My quick review of the state of gravel bikes.Goal is the fastest race gravel bike. I will stick to things we know.
Ridley Kanzo fast was 212w in tour test, this bike came out in 2020, aero gravel became real. Can take a 44 in the back. I bet it can take a 50 up front.
Cannondale said the new superx is faster then the venge which was 208w in tour test takes a 51 front and 47/48 rear
Factor ostro gravel, same design as there ostro but smaller fork. The ostro is 205 in the tour test. I would say the ostro gravel is 210 if tested in the tunnel. Can take a 50 up front and 45 in the rear.
Ridley astr - it should be as fast as the kanzo, seat tube shape isnt the same to allow for it to take 52mm tires.
I think if you factor in rolling resistance the Ridley astr is the fastest gravel race bike. In mud you can still run a 45 tire and have space and in dry you can run a 2.2 on both sides. If your limited to a 45 on the rear your losing 10w
Yeah, based on what is known and / or available now, if I HAD to buy a bike right now, it would be the Ridley ASTR. I’d probably get a frame and kit it out with existing Force and Red E1 shifters.
There are a few dealers, they use to be sold through Colorado cyclist but they changed how they get distributed. I have spoken to 2 dealerships and both have some coming.
Issue is no distributor so your dealer has to order them all. Or you have to order them from a dealer in Europe and have it shipped over.
They messed everything up a few years ago when they let CC sell the bikes all the dealers stopped stocking and new they are no longer using CC .
I’m hoping for earlier, but suspect you are correct if they make it part of an xplr release. I have a rival shifter with some braking weirdness and was thinking about upgrading before unbound if Force comes out soon enough.
I just found a pair of the Red E1 shifters (no calipers) and decided to pull the trigger vs. waiting for Force. Still ridiculously expensive (~$420 each), but way cheaper than getting them with the calipers ($1375).
Thanks, something to consider. I was originally surprised how cheap the new Red shifters/calipers were until I realized the price I was looking at was for a single shifter/caliper… I think I’m out of touch, haven’t bought anything Red since mechanical 10 speed road (probably my favorite mechanical groupset ever).
I’d like to wait until it trickles down to Rival (assuming they have same brake design and buttons), but that could be a long way off. Hopefully the lack of a rival group on that new cannondale release is a tell.
Seems like that is the direction its going. They could give it a sniffer or w/e they call it on the SL8. I hope they keep it similar though. Honestly I just want the same exact frame with 2.2 clearance and it would be perfect.
Has an updated crux been announced or expected? They just added the UDH last year and it wouldn’t surprise me if they used that to justify a few years before the next major update.
The SuperX looks perfect to me. Love the looks. Has some aero features. Tire clearance is great. Price isn’t the most ideal. But man that Lab71 black/blue is gorgeous. Might go all in and sell my Crux and SuperSix. Could be a great do it all bike with 2 wheelsets. Could even swap over my Momo cockpit and be good to go.
I immediately caught on to what Cannondale was doing with the tire clearance specs… It sounds okay, but 4mm clearance on a 48mm WAM tire isn’t anything new, even for the previous batch of gravel bikes… I.e. the Crux is 47mm with 6mm clearance, and the new Checkmate which caught all kinds of flack for its “behind the times” specs are likely identical to this in the real world. Yet all the marketing and intros to this Super X tout the tire size like its something revolutionary… This really means that despite the wave of fast 50mm tires we’re about to see, you won’t be able to fit those on this bike. The aero claims are also suspect, but every brand does that.
Back to the overall state of the market and the options. If I were buying a gravel bike today, with racing being a large focus, I’d either look for a used(or on sale) Mog Frameset which are plentiful, or if wanting new, I’d go Rose Backroads FF Red XPLR… For less than half the price of the Cannondale!
(can we agree to let the S-works price premium meme die now)
Good spot; it seems like they designed around 45s, then the trend toward fat tires happened and they got creative. They probably also noticed there was a bit more clearance in the fork (not unusual) and decided to add that to their marketing too. “51mm tire clearance!* **”
*only up front, less in rear
**measured using our proprietary LC (less clearance) system.
