has designed and collaborated with some of the biggest brands in the world, has created capsule collections for Rapha, innovative paintjobs and has worked in graphic design for Trek, Cyclingtip’s and many more. Not to mention him starting his own brand in Melbourne (Kern cycling) which pushed the boundaries of early kit design and fashion from 2014-2019.
Greg now works as a lead designer for one of the most prestigious design agencies in Europe, Kiska and has relocated to Munich where we got to catch up with him and check out his collection of incredible and unique custom bikes. The best part? Some of them are for sale!
Greg's Garage - for Sale
Ultra custom – Trek Emonda SLR9
This bike is probably one of the most unique bikes I put together in my time as a designer at Trek in the US. It is custom down to every detail. The paint scheme features two of my favourite colors that I developed for the company. They are based on and inspired by cars that inspire me. The green comes from Landrover and features heavily on their Defender line, while the champagne gold is from the retro Mercedes portfolio and is most notably featured on the SL300. Every detail was customised to match this scheme, the head badge is a custom champagne, the bottle cage bolts are champagne anodized, the ultra lightweight barstem combo were race team prototypes and like the bike itself, features a linework nod to Michelangelo’s masterpiece ‘Creation of Adam’. The seatpost is from Bontragers extra light archive and is stripped down to just the clearcoat. The wheels are the lightweight and super fast Bontrager XXX and the full groupset is Shimano Dura-ace. Total weight is sub 6.9kgs depending on your pedals. In sum the bike has been ridden about 500 kms and It would be a joy to see someone riding and enjoying this bike as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
Custom – Trek Crockett
This is one of the most fun bikes I’ve ever put together as it was intended to represent the joy that cyclocross racing brings. The bike is split completely from left to right in one side with a matte and one with a glossy finish by a squiggly line which even divides the bars, stem and seatpost. This might evoke the vision of a rut carved through a sandpit in a CX race. The base colors are both original developed colors. The dazzling blue is derived from Lexus’ Structural Blue paint which was a 15 year development by the car company to create a color that emulated the blue wings of butterflies. It is paired and contrasted with a soft gold which features in many custom typographic details all over the frame. This bike is built up with Shimano GRX and Bontrager’s top of the line RSL wheels. It will dazzle and spark joy wherever you take it.
Custom – Trek Checkpoint
Covered in bright and brilliant details this ultra impressive gravel machine is one of the most capable bikes I’ve ever owned. It features custom graphic and paint details all over the frame. The base colour comes from LFA and is paired with ultra vivid neon coral details like the 801 (Trek’s HQ street address) wrapping the fork and seatpost where the color splits to a liquid anthracite metallic. The frame has Trek’s innovative Iso-Speed, which helps to dampen and road/gravel impact making for a smooth and comfortable ride.
Greg's Garage - currently riding
Scott Foil Ultimate
When choosing a road/race bike I was in want of something that was undeniably fast, aggressive and sleek. The Scott Foil is by all report I’ve been able to gather, the race bike that most riders in the pro peloton wished they had. With a Sram Red etap build and Zipp404 firecrest wheelset, the foil feels otherworldly at high speeds and at 7.5kgs it holds its own when the road rises. Graphically I chose the blacked out raw carbon finish that comes on the Ultimate model to use as a canvas for some creative solutions on vinyl foil. I created a custom typeface and dedicated this bike to the companies that have supported me this season as an homage and a thank-you. The result is a typographic anti-camo that turns heads and sparks plenty of conversations.
Scott Addict Gravel Tuned
I’m lucky to have owned, tested and raced some pretty great bikes over the years.
However it’s near impossible to recall a bike that suited my idea of a
perfect machine more than my Addict gravel bike did. Impossibly light, comfortable, integrated in all the right places and of course, crazy fast to race. I set up the bike so that I could compete in a range of gravel races and events all over Europe without having to change out components constantly. Running a 1x system from Sram was a no brainer for me as I could pair the new Force etap with the Eagle xx1 rear mech to get a monster range that tackles any obstacle. The gearing is 48 10/44 which I’ve found can handle most sprints and even the punchiest of climbs while competing. The Zipp 303 Firecrest are light and perform brilliantly in the wind, whilst their hookless tubeless inner helps to avoid flats and run some seriously low pressures when it gets muddy. What a machine.
If you want to see more of Greg's amazing work, go ahead and check out @gregorythorne on instagram. And if you want to follow his journey, check out personal account by clicking the button below.