Gotcha. That makes sense
Keegan was on Transmission 12spd for sure - he mentioned it on a few pods. Mads was on 13spd XPLR and they both swapped back to the correct wheels/cassettes at the next aid station after their swap.
This, Mads said he got a new wheel at the next aid station. So did Keegan as his tire was booted.
Itās all in the Nero Show podcast. Mads ran 13 speed, Matt and Keegan ran 12 speed. Keegan gave Mads his wheel, but told him to stay out of the low gears. At the next aid station Mads was able to get a new wheel with the correct cassette. Mads said that the shifting wasnāt great but it worked to get him going.
The Red āgravelā threaded PM spider is the exact same part as the Force āroadā threaded PM spider (except the branding on it). If buying the true Force āgravelā crank, I think the only option is a single sided power meter. They try to draw arbitrary lines between gravel and road components (the spec sheet on that force threaded spider says itās for 2x road rings), but itās all interchangeable.
As much as I hate proprietary stuff, I became a fan of the threaded chainring system after having it on my MTB for a couple years and recently upgraded my gravel bike (force threaded spider and force crank arms). Got a good deal on both at biketiresdirect, they were almost 30% off.
The only downside to the threaded rings is they are pricey and I think the max size is 46t. Not an issue for me, but some folks like a bigger gear and/or the look of the big āaeroā road rings.
I gave into the Specialized Marketing machine today and ordered a new Crux. I wonāt have much use for the bike over the next couple months (Iām busy training for MTB event), but the size/model I wanted became available and figured Iād grab it. For anyone looking for a Comp model, they are available in the blue/silver in size 58 right now. Iām mainly getting it for the frame and going to swap parts out with my current gravel bike.
Downhill race? Me on my Crux with the glorified road tires, and you on the new Crux, lol. That is the one thing I wish more people talked about. How a gravel bike descends. I feel like that is more important than people give credit for.
I used to have a Diverge and that thing was ok on decents but I felt I was forcing it around. The crux feels like a proper descending bike for gravel. Curious how the new crux or a modern race gravel bike feels pushing downhill on gravel.
No thanks. Old and cautious will lose to young and fearless regardless of equipment choice when going downhill. Iāve been in the hospital from bike wrecks too many times, got all that out of my system years ago. I bet Iāll catch you pretty quick after the descent thoughā¦
Agree that descending abilities matter though, my biggest concern with the new crux is that I wish the head tube were a little slacker. Iāll be curious to see how it descends compared to my Seigla. The Crux has a much lower BB, but steeper head tube and obviously no front suspension fork like Seigla. I didnāt get a chance to test ride the Crux, so TBD. The Crux will be a bit of an experiment for me. I have no idea if itās going to be faster on the longer/chunkier races. I know it will be my bike of choice for the local smooth/fast races that play out more like road races. And it will replace the Seigla as my primary road bike. I havenāt bought a new road bike in almost 10 years (and have no desire for one), so thatās a bit of the justification for doubling up on gravel bikes.
Yeah you will catch me at the top of the hill when I am doing 100w at 200bpm smoked lol.
Fun. I am very curious to see how that goes. What kind of build are you going to do?
Choice between XPLR SW and 303 FC wheels (depending on what Iām riding and tire width). Cockpit is probably going to come from my Seigla (recently upgraded to the pro aero gravel bar). Iāll also bring my Force E1 levers/brakes from my Seigla (and move the rival shifters to the Seigla). I may run the 13 speed XPLR group that comes on the crux for a while, I havenāt tried xplr since the old 12 speed version. But eventually the crux will get a 10-52 transmission setup (may swap back and forth based on course). Threaded SRAM PM spider with Force cranks arms. The comp model worked out pretty well. It was $1k more than the frame, but gives me the parts to keep 2 working gravel bikes (and a set of crappy wheels I can stick on the seigla when I sell it when 32" gravel bikes eventually shake out).
For this type of routing, is any type of internal routed cockpit necessary, or could something like a redshift stem still be used?
Since moving, my riding, routes, and races have done a complete 180 on either spectrum of gravel riding/racing. Iāve gone from flat/tame/fast to basically nothing but super long climbs and super fast descents. So - light for climbing yet compliant for fast descending. At a bare minimum Iāll want 56/57 tire clearance and a redshift stem, if not a suspension fork. While aero āmattersā, when race speed is 14-15 mph while averaging 3 watts/kg over 6 hrs, weight will play a big factor as well. Also contemplating continuing to race the s-works epic 8 for the rough gravel, mosaic w/ 50ās for the tame, and waiting to see if anything shakes out with 32āsā¦
I donāt have any firsthand experience with how specialized does the headset routing, but I donāt think a redshift would work.
This was a hot topic BITD when gravel bikes were still commonly 72Ā°+ HTA with relatively short front ends. It seems to be less relevant now that things are longer and shallower, which to me indicates the bikes are much less a limiting factor. But I agree, I think a lot of people donāt have the vocabulary or maybe the interest beyond X bike is faster or slower feeling descending, while also underrating the importance in the overall picture.
The highest margin improvements Iāve made the past few years have been moving myself from poor to above-average descender. Quite literally free speed. A big part of this was actually treating descending geometry as a priority when deciding which bike to buy.
You better win your age group or theyāll ask you to return the bike. 
Well yeah but yours was 100g lighter and didnt say S-Works on the side. Soooā¦
Side question - is it this one?
Iāve been looking for something easier to mount aero bars, and I know you use them, and pretty sure thereās room on these to fit the mountsā¦
For owner of the crux 5, any of you running a different stem than the stock new roval stem that is still not available aftermarket? I was told by a shop that I could not run anything beside the stock roval stem otherwise I would damage the frameā¦Is this even true?
Yep, thatās the one. Pretty limited options for carbon aero drop bars that accept clip on extensions.
I know the Bicycle station guys were running the enve stems on their build. They were using the Enve base cap designed for the tarmac (which hung over a bit), but it looked like it worked. I assume Enve will eventually release a base cap that is designed for the new crux.