Top Gravel Bikes We’d Actually Buy

Summary

The BikeRadar team dives into the world of gravel bikes, featuring discussions with Jack Luke and Warren Roseta. They explore both realistic, affordable options and aspirational dream builds. Highlights include debates on the practicality of suspension for gravel bikes and universal standards for bike components. Whether you're a weekend warrior or a pro, this transcript provides insights on choosing your next gravel bike.

Highlights

• Jack and Warren share their top picks for gravel bikes, revealing their preferences. 🚴
• Discussion on affordable vs. dream gravel bike options sparks interesting contrasts. 💸
• Universal standards like UDH are praised for simplifying bike assemble and maintenance. 🔧
• Gravel bike suspension is seen as both beneficial and unnecessary by different folks. 🤷‍♂️
• Personalized bike builds reflect the individuality of bikers and their unique needs. 🔄

Key Takeaways

• Gravel biking is gaining popularity, making bike selection increasingly complex. 🚴‍♂️
• The BikeRadar hosts discuss both affordable and dream gravel bike builds. 💭
• Suspension on gravel bikes is debated, as opinions vary on its necessity. 🤔
• There's a push for universal standards in gravel bike components to ease replacements. 🌍
• Bike personalization is highlighted, with options to modify and customize builds. 🛠️

Overview

Gravel bikes are becoming a staple for cycling enthusiasts, and with such a wide array of choices, it's often challenging to pick the right one. The BikeRadar team, featuring discussions by Jack Luke and Warren Roseta, dives into what makes a good gravel bike in today's market.

The conversation subtly strolls between practical and high-end options as Jack and Warren discuss their personal affinities for certain bike builds. They cover affordable picks that don't break the bank and stretch their imagination with dream build choices that are a bike lover's fantasy.

Suspension systems on gravel bikes generate lively debate, reflecting the diverse usage and personal preferences in the gravel biking community. This podcast episode not only sheds light on technical aspects like universal standards and component interchangeability but also celebrates the creative spirit inherent in customizing gravel bike setups.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:30: Introduction The introduction discusses the increasing popularity of gravel bikes and the challenge of choosing the right one. The hosts, Jack Luke and Warren Roseta, explore the criteria for selecting a gravel bike, focusing on affordability. Each host presents their preferred choice, highlighting their individual perspectives on gravel biking.
• 01:30 - 17:00: Reality Builds The chapter discusses the process of selecting bikes for purchase and includes the idea of picking an unattainable 'dream build.' The hosts, Jack and Warren, express their excitement about being in the studio and not having to wear cycling gear. The tone is lighthearted and conversational.
• 17:00 - 33:00: Dream Builds The chapter titled 'Dream Builds' begins with a discussion on whether to start with realistic cycling builds or dive right into dream bikes. The decision is made to start with more realistic builds to engage the audience effectively while acknowledging the challenge in narrowing down choices to just one build. The conversation leans on being relatable to the audience and maintaining a balance between reality and fantasy in bike building.
• 33:00 - 33:06: Conclusion The conclusion chapter discusses the speaker's experience testing various gravel bikes over several years and across different price points. Despite the wide variety, the speaker expresses a particular fondness for the Cell Asaro Apex explore, especially the 3,100 model. The speaker prefers the standard Asaro frame over the Asaro 5 due to its simplicity and features like the udx Dropout and round seat, which allows for a dropper. The handling is described as sharp, and the bike has a visually appealing design. Ultimately, though, this is not the speaker's final choice.

Top Gravel Bikes We’d Actually Buy Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 all right gravel bikes there are a lot of them these days and choosing one is kind of getting quite hard to do so how do you tell the good ones from the other rans I've been joined by Jack Luke and Warren Roseta to go through the bikes that we'd actually buy so we've got a realistic option that is to say a gravel bike that we can actually afford we'll each state the reasons we'd buy that bike and hopefully because we all have a slightly different outlook on what kind of gravel is we'll be able to kind of
• 00:30 - 01:00 pick a few bikes that you might want to look at when buying um and because we're a bunch of dreamers will'll also pick a dream build that we absolutely cannot afford Jack and Warren how are you jents fabulous thank you Liam what a treat to be here gracing the studio for the first time in a long time I won't even ask you you can't beat that well no honestly no I'm just you know I'm just uh happy happy to be here and happy to be wearing non cycling kit for once oh my own
• 01:00 - 01:30 right okay so we should start with reality maybe yeah I suppose so is it slightly less engaging start with Realties and dream bikes do we want to hook the wonderful viewers in with our outrageous cycling media suggestions I think that we are men of the people that's true and so we will start with the reality build Warren I'll come to you keeping it real is the dream though um right yeah it's I mean it's really is quite difficult actually just to to wh it down to just just one
• 01:30 - 02:00 especially the sort of volume I've ended up testing gravels over the last few years across all price points of course cross all price points yeah yeah yeah um so I would say like cell asaro Apex explore I really like 3,100 I actually prefer the standard asaro frame to the asaro 5 it's a little bit simpler it's got udx Dropout it's got a round seat so you can put a dropper in it looks super cool really sharp handling really really nice but that's not actually my choice my choice
• 02:00 - 02:30 would be GT grade x a big fan of of the grade you know I had the original one I've still got a second generation one um but this like third gen one slightly relaxed angles and this X model is £3,000 but they they in that they you get a rock shock Fork up front so it's got that sort of slack almost kind of Trail feel to it it's just so capable everywhere massive scope to upgrade and the framework that you're down you know that super compliant back end with a kind of fiberglass infused 6 days you
• 02:30 - 03:00 get about 30 m travel out of the the saddle off that and then you combine that with a fork that's giving you 40 it's effectively it's a full suspension gravel bike I'll come to the suspension in just a moment because I think that is still quite a divisive kind of take on a gravel bike whether you need suspension or not you've mentioned udh twice now and one this is a kind of uh Dropout standard is a mounting standard for the rear Mach that stram has introduced and hopefully they're going to you know make
• 03:00 - 03:30 it Universal as the name implies but why is it important for you to have that on a frame set going forward quite simply I own far too many bikes I've probably got more than 20 Road and gravel bikes that I personally own Big G I'm not I'm not two garages that's not counting mountain bikes that's not cting BMXs that's not counting like eat bikes Etc and of those 20 bikes I've probably got 20 different typ Australia hanger yeah
• 03:30 - 04:00 and finding a spare for any one of those is insane especially when they're a bit long in theth if they're long in the tooth you probably just will not get one um and so for for a whole frame to be written off just for a simple you know a $5 piece that big isn't right now having a universal standard and I know you know it was a trojan horse from samam so that samam could then bring their own traia system which is superb by the way I just think the benefit for everybody is no matter where you are in
• 04:00 - 04:30 the world no matter what model of bite you've got if everybody goes udh you'll always be able to get a hanger because it's the same hanger and that's the beauty of it it's one of the it's one of those bike bike innovations that I've seen that makes total sense it's not we've come up with a standard to annoy you or we've come up with a standard because it's different to you this one it is universal it's the name and I think that's that's more of that place Universal as well in the sense that people are genuinely picking
• 04:30 - 05:00 up on it I kind of recall what the bike was we wrote about a few weeks ago it was more on the mountain bike side but it was kind of noticeable for the fact it didn't have a udh hanger and like yes you are totally right like swam played a Blinder and winning everyone around with that but like he is a good thing and also it doesn't prevent you from using Shimano Drive no it doesn't prev from using anything also on the gravel side as well Wheels I was writing about this from my suggestion but Wheels manufacturing make a really cool like samam udh to Shimano direct mount adapter like it's not like a weird suram
• 05:00 - 05:30 only thing it's it's just a good allrounder option yeah it was an open standard I mean recently I've just I mean I've just sort of finished testing the new parlay uray which is their kind of endurance they don't want to categorize they just go this is a road bike for when road bikes were just road bikes and it's fabulous it's wonderful it's udh but it's a pure Road machine and it was the first thing I looked I went that's yeah good yeah nice idea so so we're hoping for more udh coming yeah yeah I just think it you know it just makes sense it's an open standard you know sh
• 05:30 - 06:00 aren making any money off the back of it you know they've just said to everybody you can use it so yeah please use it Shimano never really got anywhere with its direct Mount standard which didn't affect or come into play with um the actual through axle standard but s really managed to make sry we keep saying the same thing but they have made it a standard I see no reason to reinvent it in any way I don't see what any other system could bring in terms of Advantage so yes more of that from my I remember being on the grx launch and asking Shimano about this directly
• 06:00 - 06:30 whether they were going to buy into it and I was very confused at the time why they wouldn't commit to it cuz people in the industry talk and I'm sure that they knew knew about it before any of us did it it does amaze me because that is something that is universally hated by cyclists and they could they could have done a they could have you know shaken hands with samam and joined together as one that udh doesn't prevent you from
• 06:30 - 07:00 using a sharo you just don't get the advantages of the direct t type T type system that you do with ram so I imag like could you imagine being shano being like Oh Our Only competitor now has come up with this amazing system and we're gonna say oh yeah actually you've got a better option than we do I I just can't foresee it they wouldn't would save face I would have loved them too um was there was another slightly controversial pick there
• 07:00 - 07:30 i' I say it's controversial I'm pretty sure in this room we all agree that gravel suspension is largely a good thing good thing without much testing on my behalf my question was to use with that GT grade does it have a rigid Fork option yes yeah so you the x is like X4 extreme like giant have done the Revolt X which has slightly tweaked geometry over the standard Revolt um but it's designed for a suspension for yeah so yeah the standard grade uh has a longer carbon Fork so it's it's a susp
• 07:30 - 08:00 suspension corrected frame mhm yeah and I think it all boils down to what sort of gravel you ride yeah you know whereas you know I I do tend to ride a lot of single track a lot of routin Rocky stuff a lot of you know more more technical stuff and so I just appreciate having having that bit of suspension um because I don't find it that much of a detraction when you're on you know you nice super smooth princess gravel as well you know I'd rather have the comfort and and I you know and I like big tires on a gravel bite but I don't necessarily want more all time and
• 08:00 - 08:30 suspension counter acts that you know most of the time you go for a big tire because you want the comfort that you you can gain from it so it's kind of horses coures really and I'm not that fussed about weight which I know your gravel choice will probably be solely involved around weight no never um I I had the um I had the old lph sagler for for ages cuz we had it in for a video and that was the first time that I'd used a suspension system on gravel and I was was all ready to hate it and I
• 08:30 - 09:00 actually really really liked it it just it made so many more of my local Trails actually ridable and yeah I'm I'm a bit of a convert I'm not sure I'm sold on all of the systems but that one is certainly one for me Jack I really want to move on now to your choice here can I pick my notes out because I can't remember up that laptop I can't remember the prices but that's fine you know break the
• 09:00 - 09:30 fourth there I go on what am I going on oh fine you go on yeah sorry tell us put us out of our misery uh yes I refuse to give a simple answer to a simple question in this regard I I genuinely dithered on this um I'm not just being purposefully fussy but like my beloved Brown bike which I wrote about late last year is a sort of all radish steel passion wagon really love it loads amounts for everything mudguards is like perfect for the go light gravel riding really enjoy so like that's probably
• 09:30 - 10:00 good for like 70% of my writing so what do I want to fill that last 30% and had a bit of a Huma about this and I settled on probably building a bike based on a frame set with my very large pile of spare parts which is quite an unhelpful answer for everyone to listen into you don't know what's in my shed but I don't care I've got creative license here and I would probably of the pick on the market today look at the black heart gravel Al very handsome alloy Boutique frame set with the key thing with them
• 10:00 - 10:30 being that you choose the color of your frame before you order it perect would it be Brown by I do like a brown bike but I think i' go for something a bit more L for gravel so I have never heard of black heart as a brand mhm um some of our viewers and listeners might not have either where are they based they are us-based brand they are like their whole bit is that they make high-end Boutique alloy frames they're cerakote coated which is a sort of it's kind of like
• 10:30 - 11:00 powder coat but it's a bit hard wearing bit more ceramic as the name suggest got a really good piece on the site by that actually Nick did a good interview with a bunch of people who use cerakote um but this bike in particular is just a nice neat all round quite tidy not too fussy standard platform in which you could build essentially whatever you want gravel bike wise it has got internal routing which is necessarily what I tend to go for but it's very unfussy standard with things coming in through the headset top cap into the frame looks really well designed I'm 99%
• 11:00 - 11:30 sure it's a t47 bottom bracket so you can do whatever you want there um and you get to choose your color did I mention that funny enough you could choose a different color fork and frame if you want very handsome and uh what What's your build going to be did you get did you get that far of actually going into your shed and going like I have that that and that Liam I have one of your cast offs underneath my desk from your wonderful review on bc.com what's that grx 1 by 12 mechanical one I forgot about sat under my desk sans's cassette but it's it's earmarked for a future
• 11:30 - 12:00 graval build did I pinch that cassette possibly well it's not under my desk either way not using it I know that so um I would probably go with that and then Wheels wise a nice set of like sensible alloy wheels from a hunt maybe and then finishing I realiz it's like not a very hugely helpful answer but for me like I've had a lot of bikes with your as much like Wars but tend to have more like picking mix bits and this Frame set really really appeals to me and it's also I don't think there's anything shameful to admit that it's a bit weird it's bit Niche yeah and I like
• 12:00 - 12:30 that I like it's a smaller brand that you don't necessarily heard of or will see very often which is in St contrast to my dream option so there you go well from a niche option to one of the big players um I've sort of cheated on this as well because I cannot afford this bike new it is the specialized Crux um it and it's technically a bike I already own because I bought it uh secondhand after I reviewed it I liked it that much
• 12:30 - 13:00 which spec did you have originally I can't remember I had the Force One by not s Works no no one needs s nobody needs SS um it's the pro model uh from a few years ago so it's got that really nice kind of multicolor pinky uh frame color it's it's just an a really nice bike and I am in the process of making it a 2 by altegra di2 with uh grx uh deras and it's going to be Road it's
• 13:00 - 13:30 going to be gravel it's going to be cyclocross I've got I think I've actually got the crooks is a crossb yeah you are building it as a crossbike it may be a cross the cook is a crossbite that specialist is called a gravel bik are you putting I've got nothing against it I quite like it and actually I think you've been really Savvy there because I've ridden both the SB cruxs and the standard Crooks and I prefer the standard you know the one that I wouldn't have is the one that you reviewed as in the the really low-end model cuz I think for the money you get an absolute terrible deal in the wheel
• 13:30 - 14:00 set just the wheel set is you know I'm not going to trash spash here too much but is the one so you're building up with an altegra Road crank set and shifters yes but with G eurocross um deras what's the rationale well at the front deria you get more Tire clearance with the grx and at the rear end you get more cassette spread U which I think is you know still with a 2 by um 4 6 36 you
• 14:00 - 14:30 need or I certainly need cuz my legs aren't that strong um that wider cassette I think I'm going to go for an 1136 on the gravel give me a 1: one lowest gear and then 1134 on the road and cyc across just a bit tighter how do you think grx front re will shift with Road cranks AB absolutely fine I hope that be fine one the only thing I found beef with when I reviewed I had the real top end Super Flash Crocs when first launched s red one was Bonkers money
• 14:30 - 15:00 nice bike obviously if I was building up a frame set as like you are no mechanical front derailers di2 or Wireless only I think that stinks cuz mechanical grx is sick I really like that but uh sounds like an interesting build Li yeah and it I mean it doesn't really stop there and I've got Wheel sets coming out of my ears from many years of testing I thought this was supposed to be we were supposed to come into here and be like yeah these are reality options but we're kind of saying
• 15:00 - 15:30 to the viewers and listeners oh you do need to have worked in the cycling media industry and have a shed full of Wheels I don't think this very help my my reality both very good so my my reality bit of that buy is getting the Crux secondhand because I had a quick look on Facebook Marketplace local to me there's an S works one for 4 and a half so if if you can find the pro or something that you're not going to be paying anywhere
• 15:30 - 16:00 close to what they are new which is like 7 7 half or something like that we should just do a podcast where we look for bargains Marketplace I'd love that that's that's dangerous though low ball people just see how low we can possibly go just to wind them up and then ghost them um the final thing I'm going to do on my reality build is fit a set of uh mod guards and it'll be some SKS jobbies cuz this would be kind of a commuter not so much through the winter cuz r in the UK in the winter is terrible I believe
• 16:00 - 16:30 you've given up riding for the winter I heard a rumor I've I've gone to the gym can you tell um so yeah but it still does need to do the odd commute which is like 15 minutes through the city but if the roads are wet you're getting a Soggy Bottom 15 minutes through the city on a on a Croc on a Crux yeah man of the people back to the start of the podcast just going to interrupt this little video um I'm actually reviewing it as we speak speak but in the
• 16:30 - 17:00 background I am currently building it I promise and as soon as I've done everything literally the kitchen table is a bit of a mess but um as soon as I've done everything I will get a post up on uh our community page um so you can all see it actually built all right so we'll go back and we'll now start with what is top top top you win the euromillions yeah um and
• 17:00 - 17:30 Warren is not going to buy a bike cuz he already owns it a sort of I would say that you know my my particular sort of dream bik gra bike doesn't quite exist yet although I'm quite close to it so I've got uh my current canelle top Stone lab 71 um currently running the K Creek invert Fork which there'll be a review onl very soon cool it's it's all it's all written it's allot the first gravel for first apart from those other six I've
• 17:30 - 18:00 already tested yeah and at the minute it's got like a you know Eastern cockpit uh Rock Shop dropper post um some nice canadell um SL Wheels but I built it with Apex access exp Flor simple reason is as I was saying the sort of gravel riding I'm doing this it's very sort of Trail based and um lots of instances where I've run out of talent so lots of bin in it and they are idea of been in something as beautiful as a red explore
• 18:00 - 18:30 re Mech and trashing it uh and then you're looking at 645 quid to replace that is that's full grp set prices that's mad I mean and the Apex one is 2 290 295 um still expensive but it's not quite the you know I'm not going to eat for a couple of weeks you won the euromillions I still think there's something to be said for there's nothing wrong with with Apex access it works just as well it's beautiful the thing is it's a little bit heavier I don't care
• 18:30 - 19:00 yeah I literally couldn't care less about the weight and I I built up that bike and kind of priced up sanss the the kry Fork um and it came to like you know it's a three and half th000 frame set so it's a very expensive frame set but the complete bike build was like under five grand now the standard lab 71 build is nearly 9,000 and my lab 71 with a tool kit on it with two bottle cages with its pedals weighed less and it was over three three and a half
• 19:00 - 19:30 thousand quid cheaper so it's kind of but as I say it doesn't really exist yet because that as much as I love the top Stone and as much as I love the way it rides and I do think it's a bike that really merits having a suspension Fork on it because you've got that Kingpin suspension on the back so you get this nice smooth matching um and I'm running it with like 40 mil um twoo swamp pero tires twoo o cyclocross Liam over here I like to hear that name so they're actually quite skinny you for for a 40 they're quite skinny but you get the benefit of the comfort of the bike off
• 19:30 - 20:00 the back of it so it's nice and Rapid on the road it's nice and Rapid on smoother gravel um but I would like a little bit more tire cerence than the 45 minut offers just to be able to play with it and I'm going to say those three letters again the the topstone needs udh it's not been updated in a while one assumes if there's going to be a top I've heard rumor it's imminent so I like these rumors we should just do vodcasts of
• 20:00 - 20:30 rumors with Warren just just share our best gossip we've got from cycl media that'd be good yeah yeah uh Jack your your top end build yes I tested in October last year the canyon Grail CFR di2 which was at the time their newest fanciest gravel race bike and I ordered it a warping five stars I absolutely love that bike it was so sick really great handling really like the cockpit cockpit ergonomics amazing integrated
• 20:30 - 21:00 storage really cool and thoughtfully designed accessories and in the context of very highend expensive bike a pretty good build and with a few tweaks to suit my tastes it would be my absolutely perfect dream bike and the joke is that when uh you did the video for that you and Felix just had to disappear for like a whole day to go and you were riding that bike and having so much fun and yeah you you just wouldn't come back to the office I don't remember this what's this what's the gossip here I'm I'm
• 21:00 - 21:30 joking I just I remember we got an 18 minute video or something like that video Yeah well it was very thorough very in depth I had to justify my full five star score so so what changes are you going to make uh I would if I'm being fussy and rich in this instance number one the paint is so boring the choice I had was like black very Canyon something fun in Larry black bikes are super doll um obviously with Canyon I'm so glad Simon's not in the room because he'd have kittens but I'd have to spec and spend I imagine quite a lot of money
• 21:30 - 22:00 to get the cockpit I wanted Canyon that particular bike although you can run any one piece or two-piece cockpit you want to get all the neat integration and so on you to get the right size from Canyon um and I'd want the full Suite of accessories so they do a really cool frame bag mud guards and the like I can't remember what the name of it is gear Groove that's it the gear Groove um AA cockpit I had a go with that from be like a day or two it's very good it's very easy to fit quite fussy to set up the first time but compared to like
• 22:00 - 22:30 taking a regular cockpit on and off it's very simple but like with that package I could do everything I'd ever want on or off-road it was such a nice bike to ride and finally probably upgrade the tires to something a little bit more tough I think they G1 RS they're the fastest shabes aren't they yeah very delicate but super fast tires and then a power meter CU otherwise had much how will I know how much fun I'm having so sorry that's a that's a very expensive bike that doesn't come with a power meter no it's a grx di2 build shim make a
• 22:30 - 23:00 parameter yes if I was going to be even more ambitious I would say you know Simon did a really good piece about to shanu even care about gravel one of his key points was there's no Jas equivalent grx group set with and all the gobbins that you want and that would be my pick I'd maybe put a roacher crank set on just to be a bit like bit out there some Q rings I like Q Rings look cool 2012 wants I still have I have curing on my TCR I
• 23:00 - 23:30 like them very much well I don't think they make any difference whatsoever but they look cool but they look cool and they ruin your shifting oh they're fine they do yeah whatever right so what we've seen there is two very different approaches to gravel bikes and I think that represents two ways that you could go if you were kind of looking for a gravel bike one there's Jack's racy kind of machine I would say that's more suited with its Tire clearance specifically to finer gravel and then
• 23:30 - 24:00 Warren with all your suspension and everything like that I would say that's much more Adventure ready yeah I guess yeah you about to segue into a plug for our wonderful video that we co-presented on gravel race versus Adventure bikes God I'm not yeah we'll put that somewhere that'll be somewhere on the screen that's Fant I think for me it just it stems back to you know I'm a I'm a you know old school M biker you know from the early 90s as it were and it gives me that that buzz
• 24:00 - 24:30 again basically cuz modern M are so good so capable that all the old school trails around me that I used to ride on mountain bikes and get that heart in your mouth moment and you know literally scare yourself you know so you you need to change the diaper sort of thing you just don't get on a m box now you can just bang through it and just go well that's fine so I really like being under biked but I still want a little bit of a a little bit of comfort a little bit you know taking the edge off it it stems right back from sort of you know the the kind of earlier earlier times of
• 24:30 - 25:00 mountain bikes I mean I I bought I tested the canell slate and when they first came out and I think on the review I said um it's a bike absolutely no one needs but God God I really want one and you love this SL you mentioned it I would say like at least every few month I still got my slate I I did a rebuild on it quite quite recently um and I absolutely love it you know it's 650p that's out of favor it's got a massive carbon Lefty on it which you know that fork was twice the price of the frame cuz it's an aluminum hard Tower um I had
• 25:00 - 25:30 um I had the guys that hunt build be wheels for it cuz obviously it's got Lefty on the front so I've got carbon wheels on it now I did a rebuild with um Apex Eagle M so mechanical one by with a proper you know proper spread because the original gearing it came with it had a 5236 algra group set with an 1128 set on the back not very gravel and so now I've rebuilt it and I've got exactly how I want and and I've got dropper post on it you know I've got the Envy dropper post it wired through and that thing's amazing and what I was so taken with it
• 25:30 - 26:00 when I first got it and I started looking at it and I actually looked up um a 1992 GT zcar which is a old m b IED to racing and the geometry was so similar I was actually riding it going oh that's why I like this bike it's familiar and so I run it with like a super wide Gravel Bar you know like a 40 I think it's got 46 on it so effectively for me it's a drop off m bik is that actually a dream bike then was and you
• 26:00 - 26:30 yeah it's that I just like that you know I think you can go too far you know there are there are mountain bike inspired gravel bikes out there um you know like like the nuke proof you know God rest it um which was a lovely bike absolutely hilarious but it was a gravity focused gravel bik it was amazing downhill over anything climbing on it was ridiculous yeah it it was like trying to you know trying to climb gravel roads on a chopper it was sorry but point it downhill and it was the
• 26:30 - 27:00 best fun all you're doing with this argument is really lighting a fire under the people that say that gravel is just 90 mountain bikes no no cuz these bik no no no no yes yes no cuz the mo the modern gravel bikes are better they are better than those bikes the mini V breakes I won't hear it let's have that that's a great little social cut for that modern gravel bikes are better than old mountain bikes fantastic um when it comes to my silly
• 27:00 - 27:30 money build I kind of I kind of had to think of a bike that I didn't actually want but not didn't want didn't need and so I went for a really Arrow gravel race bike which is the fact of Ostro gravel because every one because um oh what was his name uh Matt at gravel worlds prison phone Matt oh yes him you should remember you wrote the article God he not my
• 27:30 - 28:00 he this will come to me sorry uh the fact that ostra asro gravel I saw his at the worlds and I've seen the Armani teams with their Africa Safari inspired paint and I just fell in love with it and really Matt Holmes sorry Matt um he has a great prison phone if you want to see that on good it's very funny very funny um I see this bike and it's you know it's really low it's Arrow it's
• 28:00 - 28:30 designed for pretty much princess gravel I would say going really fast I've tested it and I test it and I did it in the same year with the BMC Kos um in gravel Buck of the year and I can really really appreciate what they're good at because they're phenomenal at it I mean my sort of gravel test Loop for for like it was like a 75 mile Loop and I would say that there's probably a 15 mile section which
• 28:30 - 29:00 is the smoothest loveliest gravel that you have and point to point those two were significantly faster than anything else on road but the minute you got into the woods the minute you got into the single track terrible they were terrifyingly poor I was going to say this and ended up like the aggregate they were they were slower than you know the bikes that were coming off top that year but if all you want to do is ride you know wide double track or you know the big kind of MidWest American style Gravel Road point point it there nothing as fast it's quite interesting I think
• 29:00 - 29:30 in like reviews like we all review independent we don't look to others you know we're try not to be influenced by what other people have said but like the Ostro I think is what most commonly everyone's be like wow this is some really stiff bike quite unforgiving like really unforgiving like our contemporaries and other title said similar things so we're pulling apart your suggestion before You' even got out your right uh no I would build this up though um you know I think samam has a range of Ram builds personally um with
• 29:30 - 30:00 the new stuff I still just prefer the ergonomics of J Ace even though I've had a go on that new red and the breaking is I think just a bit better than J Ace now I I really think it's fantastic but I would have again a jur a di2 kind of uh grx mix uh to have kind of roadie gearing on it you are basically building another road bike but whatever we'll SC over that um I would have a power toax
• 30:00 - 30:30 NG power meter because I've had one of them or I had one of them on my winter bike which I recently sold and that thing did cycl cross Seasons Winters and it never missed a beat hit they do shiman one I thought they were all direct do they four bolt they are so so good if you want Rel like an interface between the chain rings and the spy and the arms uh so you have to do a different um
• 30:30 - 31:00 you have to do a different kind of crank arms you can just fit uh the chain rings to the things I've never seen that I've I've got a part toax on that those were cranks I was mentioning weird mix up but like there a direct m one I've never seen what you're discussing it's it's genuinely a fantastic system and I know that you'll agree with this Choice cuz I will have the WT vulpine uh s45 mil tires which we rode at grit Fest grit Fest excellent tires ridiculous full disclosure we did a
• 31:00 - 31:30 great video with WTB about testing wi tires sponsored video but they are genuinely fantastic tires absolutely in fact they would be my pick if the Canyon Grill took 45 mil tires but I don't think it ties or maybe it Max is out 45 you'd be getting close but they're the ones that still rip around on on my current grapple B they're very good they they're just they're very very grippy on the corners which is weird cuz they've got barely any shoulder tread but they're also fast in the straight line
• 31:30 - 32:00 um it's it basically it's an aerrow bike that I have no use for but I really want it all those long smooth sections of gravel we have here in the UK but I've seen the ammani team racing them and I want one of their bikes so DMS are open for marketing does work clearly marketing really does work especially if you paint your bike in Safari yeah that's are we talking like Safari suit brown or are we talking like zebra no it's like all different colors and like greens and stuff it's really really nice
• 32:00 - 32:30 I'll show you some photos later thank you so those are our pics um which ones did we get right did you disagree with all of them um do drop your um suggestions down in the comments on the YouTube video or if you're just listening to this do email into to podcast bik radar.com maybe you've got a suggestion that would be better than ours um gentlemen thank you very much for joining me will you come back uh to do more podcasts yeah yes because I
• 32:30 - 33:00 really need you to in the next few weeks well I got up this morning I had an outfit and then I thought I'm doing a vodcast such chose a Larry shirt just for you that's how seriously I took it that is YouTube thank you very much for watching and if you want to see more of those tracker bikes with that very nice Factor just up here or it might be up here