I’m in that demo totally and think that the newer Cervelo Aspero-5 would be perfect for where I live and how I ride. I could easily use that bike to replace both my road and gravel bikes too because I only race gravel or mtb so I don’t really need a fully optimized fast road bike. The Aspero would work well enough for road group rides.
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I’d bet that bike is selling relatively well given it’s high price point and limited sales/marketing reach. It’s been out less than a year and I see quite a few of them at gravel races. But I agree on the aero aspect for allied and many of the brands. I don’t expect smaller brands like Allied or Lauf to make big investments into wind tunnel time or aero modeling, but they could at least attempt to use some known aero tube shapes.
I do wonder about the aero-ness of my Lauf. It’s at least got dropped seat stays, but none of the tube shapes look particularly aero. Ironically, the chunky Lauf suspension fork actually tested better than a standard felt rigid fork when DJ and Silca tested it in the wind tunnel. Not sure how valid that test was, but the fork does naturally have a bit of a cam tail shape, so Lauf might have just lucked into some aero advantages as a byproduct of the suspension design.
Aero or not, I do think that Lauf fork is compelling for many gravel courses. I considered an Allied when looking for a gravel bike with more tire clearance and the fork is what ultimately drew me to the Lauf. For short travel gravel applications, a non-damped fork without the weight and aero penalty of a traditional suspension fork makes a lot of sense. And zero maintenance is plus also. Yeah, I’m a Lauf fan and the fork is the key differentiator. The price is jus a bonus, the Lauf would still be my first choice from current gravel bikes even ignoring the price point difference.
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I really like downtube storage quite a bit. It takes one less thing off the table for me to forget while prepping for a ride (tools and flat kit) but I hope they keep putting the top tube bosses (and start adding them on XC bikes) for bags.
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The Cervelo looks awesome, tbh. 45mm fast gravel tires would work for 80% of the courses I do, however, I do have some chunkier races and courses with potential mud so I would just be worried about clearance on muddy days as the 45mm is already really tight in rear from what I have seen.
I have a Crux which clears 47mm and is a great gravel and road bike so I want my next gravel bike to offer something different. If I didn’t have the Crux though I would probably get the Aspero as a bike bike solution (I live in an apartment so only have room for a trainer bike and one race bike lol)
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I wanted to like the fork, but it twists going through any corner and the harder you corner the more it understeers. The brake dive also made it worse It ruined my confidence with cornering on drop bar bikes until I sold it.
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It’s definitely got a different feel to it and some people hate it and run/buy the rigid fork option. I personally haven’t run into any performance concerns, but I’m also not one to be ripping singletrack at the limits of tire grip on a drop bar bike. I also spent years running a redshift suspension stem which I found much stranger to get used to. I generally tell people the Lauf fork is a bit like running a bigger front tire and the tradeoffs that come with that. It reminds me of riding a rigid trail bike with “plus” tires. So, more bouncy and squirmy at times, but with the trade off of soaking up chatter and keeping the bike planted on higher speed rough terrain. I don’t find it helpful on slower technical stuff where a traditional fork might shine. And I’m still not sure how much it helps on fast washboard, I haven’t found any solution that solves that problem besides pedaling harder. There are certainly situations when Lauf’s undamped suspension isn’t as good as a traditional shock with controlled rebound, but for short travel applications I think undamped makes a lot of sense with zero stiction soaking up the chatter at high speeds. It’s all trade offs and personal preference. I feel the fork provides enough efficiency benefits on selective chunky sections to offset the weight penalty for how I like to race and the courses I prioritize.
Yeah. I think a lot of people forget that while a 2.2 might be faster on something like Big Sugar, most of us also train with the same bike on the road. I do a lot of the local Tusday night worlds rides on my gravel bike just to up the effort while still rolling in the group and not being a douch. So having a bike that dose not ride like a tractor is nice.
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I just want a bike that fits like a road bike, runs a 2x and can run a 50mm tire.
The waheela C is about as close as I can find. I just set my wife’s up as a total mix and match of parts and it looks awesome. A pure gravel bike never interested me until seeing her’s come to gether.
Otso Waheela C, ultegra 46/36 cranks, ultegra rx rear mech, xt 11-40 cassette and schwalbe RX pro 50mm. Looks like a ton of fun.
If you are trying to up the effort of the group ride, consider running those 2.2’s or something else decent sized. Some might consider rolling big gravel tires on a fast group ride a douchie flex as well, but it can help turn the typical group ride junk miles into more productive training without being the guy disrupting the group trying to do intervals or big pulls. Even when rolling 2.2’s, you’ll be putting out way less watts than the person pulling on the front, but often enough extra watts to make it productive work and push some decent Kj’s through the legs. And if you want to take some pulls and you are one of the stronger riders, big tires can help level the playing field a bit and make the group a better experience for everyone.
I think a lot depends on where you ride, but roads generally suck around here and smoothing out the ride is one of the reasons a lot of us ride our gravel bikes/tires on group rides these days. I don’t think of gravel bikes riding like tractors, but maybe some monster truck vibes when rolling big tires. I guess that can be good or bad depending on your perspective, I know it drives some of the old school roadies nuts. I personally love the smell of howling 2.2’s on deep carbon in a fast paceline in the morning…
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Giant Revolt Advanced Pro"?
I use my Gravel Bike (and MTB) for a lot of road training. I have a 38 Tooth ring for the MTB and I just jumped on a pair of 45mm Hutchison Caracal Race that are going on my aero gravel wheels that’ll hopefully make it roll a little faster. Roads here are a mess, and in-season I do love blowing by roadies on the Epic when I’m doing sweetspot or threshold intervals 
I will say though - when the roads get cleaned up and I go out on my Road Bike (Factor Ostro V1) - it feels like an absolute Rocket. I’ve already taken the depreciation hit on that bike, so don’t think I could be without a road bike with as good as it is in certain situations. If I want something more relaxed for distance - it’d be on the Mog or Epic.
Reach is right, but stack is +31mm from the Otso and +53mm from my road fit.
Has anybody had hands on with the new Open Up(per)? Stated clearance is 46mm but I wonder if it can fit more.
Dark Matter was up on my list due to touted clearances, but closer inspection puts it further down. 436mm chainstays is more than most XC bikes.
Maybe the aforementioned aero gravel frame will put geometry more in line.
Interesting, I hadn’t really even thought about that mattering to me. Out of curiosity I checked it against a few other gravel bikes, and it is within a mm or 3 of the allied able, checkpoint, or revolt. The seigla and crux are both 1 cm shorter at 425mm.
Looks like Baum has a new Drop Bar Mountain bike (DBM2) with 32” wheels.
Gusse 32in wheels will be the next big thing in Gravel. You herd it here folks. 10 years from now this Trainer road forum will be what they cite as the first signs lol.
A decent review by Ben Delany on the aluminum Diverge that he raced at Valley of Tears a couple weeks back. I know we get caught up in the lightest/fastest expensive options, but Ben still rolled this 26lb aluminum bike to a top 10 overall (2nd in AG) finish. He upgraded the wheels/tires to get down from 28lbs for the stock bike. I’m not a fan of the future shock thing, but other than that it looks like a decent bike for the $ if prioritizing tire clearance and want downtube storage. It’s also a good data point on gearing for amateur races. He raced the Diverge with a 40t chainring and only had an 11 cog in the back. Valley of tears had some really fast tailwind road sections this year also. He said that a 42 w/ a 10 cog is his preferred gear setup for racing, but it just shows that you don’t need big gearing to be at the pointy end of most amateur races. If anyone hasn’t raced with Ben, he’s a legit masters racer and usually near the front of the amateur field overall. I think he even won Steamboat overall for amateurs a few years back.
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$2700 for an Apex equipped bike is over $1000 more than it should be.
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It’s probably in the ballpark for Apex bikes, but high considering the weight with aluminum frame. Nothing wrong with Apex for a lower end bike, but I’d rather spend a little more and get the wireless Apex.