The bulk of my job right here at Cyclingnews is to check issues. There’s recognizing professional tech and being an eagle-eyed race reporter, attempting to work out what X rider is utilizing at Y race and if it’s important, however largely it’s seeing if sure tech improvements are literally any good. Often, this takes the type of new product releases, which get examined in isolation, however typically it’s merely a case (to paraphrase) of mucking about and discovering out what occurs.
Given how a lot gravel race bikes have modified lately I made a decision I wished to see what occurs to what’s a comparatively ‘regular’ gravel bike – my long run Fairlight Secan 2.5 – if I modified it to incorporate all of the on-trend race parts: Very extensive tyres, slim bars, and suspension forks. I’ve tried every in isolation, and so they have their deserves, however in the end, regardless of it being sooner, I’m going to retire this setup as quickly as I get 5 minutes to swap it again to a extra manufacturing unit spec. In quick, except you’re racing (and I imply really racing, not coming 456th in a gravel sportive), then go away the loopy setups to the professionals; you’ll have extra enjoyable, I promise.
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The experimental setup
The ‘fiddle’ half was fairly easy, or so I assumed. Just bolt on a suspension fork, match as extensive a set of tyres as you’ll be able to, add some slim bars and away you go. Luckily, the Fairlight Secan is an easy canvas on which to color one’s concepts, what with totally exterior hose routing, comparatively extensive tyre clearances, and customarily simply being fairly regular. No humorous enterprise, which is a part of the rationale I gave it almost full marks in my evaluate.
The forks have been a set of RockShox Rudy XPLR, with 30mm of journey, a lockout swap on the shoulder, and clearance to take a 2.0” mountain bike tyre, which I’ll get to momentarily. This was the very first thing I swapped, and initially, it made the bike really feel as if I used to be abruptly falling off the again of it, so I then swapped the setback seatpost for a 0mm setback, inline choice, which helped enormously.
The downside was, this extra ahead place meant the hoods have been too near my physique, so my normal 90mm stem (sue me, I’ve a brief torso and lengthy elegant legs) for a mighty 130mm Pro choice. Given that the fork slackens the pinnacle angle and makes the stem much more positive-rise, I then needed to shunt the cockpit down a few spacers to get it into one thing approaching my ‘regular’ place.
Ok, so we’re at some extent the place the fork has been added and the place closely modified. May as nicely go all in and match the ludicrously slim Lambda X-Wing bars that I ran on the street final yr, which measure as little as 22cm between the hoods. I did not foresee any detrimental impacts right here… Fortunately, they didn’t mess with the attain sufficient for any further mods to be required for the setup.
Luckily, the tyres have been a breeze, to some extent. I initially fitted a pair of two” Continental RaceKing XC tyres, however came upon fairly swiftly that, whereas the rear triangle may nearly accommodate such an enormous tyre, the Shimano GRX Di2 entrance derailleur was mainly touching the rubber, and what with it being a metal body with a stunning stage of flex, on pedalling it rubbed, so the rear was swapped out for a 45c Vittoria Mezcal. The Rudy XPLR fork had no points up entrance, although there’s not rather more room to go bigger with out having no room for mud. It’s a bit of ugly operating a bigger entrance tyre, nevertheless it’s all I may handle, so away we go.
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I additionally put in the Fulcrum Sharq wheels that I examined final yr. They have been nice however actually stood out in crosswinds, and I wished a set of wheels that will permit me to confidently keep in an aero place as usually as potential, so these match the invoice.
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The dealing with implications
What occurs, then, should you determine you wish to emulate the professionals? (Yes, this implies you, Dylan Johnson, I’m sorry.) Well, I’ll preface this rapidly with the truth that I believe every mod has its advantages, however collectively, they made the bike really feel fairly horrible.
First up, operating a suspension fork on a body not initially designed to take one impacts the geometry. The entrance finish will get larger, so you need to modify your place, as I’ve already talked about, however the head angle will get slacker too. I beloved the usual dealing with of the Secan, and including a fork made the entrance finish really feel wallowy and gradual, with fairly a noticeable quantity of wheel-flop, whereby the wheel desires to show itself over past a sure angle of steering enter. This is compounded by the front-end bob that suspension provides when driving out of the saddle, which actually doesn’t play nicely with the handlebars.
This brings me onto the slim bars; the slacker dealing with on the entrance was actually compounded by the narrowness of them. I don’t maintain all that a lot truck with the speculation that you’ll want to run tremendous extensive bars on gravel ‘for higher management’ however at this excessive diploma of narrowness, I actually seen the shortage of leverage versus even one thing historically slim for gravel like a 38cm bar. On steep, techy climbs, it made selecting a line a lot tougher, and out of the saddle, it massively compounded the wallowy entrance finish in a manner it by no means did on the street the place I ran it with unchanged geometry.
I can completely get on board with the extensive tyres although, no matter setup. Our personal testing has proved them to be sooner, they’re extra snug, they offer higher management on tough floor, they cope higher with mud, and so they look depraved.
Despite ruining the dealing with, the result was that the bike was noticeably sooner. My common speeds, particularly on tough sections and on sooner street segments, have been enormously improved by the two-hit combo of a much more aerodynamic place and the flexibility to only rumble over bumps in a manner I used to be by no means capable of earlier than. But to what finish? I’m not racing. I like going quick, however in the end, the expertise was worse.
While it was sooner, noticeably so even with out a head unit to inform me, the detrimental influence on the dealing with was such that I’ll be swapping again to a normal construct as quickly as I can. (Image credit score: Will Jones)
What would I hold?
While I’m an advocate for slim bars on the street and would fortunately use these Lambda bars on tarmac in sure contexts, I didn’t take pleasure in them for gravel driving. I missed the shortage of leverage on punchy, out-of-the-saddle climbs, and on techy terrain, they made the steering really feel obscure in a manner they didn’t actually on tarmac. If I used to be racing, then I’d match them, because the pace positive factors have been tangible, however for a motorcycle I journey for enjoyable? No probability.
As for the suspension fork? I’m actually on board with gravel suspension, however just for bikes which were particularly designed to take a suspension fork. I not too long ago noticed a brand new Canyon Grail on-line that seems to be specced with one from the manufacturing unit, and I’m actually curious to see how this rides. I believe much better than any retrofit setup.
Big tyres are right here to remain. If I may match 2” tyres to the Secan, I’d go away them on there, however for now, 45c should do. While this newest Canyon might be going to upset the apple cart by introducing suspension to gravel race bikes, I really suppose if gravel bike design continues as it’s presently doing in direction of wider tyres, the necessity for suspension will basically vanish. On one thing just like the YT Szepter, the suspension actually helped, however that bike got here with comparatively slim tyres.
Yes, suspension will provide help to rumble over rocky terrain, and gravel race programs could get extra rad as bike design progresses (because it has in cross-country), however at what level will we simply admit we wish a mountain bike?
