Downtube, fork, seat post, and handlebar aero-optimized. (Are handlebar aero gains real once you slap on a head unit?)
Claimed 45c tire clearance. The stock slick looks really tight ‘as-is’ - makes me wonder if it will realistically accommodate a knobby 45c tire in adverse conditions.
Larger 1x chainring support?
No engineering effort at making internal headset routing more livable/adjustable/travel-worthy.
Seems designed for European-style gravel or as a road/gravel race-specific do-it-all.
45’s…Hahahaha. You’d think they would have learned from Canyon coming out with the new Grail last year w 45 clearance and then seeing their riders racing the Grizl instead of the “race” bike. This bike would be good though for people that want an endurance road bike and gravel bike in one versus having to buy a couple bikes.
Mark my words. Within 5y this will be known as a road bike for everyone except serious racer’s. I was very interested in it until the 45c tire clearance. Can someone please just make an aero gravel bike that fits 2.2’s and is designed for racing? The Allied is great but it has 0 aero features.
Woof, ya. Tooooo bad. Way, way too niche. If they had designed a super aero bike that could still clear a 50, I think it would have 10x their sales numbers for this model. How many R5cx’s did they sell? Seems the lesson wasn’t learned.
Maybe it’s really just a product branding problem. Call this the new Cal-5, it would get a ton of positive media attention. Trying to sell this as a ‘modern’ gravel bike just doesn’t work.
Especially the last bit on what races people would use this for, modern road bikes already clear 34/35. Just use those for the super fast UCI gravel world races/BWRCA/ etc
What a world we live in where people think not being able to fit a 50 mm tire is niche
Edit to add, the R5-CX is a cyclocross bike which was made for team Visma riders (primarily Wout and Vos) to ride. In order for the sponsored riders to use the bike it has to be made publicly available. Since cyclocross has kind of died out compared to 15 years ago I imagine they didn’t plan on selling too many. Putting clearance for large tires on it would be a bit of a waste (and could potentially compromise how they wanted the bike to handle or what drivetrain selection was used) since the UCI limits riders to 33 mm.
What direction is gravel racing heading where you are living? Smoother? I really haven’t heard of anyone complaining that a company built too much clearance into their frames. How many frames exist that already clear a 45? How many of those cost $5500/frame? How many are aero optimized for 35-40km/h? What is your perception of niche? General public or racing market?
Me personally? I don’t find category 4 gravel fun to ride on a gravel bike at all. Going fast on smoother surfaces is a lot more fun to be than getting “beaten up” on really chunky roads where I am also at a higher risk damaging tires or my bike from errant rocks. I typically chose races and roads to ride on that are primarily category 1 and 2. If some sections have a little bit of 3 that is fine. In which case I am plenty happy with a smaller tire since I like the way it handles better and it’s more aero.
Below is stuff I like to ride. In which even a 40mm tire is perfectly fine.
I think off all the teased gravel bikes we’ve seen so far this Orbea comes closest to ticking all my boxes. Pictured with TB2.1s so it clearly has room for fat tires. UDH, frame storage, at least some aero consideration but with round seat post (my preference), plus it seems to have mounts for real fenders…
The Ventum looks solid, but I wish it had frame storage. I also am pretty skeptical of aero-shaped seat posts on gravel bikes. I have a 3T Exploro Racemax with a D-shaped seat post, and I find the ride noticeably harsher than a couple other round-seat post bikes I’ve gotten many miles on. I think seat post flex is a super key driver of rear end comfort, and aero posts just don’t do it very well.
Seems limiting to come out with a new gravel bike and have the upper limit of clearance at 45. I typically run 40 for most of my riding also, if I was buying a new bike I would look to something with a wider range of clearance. Not sure I’d use it but would prefer the ability to.
This particular ones are near Missoula and Seeley Lake when I am back visiting family. What have you been riding so far? My “bread and butter” is usually heading up 4th of July Pass via Alder Creek Rd and back since I can get it done it about 2.5 hrs from my house. If I have time doing offshoots from there. But I spend a lot of time looking at maps and trying our different routes so I could definitely pass along info
A month ago I went on a loop including USFS RD 413 and 259 which I couldn’t get a good read on since a lot of it was still covered in over a foot of snow. When I finally got out of the snow I found this truck hanging off the cliff which was interesting.
I don’t have pics of it but I was on Deception Creek Road the other day down to Honeysuckle campground (basically the “other” side of Fernan). I wanted to keep riding on the Little North Fork road as it looked interesting but I ran out of time.
Looping around Mt CDA is a nice quiet climb. I can’t find a map of the time I did it connecting from 4th of July Pass. It was a little bit rockier than the one I linked above.
One that I really liked was a loop from Spirit Lake to Twin Lakes via Mt Spokane. All those XC ski trails are pretty nice and the gravel was really smooth and fast. I need to do that one again
It’s not about having an issue. If you’d like to put in more watts for the same speed with less comfort, enjoy your 38’s or 40’s. I used to ride them too and yes, they “work” fine.
Alexey Vermeulen had some opinions on this in a recent podcast appearance.
Hope I’m not misquoting, but his theory.is most people shouldn’t be riding 2"+ tires and that 45s are preferable unless you’re in a peleton and drilling unseen hazards.
Does his opinion hold more weight since he’s a front runner vs. Dylan as a mid-pack rider?
@mhandwerk Awesome, thanks! I downloaded those into my routes. I ride mostly South of Post Falls and Liberty Lake, nothing too epic to share. I had just downloaded a few gravel routes off Ride with GPS east of Fernan Lake, but haven’t ridden them yet.
To add to the thread, I love Cervelo bikes, but they missed the mark on the tire size of the Aspero, it will get quickly dismissed due to the limit on tire size.
Not Really. Just cause someone gets top level finishe’s or is middle of the pact dose not mean they hit more or less stuff. DJ is known for pulling back moves and doing work on the front. So it is clear there are many times that he has a good line of sight to miss stuff. Alexey probably spends more time sitting in and waiting to make moves. This would cause him to be at the mercy of other’s more often.
