Repete G3: Verne gets UDH dropouts and room for 45mm tyres
Prague framebuilder Repete has rebuilt its steel gravel bike around integrated routing, a new UDH dropout and two carbon fork options. The first 10 frames come numbered, with free custom paint.
Prague framebuilder Repete has launched the third version of its gravel bike, the G3: Verne. The frame is still Columbus Spirit HSS steel and still built in the company's Prague workshop, but the details have changed: the brake hoses now run in through the headset, the dropouts take a UDH hanger and tyre clearance has grown to 45mm. The first 10 framesets go out as a numbered Launch Edition with free custom paint.
Repete has been building steel frames in Prague since 2012, when Robin Fišer and Mikoláš Voverka started the brand, and it picked up Best Road Bike at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in 2015. We last looked at the Verne in April 2020, in our Dream Bikes feature on the G2, which came with a Columbus Futura fork, room for 700 x 40c or 650b x 47c tyres and options from €2,600. The recipe hasn't changed since: a quick steel gravel bike that leans towards the road. The price has, and the G3 frameset is €4,600. What follows comes from Repete's launch material rather than a test ride.
The pitch, in Repete's words, is a question: "If you could only choose one bike?" The frame is designed around 35mm to 45mm tyres, which Repete says let it keep the fork and chainstays short and the geometry compact. The chainstays measure 425mm on all six sizes, only 15mm longer than on Repete's R3: Reason road bike, bottom bracket drop is 72mm and trail runs from 61mm to 77mm on a 40mm tyre, depending on size.
Repete's signature dropout, now 3D-printed in stainless and UDH-compatible. Photo: Repete
What's new on the G3
The biggest change is at the back. The cast stainless dropouts are the detail Repete calls its signature, and on the G3 they have been redrawn and 3D-printed in stainless steel with full UDH compatibility. UDH is SRAM's universal derailleur hanger. Repete's argument is that a replacement is easy to find wherever you happen to ride, and the dropout also takes SRAM's direct-mount Full Mount derailleurs. For a frame sold direct from Prague to riders around the world, that matters more than it would on a bike bought from the shop down the road.
At the front, the hoses and wires enter the frame through the upper headset cup, a stainless steel insert for the IS52 headset, the same arrangement Repete uses on the R3: Reason. It works with SRAM eTap, Shimano Di2 and Campagnolo EPS. You choose between two internally routed carbon forks: the Columbus Trefoil Allroad, which gives the full 45mm clearance, or the ENVE All-Road In-Route, which caps it at 40mm.
The tubeset is Columbus Spirit HSS, an Omnicrom chromoly that Repete quotes at 1,300MPa tensile strength, triple-butted and down to 0.4mm wall thickness in places. The seatstays are flattened for a bit more comfort at the back, and the bottom bracket is a threaded T47 shell, which Repete chose for easy servicing and a long life. Details such as the dropouts and the routing hardware are Repete's own designs, made with Czech CNC, 3D-printing and casting suppliers and finished in the Prague workshop. Paint is mixed in-house and applied by hand with stencils, which is how the custom colours stretch from pastels to pearlescents.
Hoses go in through the headset cup, so nothing dangles off the front. Photo: Repete
Pricing and UK availability
The frameset is €4,600 with your choice of fork, thru-axles and cable guides. Complete bikes start at €7,400 for SRAM Rival XPLR AXS on DT Swiss GR 1600 wheels, then €8,400 for the same groupset with Light Bicycle and DT Swiss 350 wheels, €10,300 for Force XPLR AXS on Polymer Beyond wheels and €13,600 for RED XPLR AXS on ENVE SES 4.5s. Six sizes run from 50 to 60, and the three standard colours are Digger (the yellow in the photos), Birch and Termix. Custom paint is normally €400 on top.
There's no UK price and no UK dealer. You order direct from Repete, pay a 50% deposit and wait a quoted 10 weeks for the frameset, which ships by courier from Prague, so budget for import charges on top. Framesets carry a five-year warranty and components two years.
The first 10 framesets ordered through Repete's website are individually numbered and come with the custom paint included, a saving of €400. And if you're anywhere near Prague next week, the studio at Moravská 1546/27 is open to visitors from Tuesday 20 to Thursday 22 October, 11am to 7pm, with the new bikes on display.
Full specifications and the geometry chart are on Repete's G3: Verne page, and the launch film is below.
