At the tip of August, I raced the masters gravel nationwide championships; my first ever Nationals in any occasion, regardless of having raced bikes for the higher a part of 20 years since my early teenagers.
It was raced partly as a part of a race-prep characteristic we wished to do right here at Cyclingnews, however I’d be mendacity if I stated I wasn’t tremendous excited on the prospect.
A number of months prior, with the race on the horizon, I made a decision I could not line up at such an occasion with an ill-prepared bike. I spend my working day studying and writing about aero hacks and marginal features, so to disregard the potential features by myself setup felt like sacrilege.
After all, I firmly imagine that tech can enhance efficiency on all terrains. Given riders corresponding to Dan Bigham and Dylan Johnson can push the envelope of kit optimisation – on what we are able to solely assume is a considerably smaller funds of each money and time than their WorldTour-funded counterparts – it confuses me to see professional groups and professional riders not benefit from what are seemingly straightforward wins. It clearly works too, Bigham has since made a profession out of it, optimising himself to a World Hour Record title, and having fun with a spell at Ineos Grenadiers earlier than a latest transfer to Bora Hansgrohe.
On the street, optimisation primarily surrounds chasing aero financial savings, however with its slower speeds and rougher terrain, gravel is a bit more complicated. Aero nonetheless makes up many of the total resistance at race speeds of round 30-35km/h, however rolling resistance makes up a considerably higher portion. Grip, dealing with and gearing are of higher significance too.
For my race, I wished to discover a bike that blended aerodynamics, racy geometry, and a good weight. I wished broad tyres to enhance my rolling resistance and a variety of gears to deal with the various gradients of hills.
Throughout the previous few months, I’ve been pulling collectively a gravel superbike that tackles all of these issues nicely, however in a method that is somewhat extra delicate when in comparison with the likes of Chase Wark’s loopy Lauf Siegla and Dylan Johnson’s Felt with shaved tyres – each of which seen in our Unbound 2024 tech gallery.
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The body: Ridley ASTR RS
Any superbike construct wants a robust start line, and what higher place to begin than a model new, unreleased gravel race bike, ridden to 4th place at Unbound?
As talked about, I wished a light-weight, aero body with huge tyre clearance, and there aren’t too a lot of these round. The 3T Extrema Italia is considered one of them, with 57mm tyre clearance, however at 10kg for a full construct when my colleague Will reviewed it, it wasn’t the right alternative. The Lauf Siegla might have additionally been an choice, with related clearance however much less aero optimisation.
During this analysis section, out of pure likelihood, I obtained an e-mail from Ridley sharing particulars of its soon-to-be-released bike.
Called the ASTR RS, it has an aero body, a body weight of 890g, and when run 1x it could actually settle for tyres as broad as 52mm. Even higher is that it comes with 36cm handlebars in my dimension. It’s a motorcycle that, as concluded in my latest Ridley ASTR RS evaluate, I really imagine is the way forward for gravel race bikes.
I thought-about going even narrower with the loopy Lambda bars that Will examined earlier this 12 months, however with the one-piece cockpit of the Ridley being designed across the body, I felt the aerodynamic advantages of going narrower could be offset considerably by switching to a separate bar/stem with exterior cables. Without a wind tunnel to check it empirically, I made a decision to play it protected (and straightforward) and use the bars that had been already fitted to the bike.
SRAM Red XPLR AXS groupset and Zipp 303 XPLR wheels
Another stroke of luck whereas planning got here by means of the launch of SRAM’s new flagship gravel groupset, full with progressive new Zipp wheels.
The groupset, Red XPLR AXS, is 1×13, makes use of the superb new hoods from the not too long ago launched Red AXS street groupset, and leans on SRAM’s mountain bike Transmission for some intelligent new gravel-specific componentry. Among which, the Full Mount UDH mount for the rear derailleur with gives speedy alignment, the ‘Magic Pulley Wheel’ which lets them preserve spinning in the event that they get blocked with particles, and the truth that the rear mech will be disassembled, with particular person elements obtainable to rebuild it within the case of harm.
With its launch, the choice of which groupset to make use of turned a simple one. I’m an enormous fan of GRX Di2, particularly the hood form and braking energy, however I did not assume I’d want the extra vary of a 2x chainset and I’d heard good issues about this new groupset in Tom’s Red XPLR AXS evaluate.
Alongside the groupset, SRAM additionally launched a crazy-wide set of wheels, the Zipp 303 XPLR SW, which have a 32mm inner width. That’s 3mm wider than the subsequent widest I can discover (the 3T Discus 45/40) and a full 8mm wider than the DT Swiss GRC 1400 wheels that come commonplace on the ASTR RS (whereas weighing nigh-on the identical!)
Their solely downside is that tyre alternative is at present restricted to a handful of permitted choices together with the Goodyear XPLR (designed with the wheel) and a few of Schwalbe’s vary. Regardless of that, I needed to give them a go.
Tyre alternative
Leading into the race, with tyre alternative so restricted for the wheels, I had a few suitable choices at my disposal.
The first was the Goodyear XPLR Inter, which bears a reasonably light-tread, however at 45mm is designed to work aerodynamically with the rim.
The second was the Schwalbe G One R, a barely extra closely treaded tyre as compared. It has obtained quite a few constructive critiques from buddies and colleagues alike, and one which I’ve beforehand gotten on nicely with too. The solely draw back was that this was narrower at 40mm. I felt as if I used to be losing the huge tyre clearance provided by the ASTR body, however the wider 45mm choice was unavailable on the time.
With relentless rain hitting Gatehouse of Fleet the place the race could be held within the weeks prior, however a fast-drying course with an extended street part, I used to be uncertain of the selection, so took each to the Airbnb I’d be staying at for the times main into the race.
A day earlier than the race, regardless of the solar shining at my Airbnb within the Lake District, an e-mail got here by means of from the organisers saying that the automobile park for the race was so flooded that it was unusable, and with that I made a decision I’d have to make use of the Schwalbe’s heavier tread and settle for the narrower width. As it transpired, the 40mm tyres truly measured nearer to 45mm on these rims anyway, so I do not really feel I misplaced a lot, and the sidewall-to-rim transition was clear, as per Zipp’s intentions when designing the rim.
It’s additionally value mentioning that, forward of a later race, I attempted to run Vittoria’s Air Liner Gravel Light contained in the wheels, however they had been so broad that the liner merely sat within the channel and provided little or no safety. For this cause, SRAM actively says to not use a liner, which is likely to be a cause to keep away from them.
I as an alternative switched to the DT Swiss wheels, full with Vittoria Air Liner inside a Terreno Dry 2.0-in tyre. Although round 500g heavier in whole, this unlocked a capability to roll over just about every little thing within the bike’s path.
CeramicSpeed bearings and chain
It appears a superbike construct is not full in 2024 with no point out of ceramic bearings, and who higher than CeramicSpeed – arguably the market chief within the house – to show to for some additional free pace through decreased friction?
With the Ridley ASTR RS utilizing a press-fit backside bracket, I sourced an equal from the Danish model, alongside a pre-treated raceday chain from its UFO collection.
The UFO chain alone is alleged to be value two to 5 watts, and there is a further – albeit unquantified – saving from the underside bracket. While the associated fee per watt saving is not the very best you will get, this was a no brainer for me on such an vital race.
I did wish to add within the model’s Aero OverSized Pulley Wheel too, however with SRAM’s new groupset having solely simply launched, a suitable system is but to be made obtainable. Maybe that is one for subsequent 12 months’s construct!
Apidura baggage
While not obtainable in time for nationals, for a later race, I optimised the bike even additional utilizing a set of Apidura baggage which were designed particularly for this body.
This includes a body bag that fills the house behind the top tube and a prime tube bag that sits behind the stem. Together, they’re stated to be value 2.6 watts at 36km/h (the profitable common pace of the boys’s Unbound 2024). Ridley Classified rider, Piotr Havik, used them for Unbound the place he completed 4th, and I’m advised he continues to make use of them – empty in lots of races – merely for the aero achieve. Why would not you?
The subsequent construct?
With a objective of qualifying for Worlds in 2025, my thoughts is at present bouncing concepts round for the subsequent construct. Should I run 2.2in tyres on discs? Maybe these 22cm Lambda handlebars, or maybe Speeco’s ABB bar? Can I run Classified with a 60T chainring?
What would you add? Email me and let’s construct one thing loopy.