Exploros are so sweet.
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Some general thoughts:
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If I’m going to use this as a road bike on ocasion, seems like 2X would be better.
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I feel that if the Crux had internal cables that would be my choice.
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Price-wise the Scott Addict Gravelseems the best. But is very hard to get your hands on one.
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How is it posible that the BMC Kaius 01 comes without a powermeter?
Yes, I quite like that. And the yellow frame is 
Agreed…meant to mention that earlier.
Definitely.
You misspelled “red”. 
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These days 1x works very well on a road bike, too. I have a 1x12 with a 10–36 cassette on my aero road bike. I live close to proper mountains, and I love the feel of 1x.
Unless you want to run the 10–44 cassette, 2x still has wider range, yes, but 1x is close enough to work for quite a lot of people, especially if they are not close to “proper” mountains.
PS I don’t want to start a flamewar. I like that customers have a choice on gravel bikes these days. I was just saying that 1x on a road bike isn’t as outlandish a proposition these days. With 1x13, I think 1x is good enough for most riders in terms of gear range.
It is well-known that yellow frames are 15 % more aero and give you a boost of 25 W. 
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I’m an Aspero owner, and I’m a big fan. SRAM Forxe AXS 2x, 48/35 and 10-33 gearing with the AXS Quarq spider. I have two gravel wheelsets, but I keep road tires on my Roval Terra Cs. I have raced my Aspero in the North Carolina BWR and P/1/2 road events like Roan Groan in Tennessee.
I think it’s a great bike for someone that only wants to own 1 nice Road / Gravel bike. Yes, the geometry is maybe a bit aggressive, it’s stiff and not the most comfortable bike on gravel. It took a big of adjusting coming to it from a Giant Revolt. But, I really enjoyed riding and racing it on gravel (and the occaisional single track). I ride it mostly on road now (I moved, and there’s no gravel 
), and on a couple of group rides people are surprised when I tell them I’m riding a gravel bike. I don’t feel like it holds me back. Of course if I was doing UCI level races, I’d want a proper road bike.
I think it’s definitely worth considering when buying a gravel race bike. I really grew to dislike how so many brands try to make one bike that can be a bikepacking bike and a gravel racing bike. To me the Aspero was the other way, It could be a road bike but it’s a gravel racing bike and that’s exactly what I wanted.
It’s good to remember that someone like Dylan Johnson is targetting long distance all day events like BWR. Someone like me was doing the BWR for fun, but targetting 60-100 mile events.
Anecdotally, at Roan Groan I was guest riding for a friend’s team based out of California. I was his only teammate so spent the day covering moves. Leading up to the HC finish climb, his AXS battery died (faulty charged battery). He was running 1x. I was able to stop, swap batteries with him, and get him back into the group. He went on to win. A highlight of all the races I have done, that would not have been possible if I was running 1x and not 2x.
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Honestly, I am super happy with my road bike (a 3T Strada), it is a pure joy to ride. However, I basically turn around when I encounter gravel, the frame has no clearance and it wouldn’t be fun. Moreover, back then, eTap XPLR hadn’t been released yet, though, so I knew I didn’t have enough range for a 1x gravel bike. Today I’d give a bike like the Exploro or Aspero a second and third look. Having one versatile drop bar bike is a great value proposition, even if you pay a bit of a weight penalty.
Which of bikes/framesets that are sold now has the largest reach/stack ratio?
I would like to have long and low bike as I have long upper body and short legs to get me in a comfortable aero position. I am located in Europe so some of the bikes could be more expensive here than in the USA. I don’t mind if I would have a open mold frame next time too, I have been racing with Carbonda CFR696 and like it a lot, but it’s a bit short for me as I have to run it with negative 17 degrees 120-130 mm stem.
These three bikes have quite long reach compared to stack:
- Trek Checkpoint
- Ventum GS1
- BMC Kaius
Trek could be bought locally even as a frameset here, but it’s a Trek… I personally don’t like them. It is quite expensive too. Ventum GS1 should be bought from the USA, which costs a lot extra. BMC has a distributor in my home country, but it’s also a expensive bike.
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Tempted by the racemax, but the reviews say that when you put road tyres or 700c gravel tyres on it the geometry goes fucky.
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I have a Cannondale SuperX that I use for everything - limited to 40mm tyres but that’s ok for pretty much any trail around me (south of France) with foam inserts and a little caution.
I’m interested in the comment above about geometry (and I guess handling) when going to road tyres. My SuperX definietly feels a bit overly stable as a road bike, which is OK for the majority of my riding, but if you’re used to racing more lively bikes it might really bother you.
If you’re OK with 40mm max then there’s also the Time ADHX. Very pretty.
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I don’t think anyone has mentioned Santa Cruz Stigmata. Got one of few months ago and am very happy. My plan is for to be my new CX bike as well. It takes up to a 45 tire on paper so probably could go a bit bigger (I’ve got 45s on mine now and it looks like there would be clearance for a bit more, haven’t tried it though). Can be set up 2x, threaded BB if that’s important to you. I ride mine on road, gravel, New England cart roads and light NE single track i.e. rocky and rooty. Really no complaints.
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I’m really enjoying my 3T Exploro Ultra. I’ve had it since July and have about 2000 miles on it. 1x with a 42/10-50 setup so I can’t say I’ve ever been wishing I had 2x.
I have used it on road group rides and there was one time where it was a slight decline on a straight road over 6 miles with a tailwind that I got dropped into the “slower” group because I was spinning out. Worth noting at that time I still only had a NX 11-50 cassette. 2x can solve that if you really want to have the bigger gears, but I prefer 1x and like the 50T for some of the long >10% stuff around me in the Finger Lakes.
If I tuck myself in on that thing I can drop just about anybody on a descent, I also have a dropper on it that gets me even lower on it.
It can fit 700c x 48 with my playing around, so a set of GravelKing SK+ 45s are about as large as I go, right now I have a set of 700x40 Tufo Swamperos that just fit in the fenders I’m using in the winter/mucky season. It can fit 650bx61mm though!
I went with the Exploro because it was a little more unique than a Checkpoint, Aspero, or Crux which I see a ton of. Then I went with the Ultra over the Racemax because I wanted the wider tire clearance and didn’t want to be locked into a “aero” seatpost.
Also The Aspero has that integrated cockpit which was a no go for me. I use a Cane Creek eeSilk stem which smooths out everything, I truly believe the comfort of a suspension stem is best upgrade you can get because you can pedal over the washboard and other stuff without having to brace yourself or compromise your position. However I found that a lot more useful living in AZ over Upstate NY.
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Good suggestions and opinions….I made some choices to narrow down the field:
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Fully internal cable is important to me, something about cables hanging doesn’t look right anymore. This rules out the Crux and 3T.
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The bike will be used 15%-20% on road rides, not to mention all the road riding to get to the gravel. However, I want the bike to handle well rough gravel, which seems to be present when I go on explorations and it will be another 15-20%. This rules out the more “roadie” stiff. bikes: Aspero 5 and Factor Ostro.
Given this the bikes that survive the filters are:
- BMC Kaius 01
- Trek Checkpoint SLR9 or SLR7
- Scott Addict Gravel Tuned
Some notes:
- I really prefer the 2022 Scott, but I don’t think I can source one.
- Will configure 2X SRAM Axs Red
- Will do some research on wheels
- I can be patient and wait for the right one. Definitely testing before buying.
- Will look into geometry differences.
All 3 bikes are awesome and look great the decision factor will come to feel of the ride, details and looks.
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I swear this looks like a catalogue / open mould but I can’t find it anywhere at the big places (carbonda etc).
I bought a RaceMax. I have 28s on it right now and have not noticed anything too drastic in terms of handling from my Allez Sprint. I have been riding it with my friends and others on pretty fast group rides and feel confident it’ll be fine for the 4-5 crits I do this year and a few road races. The stack is really high, so I slammed the stem and am even thinking of putting a -10* on it.
I read James from CT’s review of the RaceMax but I bought it anyway after talking to two friends who have it and race with it on gravel and a few crits. I borrowed it and loved it.
I have a 650b wheelset with 2.1s on it I may use for some gravel races that require it - one in Nederland is pretty rocky so I may go with that setup. If I dig it after some testing, I may just roll the 650b wheelset for all gravel races. I do have a 700c wheelset with a wide internal 25 that will have 38s/40s pending the brand fit.
If you can handle a bike, you can handle the bike. It took a day or two of riding it to get the fit dialed and how to really rally descents and just general group riding/racing with it.
I took a few weeks/months really to find what I wanted. It was down to an Aspero, Checkpoint, or the RaceMax as it was intended to be the n=1 bike. I am leery of the tire configurations with the RaceMax and all. Also it came with Grx mechanical and have already determined the 46/30 11-36 is not enough so I’m on mission to decide to go with the 48/31 GRX crank or 50/34 ultegra/105 and an ultegra/105 FD. Maybe even 1x Sram, but a 46t 1x ring is supposed to not work but have seen a few on weight weenies. tbd
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I know a couple of people have said that the Aspero is “stiff”, but I have not found that to be true…I have used it on a wide variety of gravel and never found it to be too stiff. That includes some pretty chunky gravel events like The Rift and Big Sugar.
With the size tires currently available for gravel bikes, I think finding a bike “stiff” is more about tire pressure than frame design / materials. The one caveat to this would be in terms of HB / stems. I have not ridden the Aspero 5 with the integrated bar / stem, so this could be what is leading some to say it is “stiff”.
One last point - check the BB heights for all those bikes. It can make a substantial difference in terms of handling. That was one of the primary reasons I went with the Aspero as it had a low BB height. I wanted a lower center of gravity for more stable / better handling. I am pretty sure the Checkpoint has a higher BB. Don’t know about the other two.
EDIT - I was wrong about the Checkpoint. BB drop is in the mid-70’s, which is right where I would want a gravel BB drop. I was confusing the Checkpoint with the CX frames.
The Scott is a bit high, IMO, at 71. The BMC has the lowest of them all at 80 (!).
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I’m 100% sure that none of these bikes are actually faster than others, pick the one that fits the best and can fit the tires you want.
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You need to space your crank out if you do this, on my Aspero I ran a 48T 1x chainring and just spaced the crank on the driveside slightly so it didn’t hit the chain stay.
Thanks for mentioning this. I race in a Canyon Grail. 75’ BB offset. I really appreciate the stability of this bike.
In terms of geometry, I need to figure out what other figures are the most relevant for me and how these bikes compare to each other.
They are equal in terms of tire clearance (on paper). So it will be about fit, details, availability for test and stock.
So both the BMC and the Trek should work well in that regard…the Scott will be ~4mm higher. You may or may not notice the difference. I went from a 69mm drop to a 76mm drop and it was very noticeable to me.
Check Geometrygeeks.bike and you can do side by side comparisons between your Canyon and whatever other frames you are considering.
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