Treasure Island began with a map.
Before Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novel, he and his young stepson drew an imaginary island. Its coastlines and place names began to suggest a story. In the book, the map carries three red crosses, one beside the place where Captain Flint’s treasure lies.
That image helped shape the treasure map as we still imagine it today: an island, a route, and a mark indicating where the search leads.
It also felt like the right way to describe the point 3T has reached. Ten years ago, the Exploro opened a new direction for us, taking 3T beyond components and into complete bikes. During the same decade, we developed the machines, processes, and experience required to bring advanced carbon-frame manufacturing back to Italy.
ITALIA X marks the point we have now reached: a new top tier across the 3T range and the highest expression of the frames we manufacture in our factory near Bergamo.
The X carries three meanings. It is the Roman numeral for ten, marking ten years since the Exploro began this chapter of our story. It recalls the crossing fibers at the heart of every carbon structure. And, on a map, it marks a destination.
A NEW PLACE AT THE TOP
ITALIA X introduces a new top tier without creating a new price ceiling. It occupies the position previously held by the highest ITALIA builds, giving that expression a clearer identity.
At the same time, ITALIA becomes a more accessible gateway to a frame manufactured in our Italian factory; a direction first opened by the Ultra² ITALIA and now extended across the range.
The three levels describe how a 3T bike is made, finished, equipped, and positioned:
ITALIA X
Our top tier: frames manufactured in Italy, signature carbon finishes, digital identity, and flagship builds conceived as complete systems.
ITALIA
Frames manufactured in the same Italian factory, expressed through full-color finishes and configurations that make Made in Italy accessible to more riders.
WPNT
Our most accessible tier, with frames manufactured in Asia and painted and assembled in Italy.
Four platforms launch in ITALIA X, spanning the range from road to e-gravel, with two dedicated gravel options: the Strada ITALIA X, Racemax² ITALIA X, Extrema ITALIA X, and eExtrema ITALIA X.
FROM A CONTINUOUS THREAD
Every ITALIA and ITALIA X frame begins with continuous carbon-fiber thread and is manufactured in our Presezzo factory using our patented combination of filament winding and resin transfer molding. The frame is then finished and painted in Italy; every complete bike is assembled here as well.
This journey began with the Torno crank in 2018, continued with our first experimental frames in 2020, and reached riders with the first frames manufactured in our factory in 2021. Every machine and production cycle has since added another layer of experience.
ITALIA X represents the current state of the art of that work and the culmination of our reshoring journey so far.
CARBON, REVEALED
Exposed carbon is the signature aesthetic of ITALIA X because it creates the most direct connection between the frame's appearance and its manufacturing process.
Most carbon finishes hide the underlying structure beneath an opaque layer of paint. ITALIA X takes a different approach. The carbon remains visible, turning fiber orientation, overlaps, and subtle variations in the material into part of the bike's visual identity.
The original Project X Matte offers the most direct interpretation. Its low-reflection surface gives the frame a raw, technical appearance and keeps the carbon structure immediately readable.
Project X Glossy starts with the same visible material but changes how it interacts with light. The gloss adds depth and contrast, emphasizing the transitions between surfaces and revealing different details as the viewing angle changes.
Our Ink finishes introduce a third possibility. A translucent color is applied over the carbon rather than concealing it, allowing the structure beneath to remain visible. The color and the fiber pattern coexist: from a distance, the frame has a strong chromatic identity; on closer inspection, it reveals how it was made.
For the first ITALIA X collection, we have applied this approach in blue to the Racemax², green to the Extrema, and orange to the Strada. Placed side by side, the three bikes show how translucent ink responds differently to the surfaces and proportions of each frame while preserving the same recognizable carbon identity.
The appearance also changes with the light. In shade, the color becomes deeper and more uniform. Under direct light, the wound fibers and their intersections become more clearly visible. Moving around the bike reveals details that can disappear again from another angle.
These variations are inherent to the manufacturing process rather than a graphic pattern added afterward. Every frame carries its own arrangement of fibers and overlaps, making each ITALIA X subtly different from the next.
Dedicated graphics and badges complete the design without covering what makes it distinctive. The result is a finish that expresses both the individual character of each platform and the shared identity of the ITALIA X tier.
A DIGITAL IDENTITY - AND A MORE DIRECT CONNECTION
Every ITALIA X bike leaves our factory with an integrated NFC tag.
A dedicated app, arriving later in 2026 for iOS and Android, will allow owners to register their bike, verify its authenticity, and access relevant product information and services.
Owners will also have the option to share their contact details directly with 3T. This will allow us to invite them to select opportunities centered on the people, places, and ideas behind their bike,from factory visits and select events to previews of future product developments.
We call this the X Experience.
BUILT AS A COMPLETE SYSTEM
ITALIA X bikes feature flagship builds in which the frame, drivetrain, wheels, and components are selected as a complete system.
The clearest expression of this approach is the new integrated Uno GHIAIA cockpit, supplied as standard exclusively across the ITALIA X range. It links our highest level of frame production with the renewed commitment to component design that has always been part of the 3T story.
BACK TO THE MAP
Curiously, Stevenson never actually wrote the words “X marks the spot” in Treasure Island. His map contained three red crosses, and the idea became more famous than the book's wording.
By the time Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade turned it into a joke - with Indy discovering that, this time, X really does mark the spot - the expression had become universal.
For us, it brings together ten years since the Exploro, the crossing fibers of a carbon frame, and the point reached by our Italian manufacturing journey. That is why “X marks the spot” became the motto of this season.
Illustrator Fabio Consoli completed the story for our 2027 catalog with a map of the places that shaped 3T and a sailor looking toward the next line on the horizon.
The X marks the point we have reached. The map remains open.
EXPLORE ITALIA X
SEE IT AT IBF
The ITALIA X range and Uno GHIAIA are available to order now. Complete bikes have an expected lead time of four to six weeks.
If you are coming to the International Bike Festival, join us at the Misano World Circuit from September 4–6 and see the new bikes and cockpit in person at the 3T stand, U1.