I walked past every single stand so that you can see the latest products in the touring and bikepacking space! My iPhone says I did 15,000 steps per day (for five days) between the different halls. That’s a lot of walking… and a lot of talking too.

I got the opportunity to talk to the engineers and product managers behind the brands and got test-ride more than 30 unique bikes too. This information will all drip out over the next year or so.

Remember that you can always support my unique content by becoming a site supporter, making a Paypal or credit card donation, buying a copy of my books, or joining my Patreon. This direct support is the best way to keep my content coming!

My touring/bikepacking tech galleries from Eurobike 2023:

• 11 Quirky But Functional Bikepacking Products (Part One)
• 11 Exciting New Bikepacking and Touring Products (Part Two)
• The Most Interesting Bikepacking Tech (Part Three)
• The Best Touring and Bikepacking Bikes (Part Four)
• 11 Notable Bikepacking Bag Finds (Part Five)

In-Depth Reporting From Eurobike 2023

• 3 Promising New Bicycle Belt Drivetrains
• Why the New Pinion Smart Shift Gearbox is a Big Deal

Bottcher

Bottcher had a few nice touring and bikepacking bike builds on display. They do custom touring builds with Rohloff hubs and 700C wheels…

They do custom touring builds with Pinion gearboxes and 27.5″ wheels…

And they do gravel bikes with Campagnolo Ekar 1X drivetrains.

Corratec

At the Corratec booth was the Allroad gravel bike that had bottle cage bolts on the head tube. That’s a first for me!

KOGA

The 2024 KOGA Roqa Allroad is a light and fast gravel bike with clearance for 700x45mm tyres.

It very much keeps the aesthetic of a road bike, in fact, there are some Roqa models with full road bike groupsets. But the Roqa Allroad comes with tougher wheels, a gravel handlebar, and the new SRAM Apex AXS 1X wireless groupset with a wide-range 11-52T cassette.

KOGA also showed the WorldTraveller, my personal bike of choice!

This bike is tougher than ever. It can now handle a 180kg load without any hesitation thanks to the hugely oversized aluminium frame tubes, semi-integrated rear rack, and chunky touring tyres (up to 27.5 x 3.0″). All the components have been tested to handle the 180kg stress test too.

It also comes in a badass step-through frame, which is the stiffest touring frame of this type on the market. This means you can load it up with a tonne of luggage and the frame will not flex about while you ride. You can order the WorldTraveller with a suspension fork too.

If you prefer the more traditional look of the lighter WorldTraveller Classic, it will continue to be available in the KOGA configurator.

Moulton

The Moulton space-frame design is iconic in the bike world. Alex Moulton pioneered this design all the way back in 1983 when he finally mastered his fillet-brazed-steel-truss recipe and made it ride like a proper bike.

The Moulton frames are designed to be split in two for transport, they have small suspension elements front and rear and are very lightweight at around 10kg/22lb.

Now in 2023, the Moulton NS Safari sports disc brakes (this is a first for Moulton).

NS Bikes

With its burly 27.5 x 2.25″ tyres, the NS Frag looks like a particularly capable gravel bike. The bike has a steel frame that’s paired with a carbon bikepacking fork to accommodate cargo cages.

The tyre clearance is pretty much maxed out with WTB Ranger 2.25″ wide tyres. You could also easily swap these tyres out for some 2.0″ slicks if you wanted to spend more time riding on smoother surfaces.

Patria

Patria was showing a steel gravel bike built around a Rohloff 14-speed hub and Gates belt drive. While Rohloff hubs normally require a grip/twist shifter, this bike was using aftermarket Cinq Shift:R shift levers and TRP hydraulic brakes.

Pelago

Although it’s not planned to be available until 2025 (as a complete bike anyway), the Pelago Thorsmork was sitting in the Pelago tent.

This steel rigid bikepacking bike offers wide tyre clearance up to 29 x 2.6” or 27.5 x 3.0”. It’s dropper post ready, and with a 44mm head tube, you can easily set it up with a suspension fork.

The full-fender option adds to the bike’s versatility and is certainly unique on mountain bikes (check out the small fender bridge on the fork).

Tout Terrain

Tout Terrain unveiled their Pamir electric touring bike, which also won a Eurobike Gold Award.

This e-bike comes with the all-new Pinion 12-speed gearbox and combined electric motor unit, as well as a 700 to 1250Wh battery capacity. The frame is made in Europe, and it offers a modular rear rack similar to the new KOGA WorldTraveller.

Up front is the new Tout Terrain Adventure II carbon fork, which is suspension-corrected (495mm), pannier rack ready, and much less bulbous than previously. This will be available to purchase separately.

There is also a new model called the Tout Terrain Tribeca Xpress that is almost identical to the Scrambler but has extra mounts for fenders and dynamo lights. I personally think having a new model name for a few extra mounts is a bit silly, as it complicates Tout Terrains already huge model range.

VSF Fahrradmanufaktur

VSF had a new bike at the show called the AX-1200. This bikepacking-ready rigid bike is complete with the new Pinion Smart Shift 12-speed gearbox, Gates Carbon Drive, 29 x 2.4″ tyre clearance, and a Columbus carbon fork. The frame geometry looks like it’d be suitable for some singletrack, and even an 80-100mm suspension fork.

The Pinion Smart Shift system finally gives you a decent trigger shift option for the gearbox. Check out my full article on the new Smart Shift HERE.

VSF also had their GX-500 gravel bike at the show, which was released one or two years ago.

My touring/bikepacking tech galleries from Eurobike 2023:

• 11 Quirky But Functional Bikepacking Products (Part One)
• 11 Exciting New Bikepacking and Touring Products (Part Two)
• The Most Interesting Bikepacking Tech (Part Three)
• The Best Touring and Bikepacking Bikes (Part Four)
• 11 Notable Bikepacking Bag Finds (Part Five)

The post The Best Touring and Bikepacking Bikes of Eurobike 2023 appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

The update brings clearance for wider tyres (2.8″), suspension fork compatibility, thru-axles, an increased weight limit, a higher frame stiffness, a semi-integrated rack, and a taller and more stable geometry – among other things.

As usual, there is a standard build (lowest cost), as well as highly-customisable custom builds (KOGA Signature program).

In this article, I want to examine all of the details of this new design.

Who is the KOGA WorldTraveller For?

The 2023 KOGA WorldTraveller is a very strong, very capable, and very low-maintenance touring bike. It’s available in both a regular frame as well as a step-through frame design.

The aluminium frame and fork are engineered to be particularly stiff so that you can carry everything – including the kitchen sink – and still achieve a very stable ride. The selected components on the model you choose are the most reliable at each given price point. This ensures component failure is absolutely minimised.

The WorldTraveller can ride efficiently across different road surfaces around the world. It comes with 29″ x 2.2″ tyres (55-622) as standard, which is an ideal width for both pavement and smooth dirt roads.

But the frame is also capable of fitting a smaller diameter 27.5″ wheelset, albeit with wider 2.8″ tyres (584-72). Sand and rough 4×4 tracks should be no problem with a bit of extra volume.

You also can spec the KOGA WorldTraveller exactly how you like using their online bike configurator. It adds cost to custom build a bike, but you can choose from one of 10 colours, as well as a Rohloff 14-speed internal gear hub and belt drivetrain (my preference for world touring).

KOGA place a lifetime warranty on the frame for the original owner, which is much longer than comparable touring bike manufacturers such as Tout Terrain (five years) and Idworx (six years).

Who is the KOGA WorldTraveller NOT For?

The WorldTraveller is a thoroughbred touring bike. If you’re not planning to travel with heavy loads, this bike might not be for you.

This frame is considered overbuilt for regular commuting or sporty rides. This means that when you ride a WorldTraveller without luggage, you will likely notice the high bike weight (more than 20kg/44lb depending on configuration) and high frame rigidity.

Luckily, KOGA has other much lighter and more suitable bikes in their product range for commuting or leisure. And the “WorldTraveller Classic” is still available and will shave 2-3kg off the bike’s weight.

My Involvement with KOGA

I have been a KOGA Ambassador for over five years now, so there is no doubt some of my feedback has worked its way onto this new bike.

I’ve taken my KOGA WorldTraveller across the hottest deserts, into icy snowfields, through dense jungles, along beaches, up muddy tracks, and to the top of the highest road in the world (almost 6000 metres!). I recently calculated that I’ve cycled over 60,000km on WorldTravellers – mostly on dirt roads.

The only thing I’ve broken so far is one spoke (this doesn’t include the time I fell off a cliff with my bike and made a mess of things, or when a stick went into my spokes). It’s best to watch my video review of the bike to see what has worked for me and what has not.

In terms of maintenance, all I do semi-regularly is change my brake pads and keep my belt clean. The Rohloff hub gets an oil change twice a year, and I give my hydraulic brakes new mineral oil every year. That’s about it.

Right, let’s look at the new features.

New Features

Suspension Fork Compatible

The new frame can use a suspension fork or a rigid fork, depending on your preference.

The new 63mm travel suspension fork will absorb bigger hits on the road and trail providing a smoother and more confidence-inspiring ride – with extra traction. But it will also add weight (800g/1.8lb), cost (€250) and require ongoing maintenance.

The rigid fork is the most dependable setup and is better suited to carrying luggage. It can fit a front rack, cargo cages, and even a kickstand. I will be using the rigid fork with a Vecnum suspension stem on my personal bike.

A suspension fork can, of course, be purchased later in the case of the standard build (about €400). Or you can configure the suspension fork from the factory with KOGA’s Signature program.

180kg Weight Limit

The KOGA WorldTraveller is now certified for 180kg/400lb.

That means you can weigh 100kg/220lb, your bike can be 20kg/44lb and you can still load it up with 60kg/132lb of gear, food, and water for crossing the Australian Outback. Your bike won’t care one bit.

It’s worth noting that while the previous KOGA WorldTraveller was only certified for 130kg, it was engineered to exceed this figure by a significant margin. The reason the weight rating is so much lower is simply that 130kg was the maximum test rating available when the frame was in development.

More Tyre Clearance

KOGA has increased the tyre clearance by a fair bit.

The frame will now comfortably fit in 2.2″ tyres (29″/700C wheels) or 2.8″ tyres (27.5″/650B) with full fenders. But based on the image above, the maximum tyre clearance looks like it could be as wide as 29 x 2.4″ with the right tyre and rim combination.

The 29″ rims have an inner rim diameter of 30mm (an ideal size), and the 27.5″ rims jump up to 35mm (also ideal).

Thru Axles

The new WorldTraveller now comes with thru-axles.

While it’s hard to find someone who has had a problem with quick-release axles, thru-axles allow for an even stiffer frame and fork, better suiting the larger diameter 180mm and 203mm rotor sizes now on offer.

Sliding Rear Dropouts

The rear dropouts are now sliding. This is not a particularly important detail for the derailleur version of the bike but will make belt tension adjustment a bit easier for those who opt for the Rohloff 14-speed hub.

KOGA Front Rack

The front lowrider rack is made by KOGA specifically for this WorldTraveller. The rack keeps your front bags low to the ground and is rated for 7.5kg on each side (you really don’t want any more).

There is even an integrated kickstand mount that helps to stop the wheel from flopping when the bike is parked.

KOGA Rear Integrated Rack

KOGA have gone in-house on the rear rack too. This semi-integrated design is part of the frame and thus provides extra rigidity compared to a regular rack.

The load capacity is now up to 45kg/100lb, which is more than almost every rack available (for reference, Surly steel racks are 36kg/80lb).

I think I could’ve done with a bit extra rack stiffness when I was carrying 25 litres of water (heavy!) in the remote sections of Australia.

Modular Rail System (MRS)

On the downtube, you’ll find the MRS or Modular Rail System.

This is actually quite cool as you can add mounting points wherever you like along the rail, making it suitable for multiple water bottles or cargo cages.

Complex Frame Shapes & Super Smooth Welds

KOGA have used multiple new frame-building technologies to maximise the stiffness and strength of the frame – without adding too much weight.

The large-diameter hydroformed aluminium tubes have been optimised both in terms of shape as well as wall thickness. And inside the lower half of the downtube are three integrated “torsion chambers” that run the length of the tube, increasing the frame stiffness even further, and providing a small cavity for the cables to pass through.

Everything is held together with glassy-looking super smooth welds. A very impressive detail.

Internally Guided Cables

The KOGA WorldTraveller bikes have had fully-guided cables for a long time now.

While some bikes just have a big ol’ hole in the side of the frame for their internal routing (cable rattle!), the WorldTraveller frame guides the cables exactly where they need to go through one of the torsion chambers. This makes cable changes very easy and results in zero noise.

The 2023 KOGA WorldTraveller Frame Geometry

With a new frame design, also comes a slightly longer and much more upright frame geometry. The steering characteristics of the bike are just a touch slower than previously (<10% more trail).

The front height of the frame (stack) is taller by 25-50mm (1-2″) across the entire size range. This largely determines how high your handlebars can be set; a taller front end will help riders to get their handlebars to their preferred height, without resorting to a compromised adjustable stem or a bunch of headset spacers.

The chainstays (rear centre) have grown but it’s just 7mm to balance out the extra 40mm that has been added to the front centre. The resulting longer wheelbase will ensure the bike is more stable, even on rougher roads.

You can see the new frame geometry for the ‘gents’ frame HERE and the ‘mixed’ frame HERE.

KOGA Signature Program

KOGA allow you to customise a WorldTraveller exactly to your needs.

You’ll have a choice between the marvellous Rohloff 14-speed internal gear hub with belt drive (this is what I use), or a more common Shimano XT 30-speed derailleur drivetrain. You can also upgrade everything to the max (or remove it) if you like: dynamo hubs, dynamo lights, USB chargers, saddle, stem, handlebar, tyres and much more.

There are 10 standard paint colours to choose between, and you can have your name or a message painted on the frame. These frames are all painted in the Netherlands, and once the paint is dry, a certified mechanic constructs your bike from start to finish.

Once you’ve selected everything in the online configurator, you’ll see both the weight and price of the bike. If you like it, you can order it. After 10-12 weeks, your custom bike will be shipped anywhere in the world, direct to your door (via DHL). Alternatively, you can do this all through a bike shop that sells KOGA bikes (Europe only).

I made a film about the KOGA factory when I visited; you can see how the bikes come together HERE.

KOGA WorldTraveller Standard Specification

The standard-spec WorldTraveller is fitted out with a Shimano Deore XT T8000 groupset. This 3×10 derailleur drivetrain has been around for a long while now, but is reliable, and offers a decent gear range, low climbing gear, and small gear steps.

The bike comes with well-known touring components such as Busch & Muller dynamo lights, an SP PD-8X dynamo hub, Ursus kickstands, an Axa lock, water bottles, SKS fenders, KOGA racks, and two water bottles.

To finish off the build, the bike comes with Schwalbe Marathon Efficiency tyres, which have been independently tested to be one of the fastest touring tyres available (they have a low rolling resistance plus great puncture resistance).

How Much Does The New KOGA WorldTraveller Cost?

The price for the standard bike above is €2749 with all accessories included.

KOGA Signature custom bikes start at about €3500 with Shimano XT derailleur gears. Expect closer to €5000 for a bike with the extra low-maintenance Rohloff 14-speed hub and belt drive.

Summary

The new 2023 KOGA WorldTraveller is a step forward in many ways.

The taller and more stable frame geometry will allow you to ride even more comfortably without needing an adjustable stem or lots of headset spacers.

The bike is highly configurable, suiting both a round-the-world trip on paved roads (rigid, narrower tyres) or dirt roads (suspension, wider tyres). You really don’t need to worry about your body weight, water weight, or the gear you’re lugging about – the frame is built especially stiff and has a very high weight allowance.

You have a choice of frame design (step-through or regular), and through the Signature program, a choice of drivetrain, frame colour, and just about every component on the bike.

For more information, head on over to the KOGA website.

The post The 2023 KOGA WorldTraveller Touring Bike: Tougher and More Capable! appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

The clock begins at the grand depart and doesn’t stop until riders cross the finish line. And by the way, the ride is strictly self-supported. The fastest riders will complete the course in around two weeks, covering approximately 280 kilometres per day (174mi).

It’s safe to say that the Tour Divide is an extreme test of both the body and mind.

It’s also very interesting from a gear optimisation perspective, as a few small differences in bike setup will allow riders to make their lives a bit easier. In this video, we will be analysing 121 different bike setups from this year’s Tour Divide to find out what makes the best possible setup.

The statistics I will be drawing upon have been wonderfully collected by BIKEPACKING.com in the form of two articles (HERE and HERE), where riders from all around the world discuss their bike, bag and gear highlights.

As these articles separate bikes based on whether they use a drop bar or flat bar, this seems like a great place for us to start.

Handlebars

A bit over half of the riders interviewed this year are using drop bar bikes (55%).

When people think ‘drop bars’, they think ‘speed’. But speed alone is not how most will pick a handlebar for the Tour Divide. This is a very long event, so comfort is the likely reason that riders choose one handlebar design over another. Contrary to popular belief, the widespread use of the different bar types demonstrates that many bar designs can be ergonomic and comfortable – it’s really just a case of personal preference.

But comfort aside, there is likely an aerodynamic advantage to using drop bars.

When it comes to the aerodynamics of cycling, you ideally want to make your body shape more aerodynamic (Cd), your frontal area smaller (A) – or both. By using drop bars, your hands and elbows do not sit as wide, allowing you to reduce your frontal area and optimise your body shape.

A bit of napkin maths suggests that drop bars could save two or three hours over the full Tour Divide course (75kg/165lb rider, 15kg/33lb bike, 140 watts power output).

You can learn more about the aerodynamics of touring and bikepacking HERE.

Aero Bars

While we’re still on the topic of handlebars, one of the best possible ways to improve both your speed and comfort is to fit aero bars to your bike. Most Tour Divide riders seem to agree, as 77% of them are using aero bars this year.

This is partly because you can make your body shape more aerodynamic with an aero bar, allowing you to ride faster with the same effort. But arguably, it’s the additional comfort that’s the most appealing feature.

Consider this, Tour Divide riders at the pointy end of the race spend upwards of 20 hours per day riding their bikes. This results in a lot of localised body fatigue. Aero bars offer your body a break by providing a different riding position that reduces strain on your arms, wrists, hands and bum, and will allow you to stretch out your back and use different muscles.

If you want to go further down this rabbit hole, I have a detailed article about aero bars HERE.

Saddles

The saddle you choose is going to be the difference between completing the Tour Divide and having to scratch.

It’s hard to make saddle recommendations to a broad audience – you really have to try them first. But there are some trends here.

Brooks is the most popular saddle brand for the Tour Divide with 20% of riders using one, so they must be doing something right. Ergon saddles have really taken off recently and now more than 17% of riders have one fitted. And WTB has consistently been a popular brand, featuring on 15% of the bikes.

You can learn more about saddle comfort for touring HERE.

Seatposts

Only 13% of riders are using a suspension seatpost (including the carbon leaf-sprung Ergon CF3).

After extensively testing suspension seatposts, I think that many riders could improve their TD experience with one of these. Short travel posts are 100 or maybe 200 grams heavier (3-6oz) than a rigid post. That’s it.

You can read my detailed suspension seatpost article HERE and carbon flex seatpost article HERE.

Tyres

If you are racing the clock, your tyres are probably the most important component you can optimise over a 4,400km ride.

Some tyres that I’m seeing fitted to TD bikes have been tested on smooth surfaces to roll with 20-watts extra resistance over other tyre sets. A bit of napkin maths suggests that slow tyres could add more than 20 hours of pedalling to a TD run!

But that said, it’s hard to come up with an accurate time figure due to the mix of road surfaces, varying rider weights, tyre pressures and more.

The most popular tyre is the Vittoria Mezcal and you will find it on more than 1/3 of all bikes.

The Mezcal has become the go-to tyre for the TD as it does an incredible job of balancing rolling resistance, puncture resistance, durability and grip. When you move to faster-rolling options like the Schwalbe Thunder Burt, you end up with significantly less grip and a touch less puncture resistance too – which might not keep your mind at ease.

Essentially, there’s a trade-off on all tyres, and it seems that the Mezcal is where most people end up.

The second most popular tyre is the Maxxis Ikon. These are tested to be slower rolling but are known for their reliability – I know ultra racers who have been using them for years and have literally never had a puncture.

I’m not sure why the Continental Race King Protection tyres (7% of bikes) are less popular than in years past. These tyres are what the late Mike Hall used to set the current 13-day, 22-hour course record. They’ve been tested to be ultra-fast rolling, they’re protective of punctures, and some riders have even raced the TD twice on the same set (8,800km).

If you know why these tyres are less preferred nowadays – let me know.

Wheel Size

In terms of wheel diameter, there are three common sizes on bikes tackling the TD: 26-inch, 27.5-inch and 29-inch.

As the largest diameter wheel offers the smallest ‘angle of attack’ over bumps and depressions in the road, it can maintain the highest speed. 88% of riders are now picking the big 29″ wheels, and it drops off to just 7% of riders using the smaller 27.5″ wheels.

The average tyre width that’s used is 2.2″/55mm. This is likely the sweet spot where riders have the lowest rolling resistance and the most ride comfort on the long dirt roads.

Frame Material

Almost half of all TD riders (49%) opted for a carbon fibre bike frame. This is the obvious choice for an event with over 60,000 vertical metres (200,000ft) climbing, as a kilogram can make a measurable difference here.

A Salsa Cutthroat carbon frame weighs a touch under 1.5 kilograms (3.3lb). In comparison, a similarly tough titanium frame is often about 2.2kg/4.9lb, and steel is closer to 3.0kg/6.6lb.

Again, the napkin comes out and I’ve calculated an extra kilogram for the average rider to be about 1.5 hours over 4,400km. That’s not huge, but it could be the difference between first and second place.

Drivetrains

1X drivetrains now make up 82% of all bike setups using derailleurs. This should be unsurprising, as the Tour Divide is an off-road route that demands wide tyres and low gear ratios, and almost all bikes that accommodate these features now come with 1X drivetrains.

You’ll notice that there aren’t too many gearbox drivetrains at the Tour Divide this year (4%). But this event has previously been won on a Rohloff 14-speed bike (Ollie Whalley, 2012) – so these drivetrains can be a good idea.

That said, gearbox drivetrains are heavier and less efficient than derailleurs so I suspect that’s why they aren’t popular.

Again, my napkin is out, and I’d estimate the Rohloff would add 3-4 hours in good conditions as a result of its lower drive efficiency, plus you could add another hour or two due to the heavier weight. And the Pinion gearbox could add a total of 10 hours when we factor everything in.

Gear Ratios

If you want to get up the steep hills without going into the red, you’ll want appropriately low gear ratios on your bike. Tour Divide riders seem to know this well, as the average low climbing gear across all bikes is just 20 gear inches. This is about right for the course.

Achieving less than 20 gear inches is easy on flat bar bikes, but harder on drop bar bikes as there is limited compatibility between drop bar shifters and mountain bike derailleurs. I’m really impressed with the drivetrain workarounds on the drop bar bikes – about a quarter have been ‘hacked’ in some way to achieve 20 gear inches or less.

The most popular hack is the Wolftooth RoadLink. This extends the effective length of your derailleur, allowing you to accommodate a bigger cassette with lower gear ratios. Another nice hack is the fitment of the Ratio Technology upgrade kit that mates 11-speed SRAM road shifters to 12-speed mountain bike derailleurs.

If you have deep pockets, the SRAM AXS wireless road shifters pair with the wireless AXS mountain bike derailleurs to fit 10 to 52-tooth cassettes. It seems that few drop bars riders are on a small budget as one-in-three bikes are using this setup!

Pedals

Almost all riders are using clip-in pedals (86%).

Most of the performance advantages of clip-in pedals are found under acceleration, so there likely isn’t a big disadvantage to those who choose flats. I’d guess that clip-in pedals are simply what most people are used to when they ride their road or mountain bikes, and as a result, it’s just their preference.

Brakes

Hydraulic disc brakes are also preferred by the majority of riders (82%). They are very reliable these days and often require less grip strength to pull your bike to a stop. This is particularly important when your hands are fatigued after a couple of weeks of riding!

Suspension

Only 30% of all TD bikes are using suspension forks.

Suspension will undoubtedly reduce rider fatigue on the rougher sections of the route. And given that you can lock out most suspension, the biggest disadvantage is simply that it adds weight to your bike – most suspension forks are approximately 1.5kg heavier than carbon forks.

My napkin says that’s a bit over two hours of ride time for the average rider. So, what do you think? Is it worth it?

The Most Popular Tour Divide Bike

Incredibly, Salsa made up a whopping 39% of all Tour Divide bikes this year. In fact, there were 8X more Salsas than the second-most popular bike brand (Niner).

Salsa Cycles are the biggest adventure bike brand in the world right now, and the Cutthroat model, in particular, was designed specifically to excel at the Tour Divide. This model represents 52% of all drop bar bikes here, and it’s not hard to see why – when I take a look at my Bikepacking Bike Buyer’s Guide, the Cutthroat is the only carbon drop bar bike that can fit wide tyres.

And if you’ve ever wondered where the name Cutthroat comes from, the Cutthroat trout is the state fish for all US states that the Tour Divide passes through. You’re welcome.

Summary

Through this analysis, I think the seatpost and tyres are the only areas where Tour Divide riders could squeeze out a bit more performance and comfort. But overall, these rigs are really well dialled in. Just lining up for this event requires a lot of research, so I’m not surprised that almost all bikes are perfectly ready for the course.

To finish up, here’s what the average Tour Divide bike is:

It’s a rigid carbon bike fitted with 29″ wheels and running Vittoria Mezcal tyres in the 2.2″ width. The bike has drop bars, clip-in pedals, hydraulic brakes, aero bars and a 1X drivetrain. The saddle is most likely made by Brooks.

There is a high chance that a SRAM wireless drivetrain is fitted, which allows for the pairing of drop bar shifters and a mountain bike drivetrain to give an appropriately low 20 gear inch climbing gear.

Update: The Top-10 Tour Divide Bikes for 2022

There is now a 2022 Tour Divide winner – Sofiane Sehili! He rode a carbon Vitus Rapide to Antelope Wells in 14 days, 16 hours and 36 minutes.

Here are the bike statistics from the top-10 finishers this year:
Handlebar Type – 70% flat bar, 30% drop bar
Aero Bars – 100% aero bars fitted
Saddles – 20% Brooks, 20% Ergon, rest is mixed
Seatposts – 70% rigid, 30% suspension (including Ergon leaf-sprung posts)
Tyre Model – 60% Vittoria Mezcal, 20% Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge, 10% Maxxis Rekon, 10% Schwalbe G-One
Tyre Width – 2.19″ wide average
Wheel Size – 100% 29-inch wheels
Frame Material – 50% carbon, 40% titanium, 10% steel
Drivetrains – 80% 1X drivetrains, 10% 2X drivetrains, 10% singlespeed
Low Climbing Gear – 19.9 gear inches average
Pedals – 100% clip-in
Brakes – 90% hydraulic, 10% mechanical
Suspension – 80% rigid, 20% suspension
Bike Brands – 20% Salsa, 20% Chiru, rest is mixed

The post The Fastest Bikes of the Tour Divide Ultra Race (4,400KM Non-Stop) appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

We’ll start by discussing the most important aspects of a touring bike. We’ll then go through each touring bike category where I’ll be revealing my picks.

The cool thing is that even if you don’t like my picks, you can apply this knowledge to any touring bike you’re looking to buy – expensive, cheap, new or second hand.

To arrive at this shortlist, I’ve narrowed down the 270 different models that are featured in my 2022 Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide. This book goes into way more detail than I possibly can in this article, so if you’re interested – grab yourself a copy.

How Did I Select The Best Touring Bikes?

The first thing I did was calculate the low climbing gear of every bike in my book.

Low climbing gears are important for bicycle touring as they allow you to ride up hills at a sustainable effort with all of your luggage. When your climbing gear is too high, you’ll be working much harder than necessary, which results in more muscle fatigue, and frankly, makes hills much less enjoyable.

To compare the lowest climbing gear of different touring bikes, we’ll be using a unit of measurement called gear inches.

This is the diameter of the wheel, times the size of the front chainring and divided by the size of the rear cog. With this information, we can compare bikes with different wheel sizes, tyre widths and drivetrain setups.

I’m looking for 20 gear inches or less for paved roads, and less than 18 gear inches for dirt roads. But really, the lower – the better!

Don’t worry about the fact we’re using inches as the unit. These numbers aren’t ever converted, and they are relative too. For example, a bike with an 18-inch gear will climb 10% slower than a 20-inch gear, which means you’ll either find the same hill easier – or you can use this mechanical advantage to carry more goods.

I next assessed the frame geometry for each of these bikes. I’m looking for bikes that are long, upright and have the appropriate steering characteristics for the handlebar type.

More specifically, I’m looking for long chainstay and wheelbase lengths, a tall ‘stack’ height up front, and slower steering speeds (more trail) on the bikes that offer higher steering leverage (flat bar bikes).

I then narrowed things down further by determining the bike’s value for money.

As touring bikes have a pretty hard life, the price points I have chosen are where you get the most reliability and performance for your money. These bikes are almost always priced between US $1000 and $2500. If these prices are still too high for your budget, find an older version of these bikes second-hand and you’ll never be disappointed.

Frame stiffness is another important consideration for a touring bike.

The majority of touring bikes support a front and rear load, and your frame is the medium that needs to resist the twisting forces between these two points. A bike that is not stiff enough will feel unstable, and can more easily induce speed-wobbles.

When it comes to the handling, stability and general feel of a touring bike, we want our frames to be as stiff as possible without weighing a tonne. An appropriately stiff bike will use oversized frame tubes that make it feel very stable when it’s all loaded up.

Due to the heavy loads and uneven road surfaces, touring bikes really benefit from wide tyres.

Narrow tyres work well on smooth roads, but the reality is that there is very little speed penalty to using a wide slick, which you’ll find is more comfortable and will take you on more varied terrain.

The optimal tyre with fender clearance for most on-road touring bikes is around 50mm or 2.0″. This configuration allows you to fit narrower tyres on the smooth tarmac, but also switch to 2.2″ mountain bike tyres if you find yourself on dirt roads.

If you’re riding exclusively on dirt roads, you will find tyres wider than 2.2-inches to be the best option.

And lastly, I’ve prioritised bikes that have kickstand mounts.

It’s crazy how many touring bikes don’t have the option of fitting a kickstand. My kickstand is just 250 grams (9oz) and I use it dozens of times per day – that’s whenever I pack my bike, re-supply at the shops, take a photo or maintain my bike.

Coronavirus Supply Chain Issues

One last note, COVID has wreaked havoc on the bicycle supply chain, and there is also unprecedented demand for bikes. This means that you will likely have to wait a while for these bikes after ordering – some more than others.

Best Touring Bikes: Long-Distance

Long-distance touring bikes are optimised to carry heavy loads on a mix of road surfaces, however, they specialise in smoother surfaces. This is the kind of bike suitable for cycling around the world on primary or secondary roads.

2022 Masi Giramondo (US $1299)

My drop bar touring bike pick for 2022 is the Masi Giramondo. This bike stands out thanks to its price, which surprisingly went down recently.

The steel Giramondo offers a great climbing gear of 18 gear inches, which is 14% lower than the average bike in this category. You’ll find a generous 50mm tyre clearance, long chainstays, bombproof bar-end shifters, and excellent TRP mechanical disc brakes.

When you consider this bike comes with Tubus steel racks valued at US $250, it’s even more of a bargain.

If you haven’t heard of Tubus racks, these are the best in the business. I’ve never broken one, but in the unlikely event that you do, Tubus will send you a replacement, free of charge, anywhere in the world – for the first three years. They then go on to provide a 30-year guarantee.

2022 Co-Motion Deschutes (US $2645)

With popular mass-produced touring bikes like the Kona Sutra now cracking the $2000 mark, this makes the slightly more expensive, but USA-manufactured Co-Motion Deschutes a very appealing option.

The Deschutes features larger diameter tubes than almost every steel bike available, which results in one of the stiffest steel touring bikes. Even when it’s loaded to the brim, you can expect this bike to handle very well.

The quality of drivetrain parts is better than most bikes in this category too. It’s fitted with high-performing Shimano 105 shifters that are hooked up to an 11-speed mountain bike derailleur (via a shift-ratio converter). This allows the fitment of a larger cassette to yield the 20″ climbing gear.

2022 Riverside Touring 900 (€1299)

Moving on to flat bar touring bikes, the Riverside Touring 900 made it onto this list thanks to its exceptional price point.

This tourer is fully decked out, ready to go. It has racks, fenders, pedal-power dynamo lights, an ever-popular Brooks B17 saddle, ultra-tough Schwalbe touring tyres and a full Shimano XT groupset, which is about as good as it gets.

You can even charge your electronics from the front dynamo wheel using a USB charger conveniently located in the steerer tube. Independent testing suggests the Cycle2Charge unit performs quite well at 20KPH too.

The Riverside frame offers long chainstays, the steering speed is suitable for a flat bar bike, and the climbing gear is under 20 gear inches.

2022 Cube Travel (€899)

Speaking of value, I still cannot get past the Cube Travel.

This bike is more capable than many touring bikes on a mix of surfaces, as it has 29×2.2″ tyre clearance with fenders. The climbing could be better (22 inches) but you can always improve that yourself by fitting a cassette with a 36 tooth cog.

The Cube Travel comes with lots of great features including a rear rack, kickstand, Shimano 27-speed groupset, hydraulic brakes and even a dynamo hub and light set.

The frame is available in five sizes, and there are an additional three step-through frames if you fancy something easier to get on and off.

2022 KOGA WorldTraveller (€2199)

If you are after a top-tier frameset without the top-tier price, I don’t think you can beat the KOGA WorldTraveller.

These frames are incredibly stiff laterally, which allows them to handle very heavy loads with grace. There is fully-guided internal cable routing inside the frame, super-smooth welds, a steering limiter to prevent your front wheel from turning too far, super long chainstays to maximise the ride stability, and an abrasion-resistant powder coat paint job.

The WorldTraveller comes with everything you need to set off around the world, including super-strong wheels, dynamo lights, Tubus racks, Schwalbe touring tyres, a Topeak pump and a low 20″ climbing gear.

You can choose between a step-through or a traditional frame, which are both available in five sizes. And if you wanted to do some off-road touring like me, you can buy some rims in the 27.5″ diameter and then fit some wide 2.6″ tyres.

Please note: I am sponsored to ride KOGA bikes. But I simply could not find a bike this good at this price point!

Best Touring Bikes: Trekking

Trekking bikes are long distance touring bikes built around a suspension fork. The fork adds comfort on rough dirt and cobblestone roads. The downsides are that it’s harder to fit a rack for front panniers (most people just use rear panniers) and the suspension fork requires regular maintenance.

2022 Rose Multisport 1 (€1249)

The Rose Multisport 1 is a great option at an exceptional price point.

It has a coil-sprung suspension fork up front, which works out a little heavier than an air fork, but is less likely to experience problems on a long trip. You can lock the fork for the smooth road sections to ensure you aren’t wasting your pedal power.

The 21″ climbing gear is decent for most touring applications and the frame geometry is both very upright and stable.

The Multisport uses a Shimano Deore 30-speed groupset, dynamo lights, rear rack, fenders, kickstand, lock, chain protector and suspension seatpost. It’s a killer deal.

Best Touring Bikes: Light Touring / Gravel

Light touring bikes are designed to be lighter and faster on smoother surfaces. They aren’t as bombproof as long-distance touring bikes, but will comfortably handle 10kg of luggage or so.

2022 Kona Libre AL (US $2099)

At a touch over 10kg, the Kona Libre AL sheds more than 4kg/9lb compared to a dedicated touring bike.

What really draws me to the Libre is the frame geometry. Most bikes in this category have evolved from a race bike lineage, which results in a long reach to the bars, and a substantial saddle-to-bar drop. This puts your body in a speedy ride position but tends to be less comfortable over long distances.

Touring is about enjoying the ride in comfort and discovering new places, so I think more bikes in this category would benefit from being as relaxed and upright as the Libre. An added benefit of a tall front end is that you put much less weight on your hands, so you’re unlikely to experience numb fingers after a long day. Plus, you have better access to the drop section of the drop bars, which means more powerful braking and much better bike control.

The Libre has excellent tyre clearance (50mm), good hydraulic brakes and all the mounts you’ll need – but there are two downsides to this bike.

The climbing gear is high, so you might need to swap in some new drivetrain parts. And the large seatpost diameter will likely provide inadequate comfort, so factor in a carbon seatpost or suspension seatpost. Check out my comprehensive articles on suspension seatposts and carbon flex seatposts.

2022 Focus Atlas 6.7 EQP (€1899)

If you’re after something fast, lightweight (12.7kg), and with dynamo lights, fenders and a rear rack – the Focus Atlas is looking very good.

This frame is the stiffest gravel bike ever tested by Tour Magazin, which is a good thing when it comes to a bike that’s loaded with luggage.

The bike comes with 37mm tyres as standard, however, will comfortably fit 47mm tyres if you were to remove the fenders.

While the 24″ gear is a touch high by touring standards, keep in mind that this bike is designed for tarmac roads and lighter loads. Should you feel like pushing the limits of the drivetrain, the Shimano GRX rear derailleur that comes with the bike is known to handle cassettes with much larger sprockets.

The Atlas also wins my heart because it comes with a kickstand, and there’s also a flat bar version of this bike if that’s what you prefer.

2022 Cube SL Road Pro FE (€1199)

My light-touring-bike-with-flat-bars pick is the Cube SL Road Pro FE.

Like the Focus, it’s been fitted with all the touring accessories you need to travel, right down to the dynamo lights. It also offers the same 24″ climbing gear and 47mm tyre clearance without fenders.

The reason I picked the Cube over the Focus is that value-for-money is next level on this bike – it’s €400 cheaper with similar quality components.

Best Touring Bikes: Off-Road

Off-road touring bikes are essentially mountain bikes with tougher wheels and provision for racks, fenders and extra water bottles. A key characteristic is the wide tyre clearance on offer.

2022 Brodie Mega Tour (CA $1625 / US $1300)

The Brodie Mega Tour caught my attention for a few reasons.

The first thing was the price. Brodie is a Canadian company, so when we convert to US dollars and we end up with $1300 – which is hyper-competitive in this segment.

The next thing I noticed was the choice of a 2X drivetrain. While almost every off-road touring bike has switched to a 1X drivetrain, Brodie opted for a front derailleur.

What’s the advantage? Well, you get smaller jumps between each gear change, which is especially handy on flat or rolling terrain where you can better fine-tune your speed in accordance with your pedalling cadence. It can be more efficient too. You can read more about 1X vs 2X drivetrains in my article HERE.

The Mega Tour has a low gear of 18″, generous 29 x 2.6″ tyre clearance, a sweptback handlebar, Shimano hydraulic brakes (with large 180mm rotors)… and there’s even a kickstand mount out back.

This is not only a recipe for a great off-roader, but it could easily be a long-distance touring bike with some slicks.

2022 Genesis Longitude (£1199 / US $1600)

In the ‘plus bike’ category with 3.0″ wide tyres, I’ve picked the Genesis Longitude.

It just so happens that this is another 2X bike, but I primarily picked it because it represents excellent value for money. The climbing gear is 18 gear inches, however, you can quite easily replace the front chainrings to achieve a 16″ should you need.

The frame is a bit taller than average and is decked out with mounts. It’s tough enough too – I know quite a few people who are currently or have previously cycled across continents with this bike.

If the idea of a 14-speed Rohloff hub piques your interest, the Longitude also has horizontal dropouts that make it an appropriate fit.

2022 Panorama Taiga EXP (CA $3199 / US $2500)

This new steel off-roader is a great buy!

The Panorama Taiga has a carbon fork to keep the weight down (11.8kg/26.0lb) but it will also accommodate a MTB suspension fork should you need it. The stats on this bike are great – there’s 29 x 2.6″ tyre clearance, a 20″ climbing gear, a 52cm wide handlebar and the ability to fit a Rohloff 14-speed gearbox hub and belt drivetrain.

To achieve the low climbing gear, a SRAM MTB 12-speed derailleur has been hooked up to an interesting Gevenalle indexed shifter. These shifters are not particularly elegant but having used one previously, they’re fast-shifting and extra durable.

As you can see, the Taiga’s frame geometry is super upright. This is so that you can comfortably use the drops for long periods of time, where you have the best access to the brakes. And when you use the hoods or bar tops, you will have less pressure on your hands than a less upright bike. The frame also features long chainstays to keep your front wheel planted on steep climbs.

The only thing to note is that the Taiga is using a lightweight 28 spoke wheelset that’s very light. If you weigh more than average or are carrying a heavy load, you will want to replace it with something much stronger.

2022 On-One Rocky Road (£1299 / US $1750)

Ok, I never expected a titanium bike to end up on a value-for-money bike list.

This is the On-One Rocky Road, which retails for £1300 but can sometimes be found for under £1000 (US $1350). That’s smack-bang in steel or aluminium bike price territory.

By using titanium, On-One can build a frame with the equivalent stiffness and strength of a steel frame, with an 850-gram (1.9lb) weight saving. But the modest weight reduction isn’t the reason I would buy a titanium bike – it’s the scratch and rust resistance that I like most. You can easily buff out any scratches on the frame so that it looks as good as new.

Interestingly, the head tube angle is quite steep compared to modern mountain bikes, which results in a quick steering feel and reduced wheel flop. Given your front luggage weight slows the steering back down again, this is not a bad thing at all.

The bike comes with a carbon fork, hydraulic disc brakes and a 1X drivetrain. As the SRAM SX derailleurs are not known for their durability, I’d recommend upgrading it to an NX or GX model if you’re cycling anywhere remote.

To round things out, the frame geometry is quite upright, the maximum tyre width is 29 x 2.6″ and the climbing gear is ideal at 17.5 gear inches.

Summary

That rounds out the best touring bikes for 2022, with price factored in!

It was super hard narrowing this list down to so few but can see all the other great models in my 2022 Touring Bicycle Buyer’s Guide. In this book, you’ll learn about all the important features of a touring bike and can then use the tools at the back of the book to compare over 270 different bikes. It’s updated yearly for free, so expect to get great value out of it.

Are There Any Other Good-Value Touring Bikes That Should’ve Made This List?

The post Here Are The 13 BEST Touring Bikes You Can Buy In 2022 appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Wait… aren’t these just hybrids, 1990s mountain bikes and rigid mountain bikes?

You could definitely argue that case, but ultimately, I don’t think it matters. These bikes have the latest bike technology, they are available in shops right now and they are a direct alternative to their drop bar gravel bike brethren.

Right, it’s time to go deep down the flat bar gravel bike rabbit hole…

Don’t miss my article about the BEST gravel bikes under $1000 HERE.

8 Reasons Flat Handlebars Are Great For Gravel

1. You get better bike control thanks to the additional steering leverage (especially with any front luggage).
2. You have much more handgrip while braking on bumpy surfaces.
3. It opens gravel bikes up to MTB-specific components (brakes, shifters, derailleurs, in particular).
4. It’s easier to change/maintain gear and brake cables.
5. Flat bar grips are often more durable than bar tape.
6. Mountain bike parts are usually cheaper, resulting in great value gravel bikes.
7. Mountain bike parts have more suitable gear ratios for dirt roads (can be steep!).
8. There is more space for bikepacking handlebar packs and accessories.

I’ve got an in-depth article on the topic of flat handlebars HERE.

Flat Bar Gravel Bike Frame Geometry

Best practice flat bar gravel geometry is not the same as drop bar gravel geometry.

The most obvious change is the length of the frame. As the grips are closer to your body on a flat bar bike, manufacturers need to increase the length of their frames to ensure your hip, back and arm angles can be maintained.

The difference in frame reach is somewhere between 25mm and 50mm depending on who you ask. Salsa Cycles have a ~50mm difference in ‘reach’ between their frame types, Norco uses ~35mm, Specialized run ~30mm and Marin go with ~25mm.

The bike’s steering speed also requires amendment on a flat bar gravel bike.

To make a flat bar gravel bike feel nice and stable when we ride, we need to adjust the steering geometry of the frameset so that the bike turns slower than a drop bar bike. This is to help counter the additional steering leverage. With both quick steering and lots of leverage, you end up with a very twitchy handling bike (ie. it feels less stable at speed).

Bike designers typically slacken the head tube angle to account for the additional steering leverage.

We can get a good idea of how quickly a bike will steer by measuring the “trail” in millimetres. Less trail means faster steering, and more trail means slower steering. For a flat bar gravel bike, approximately 20% additional trail is enough to counter the higher steering leverage.

You can understand the basics of bicycle frame geometry HERE.
And understand advanced-level steering HERE.

Flat Bar Gravel Bike Conversions

There are a handful of drop bar bikes that could be great candidates for a flat bar conversion (if you don’t like anything below!). This is because they are built with a “progressive” frame geometry that already incorporates a longer frame reach and a slacker head tube angle.

Here are your options: Bjorn Recycled, BMC URS, Canyon Grail, Curve GMX+, Evil Chamois Hager, Fustle Causeway GR1, Knolly Cache, KTM X-Strada, Liteville 4-ONE Mk1, Marin Headlands, Merida Silex, Nukeproof Digger, Rocky Mountain Solo, Saracen Levarg, Whyte Glencoe.

Scoring The Best Flat Bar Gravel Bikes

I have prioritised flat bar frame characteristics in my scoring because I think well-designed flat bar bikes should rise to the top (30% of the score). In particular, this list penalises bikes with short top tubes and quick steering.

Having appropriately low gear ratios is important for the steeper-than-typical gravel ascents – the gravel bike’s weight will also help here (both total 30% of the score). A few more points are up for grabs for frame features, value-for-money and tubeless compatibility (the remaining 40% of the score).

• Frameset Quality (/4) – Based on frame features, fork material, cable routing, mounts and axle type.
• Flat Bar Sizing (/3) – Flat bar frame length is 3 points, a bit longer than normal is 1 point, drop bar geo is 0 points.=
• Steering Speed (/3) – 70mm+ steering is 3 points, 65-70mm steering is 2 points and sub-65mm steering is 0 points.
• Low Gear Ratios (/3) – Sub 23″ is 3 points, 23-26″ is 2 points, 26-28″ is 1 point, 28″+ is 0 points – learn more HERE.
• Bike Weight (/3) – Sub-10kg is 3 points, 10-11kg is 2 points, 11-12.5kg is 1 point, 12.5-15kg is 0 points.
• Value For Money (/3) – A subjective score based on my opinion of the frameset and specification.
• Tubeless-Ready (/1) – An extra point for tubeless tyre compatibility.

TOTAL: /20

If you’d like to learn everything about gravel bikes, check out my in-depth book, The Bikepacking Bike Buyer’s Guide.

Ranking The Best Flat Bar Gravel Bikes

FLAT BAR GEOMETRY GRAVEL BIKES

• Norco Search XR – 19/20 – A killer bike with low gear ratios, modern features and 27.5″ wheels for small sizes.
• Marin DSX 2 – 18/20 – My favourite ‘affordable’ gravel bike. Deore 12-speed, 29×2.1″ clearance, carbon fork.
• Specialized Diverge Expert EVO – 18/20 – The nicest frameset here with an excellent array of components.
  
• Surly Bridge Club – 16/20 – The highest-scoring steel bike, exceptionally low gears, affordable.
• KTM X-Strada 20 FIT – 16/20 – Nice frameset, Shimano GRX 2X drivetrain, internal cable routing.
• Giant Escape Disc – 16/20 – A very compelling $930 option that is available in shops all around the world.
• Priority 600 – 15/20 – A 12-speed Pinion gearbox and belt drivetrain built into a well-priced flat-bar package.
• Kona Dew Deluxe – 15/20 – Another well-priced bike option, with excellent gear ratios and 27.5″ wheels.
  
• Commencal FCB Essential – 14/20 – A 29×2.0″ gravel bike that’s light enough, with all of the modern frame features.
• Marin Muirwoods – 14/20
• Salsa Journeyman Sora – 14/20
• Whyte Portabello V3 – 14/20
• Stevens C12 Lite – 14/20

DROP BAR GEOMETRY FLAT BAR BIKES

• Specialized Sirrus X 5.0 – 16/20 – A best-kept secret, exceptionally well priced, 20mm of suspension, sub-10kg.
• Rose Backroad Multicross – 16/20 – Super lightweight (8.7kg!), fully internal cables, nice GRX components.
• Cube SL Road Race – 14/20 – Shimano GRX 2×11, hydro brakes, carbon fork, very well priced.
• Focus Atlas 6.6 EQP – 14/20 – Nice frameset, Shimano GRX, lots of touring accessories included.
• Poseidon Flatbar X – 13/20 – Cheapest bike on the list ($749!), 10-speed components, carbon fork.
• Octane One Gridd Flat – 13/20
• State Bicycle 4130 Flat – 10/20

Flat Bar Gravel Bikes (Flat Bar Geometry)

2022 Norco Search XR Flat Bar – Global – $1299

19/20 – Excellent frameset with all of the modern features, great flat bar geometry, 650B wheels in the smaller bike sizes and perfect climbing gears. The 42mm maximum tyre size will be limiting for people heading into rougher terrain, so this will be more suitable on smoother gravel roads.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Lightweight aluminium frame, carbon fork, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 77mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 21.4″ climbing gear is fantastic.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Excellent value build with all of the right features.
• Bike Weight (2/3) – Approximately 10.9kg without pedals.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Marin DSX 2 – Global – $1349

18/20 – My favourite affordable gravel bike, Deore 12-speed, huge 29×2.1″ clearance, carbon fork. There is a $979 model too which ranks equally well.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Lightweight aluminium frame, carbon fork, thru-axles, 29×2.1″ clearance.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 81mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 22.9″ climbing gear is great.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Exceptional value for a Deore 12-speed build.
• Bike Weight (2/3) – Approximately 10.9kg without pedals.
• Tubeless-Ready (0/1) – Tubes only.

2022 Specialized Diverge EVO – Global – US $2700

18/20 – This is the bike that solidified the flat bar gravel category. It offers the nicest frame and fork here along with an excellent array of components. The front suspension, frame features and geometry make this a great pick, despite its price.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Top-tier aluminium frame, carbon fork, 20mm of suspension, thru-axles, lots of mounts.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 70mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 21.2″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (2/3) – 10.7kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (2/3) – Exceptional components and frameset quality, price is expensive but not unreasonable.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Surly Bridge Club – Global – $1399

16/20 – One of only a few steel bikes on this list, insanely low climbing gears, 47mm tyre clearance, hydraulic brakes and a great geometry for flat bar gravel riding. If you don’t mind a bit of extra weight the Bridge Club will make a really nice gravel rig.

• Frameset Quality (2/4) – Sturdy steel frame and fork, quick-release axles, lots of mounts.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 77mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 17.5″ climbing gear is insanely low (ride up anything!).
• Value For Money (3/3) – Great value for a Deore 11-speed build and decent frameset.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – 12.4kg without pedals.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 KTM X-Strada 20 FIT – Europe – €1599

16/20 – The latest KTM X-Strada has a lovely aluminium frame and carbon fork, it’s lightweight, tubeless compatible and runs reasonably low gear ratios for most climbs.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Lightweight aluminium frame, carbon fork, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (2/3) – 67mm trail is a touch quick.
• Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 23.2″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (2/3) – 10.9kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (2/3) – A decent Shimano GRX 10-speed build with hydro brakes.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) –Tubeless compatible.

2022 Giant Escape 1 Disc – Global – $930

16/20 – A very compelling $930 option that is available in shops all around the world. The gear ratios are low enough and the components have all of the modern tech, including tubeless compatibility.

• • Frameset Quality (3/4) – Decent aluminium frame, carbon fork, flex seatpost, quick-release axles.
  • Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
  • Steering Speed (2/3) – 69mm trail is a touch quick.
  • Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 22.8″ climbing gear.
  • Bike Weight (1/3) – Approximately 11.9kg without pedals.
  • Value For Money (3/3) – One of the cheapest bikes here, yet still with nice frame features.
  • Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Priority 600 – North America – $2499

15/20 – This bike is different to many others because it has a Pinion 12-speed gearbox built into the crankset along with a belt drivetrain. This results in a silent, maintenance-free drivetrain (no lubricant or degreasers required) that will last as long as you will – ok, belts typically last around 30,000km. The only thing you need to do is change the gearbox oil every 10,000km.

• Frameset Quality (2/4) – Aluminium frame and fork, quick-release axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 87mm trail is great.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 16.0″ climbing gear is crazy low (ride up anything!).
• Bike Weight (0/3) – Approximately 13.0kg without pedals, fenders and the kickstand.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Amazing price for a gearbox/belt drive bike including dynamo light, fenders & kickstand.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Kona Dew Deluxe – Global – $1099

15/20 – Another great ‘affordable’ bike option, with excellent gear ratios, 27.5″ wheels and Shimano Deore 11-speed.

• Frameset Quality (2/4) – Aluminium frame and fork, quick-release axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 72mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 20.0″ climbing gear is super low.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – Approximately 11.9kg without pedals, fenders and the kickstand.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Amazing price for Shimano Deore 11-speed, hydro brakes and a bunch of accessories!
• Tubeless-Ready (0/1) – Tubes only.

2022 Commencal FCB Essential – Global – $1999

14/20 – A 29×2.0″ gravel bike that’s light enough, with excellent frame geometry and all of the modern frame features.

• • Frameset Quality (2/4) – Lightweight aluminium frame and fork
  • Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
  • Steering Speed (3/3) – 75mm trail is appropriate.
  • Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 23.6″ climbing gear.
  • Bike Weight (2/3) – 10.9kg without pedals.
  • Value For Money (2/3) – SRAM GX 12-speed, hydro brakes and nice wheels for the price.
  • Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Marin Muirwoods – Global – $999

14/20

• Frameset Quality (2/4) – Sturdy steel frame and fork, quick-release axles, lots of mounts.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 99mm trail is great.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 20.8″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (0/3) – 12.8kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (3/3) – The Muirwoods offers exceptional value for money!
• Tubeless-Ready (0/1) – Tubes only.

2022 Salsa Journeyman Sora – Global – $1199

14/20

• Frameset Quality (3/4) – Nice aluminium frame, carbon fork, quick-release axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (2/3) – 69mm trail is pretty good.
• Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 24.1″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – 11.3kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (2/3) – A decent frameset and reasonable spec for the price.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Whyte Portobello V3 – Global – £850

14/20

• Frameset Quality (3/4) – Decent aluminium frame and fork, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 72mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (1/3) – 26.8″ climbing gear is too high.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – Approximately 11.5kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (2/3) – Quite a well-priced package.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Stevens C12 Lite – Europe – €3099

14/20 – This is another low-maintenance Pinion 12-speed gearbox bike that runs on a silent belt drivetrain. It’s a bit more expensive than the Priority 600, but it’s available across Europe.

• Frameset Quality (3/4) – Hydroformed aluminium frame and fork, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (3/3) – Dedicated flat bar frame.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 80mm trail is great.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 17.5″ climbing gear is crazy low.
• Bike Weight (0/3) – Approximately 13.5kg without pedals, fenders and the kickstand.
• Value For Money (2/3) – Excellent price for a gearbox/belt drive bike including dynamo lights, fenders, rack & kickstand.
• Tubeless-Ready (0/1) – Tubes only.

Flat Bar Gravel Bikes (Drop Bar Geometry)

2022 Specialized Sirrus X 5.0 – Global – $2250

16/20 – Here is an industry secret: hybrid bikes aren’t as marketable as gravel bikes, so by choosing the Sirrus X, you can get 90% of the Diverge EVO for substantially less money. Just like the Diverge EVO, it has 20mm of suspension, lots of nice parts and all in a package that’s sub-10kg. The only downside is that the frame is a bit shorter than it should be (drop bar geometry).

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Lightweight carbon frame and fork, 20mm of suspension, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (2/3) – 66mm trail is a bit quick.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 21.6″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (3/3) – 9.6kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Amazing value for a carbon bike, with suspension and Shimano SLX gearing.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Rose Backroad Multicross – Europe – €2399

16/20 – Despite losing 3 points for using drop bar bike sizing, the Rose scored incredibly well thanks to the nice frameset and spec, including a flex seatpost. The Multicross is ultra-light, has decent gear ratios and includes all of the modern gravel features.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Ultralight carbon frame, full carbon fork, full internal cable routing, flex post, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 71mm trail is great.
• Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 24.9″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (3/3) – 8.7kg without pedals, lightest bike here.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Expensive but very good value when you consider the quality of everything.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Cube SL Road Race – Europe – €1149

14/20 – The Cube SL Road Race represents amazing value for money, offering the same high-end equipment as many other bikes but at half the price.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Ultralight aluminium frame, full carbon fork, internal cables, thru-axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (2/3) – 68mm trail is ok.
• Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 24.5″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (2/3) – 10.6kg.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Nice frameset, excellent parts, lightweight.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Focus Atlas 6.6 EQP – Global – €1599

14/20 – This flat bar version of the popular Focus Atlas gravel bike has a great spec and comes with a whole bunch of accessories for commuting or touring.

• Frameset Quality (4/4) – Top-tier aluminium frame, carbon fork, thru-axles, lots of mounts.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 70mm trail is appropriate.
• Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 24.3″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – Approximately 11.5kg without the fenders, rack or kickstand.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Exceptional components and frameset quality, dynamo lights, fenders, kickstand and a rack!
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 Poseidon Flatbar X – North America – $749

13/20 – This price almost seems too good to be true. It’s lightweight, uses 1X10 gearing and has some of the lowest gear ratios of all gravel bikes here.

You can see more pictures and the full specification on the Poseidon website HERE.

• Frameset Quality (3/4) – Quite a decent aluminium frame, full carbon fork, quick-release axles.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (2/3) – 66mm trail is a touch low.
• Low Gear Ratios (3/3) – 21.5″ climbing gear is excellent.
• Bike Weight (2/3) – 10.9kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (3/3) – It’s almost too good to be true!
• Tubeless-Ready (0/1) – Tubes only.

2022 Octane One Gridd Flat – Global – €949

13/20 – Deore 10-speed, hydro brakes, carbon fork, reasonably light, sub-$1000!

• Frameset Quality (3/4) – Solid aluminium frame, carbon fork, front thru-axle.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (3/3) – 74mm trail is great.
• Low Gear Ratios (2/3) – 24.6″ climbing gear.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – Approximately 11kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (3/3) – Decent price for a Shimano Deore 10-speed build with hydro brakes.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

2022 State Bicycle 4130 Flat Bar – North America – US $899

11/20 – A very well-priced 27.5″ gravel bike that can be ordered with 700C or 27.5″ wheels for under $1000.

• Frameset Quality (3/4) – Sturdy steel frame and fork, thru-axles, lots of mounts.
• Flat Bar Sizing (0/3) – Drop bar frame with a flat bar installed.
• Steering Speed (2/3) – 63mm trail is too quick.
• Low Gear Ratios (1/3) – 27.3″ climbing gear is too high.
• Bike Weight (1/3) – 12.4kg without pedals.
• Value For Money (3/3) – It’s amazing value, a choice of wheel sizes is a big value add.
• Tubeless-Ready (1/1) – Tubeless compatible.

If You’d Like To Learn Everything About Gravel Bikes, Check Out My Book: The Bikepacking Bike Buyer’s Guide

The post The 20 BEST Flat Bar Gravel Bikes For 2022 appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Two and a half years have now passed and I’ve pedalled this bike over 30,000km – almost entirely off-road. So, how’s the bike holding up?

Today, I’ll be giving you an update on everything I’ve broken, upgraded, liked and disliked about this bike.

Disclosure: I am sponsored by KOGA to travel on this bike. But KOGA hasn’t paid for this video, they’ve had no input into what is discussed, and they’ll be watching this at the same time as you.

Frame Details

Ok, let’s start with the frame.

The powder coat finish has proven extremely durable over the last few years. Other than a few chips, the paint honestly looks brand new. I’ve found Madagascar Orange to be the perfect colour for touring as it’s very understated and almost never looks dirty.

The bike rides very comfortably thanks to the high vibration damping of my luggage, the shock absorption of my suspension seatpost and saddle, and my wide 27.5 x 2.6″ touring tyres.

The frame is incredibly stiff laterally, which results in a very stable and predictable ride – even with my heavy loads. I’ve never experienced the speed wobbles that sometimes occur on other loaded bikes.

Handlebars & Grips

As you may recall, the KOGA Denham Bars are my own design. They’re now available in an oversized 31.8mm version, which is what I have fitted.

I’m still really happy with the shape, as these bars offer ample steering leverage at the grips, a more aerodynamic position in the bullhorns and multiple hand positions for all-day comfort.

They can still be improved, however. I think the bullhorns could be angled up more for riders who use a more upright ride position. I’d like a bit more upsweep at the grips, and a bit less backsweep so that the bars are better suited to ‘progressive’ geometry bikes that use longer top tubes and shorter stems.

I’m still using the original Ergon GC-1 grips, which are designed specifically for sweptback handlebars. I’ve found them to be both very comfortable and durable.

Suspension Stem

One component change I’ve made at the front of this bike is the Redshift Shockstop suspension stem.

If you haven’t seen these stems before, they have a form of suspension built-in, which reduces the shock transmitted to the rider at the grips. They’ve very effective too – GravelBikes.cc have measured an 18% reduction in handlebar vibrations compared to a regular stem on dirt roads.

As the pivot is in the middle of the stem, it relies on leverage to flex up and down. This means my grips don’t move whatsoever, there is a minor amount of movement at the bar tops, and a lot of movement at the bullhorns. I now find myself using the bullhorns much more on rough dirt roads, which is pretty cool.

A quirk of this stem is that it feels weird when it’s flipped upside down. This is because the direction of force coming from the ground is different to its movement. I’d recommend using these stems in the positive orientation to get the best results.

A better stem for a sweptback bar could be the new Vecnum Freeqence, which uses a linkage system to provide its travel. This would allow for suspension at my grips too, but unfortunately, I suspect it won’t work with my handlebar bag mount.

Cinq Plug5 Plus USB Charger

The performance of my Cinq Plug5 USB charger is absolutely top-notch… when it works.

It’s the waterproofing that has been the downfall of this product – the electronics would get wet periodically and I’d have to take the charging cap off and dry it in the sun. For a long time, this would bring the Plug back to life, but now it’s not working at all.

I’ve just received a warranty replacement, which is considerably more waterproof when compared to the old version. I’ll report back if it’s still not waterproof enough for long-term touring.

Quadlock Mount

The baseplate on my Quadlock phone case cracked and now rattles about. This has happened multiple times now, the cases normally last 1-2 years of use.

Despite this annoyance, I still think the Quadlock system is great. The phone case is slim, and the mounting is minimal, easy to use and very secure.

Tyres

I was initially happy with the Schwalbe Super Moto-X tyres, which rolled really well, but I found them to not be as puncture-resistant as I’d like for long-term touring. I had no problems on most dirt roads; it was the truck tyre wire on highways and tiny thorns in desert regions that got through just to the side of the GreenGuard layer.

I’m now using a new tyre model called the Schwalbe Pick-Up in a 2.6″ width. According to Schwalbe, it is faster rolling, more durable and more puncture resistant than the Super Motos.

As it’s a cargo tyre model, it’s designed to be more stable with luggage thanks to the six layers of nylon reinforcement under the tread and five down the sides. They honestly seem perfect for touring – I’m looking forward to putting big miles on these.

Rims and Spokes

Wheels are usually the most likely component to fail on a bike trip. I’m happy to report my wheels haven’t required any spoke tensioning since new. That’s really impressive given how much I’ve abused them!

I did, however, crack my front rim and bend a spoke when a sausage-shaped rock went into my spokes. I’ve been keeping an eye on the crack for a year now and it doesn’t seem to be growing.

Rohloff 14-Speed Gearbox Hub

The Rohloff 14-speed hub has been absolutely flawless. I’m still on the original shift cables, the only maintenance I’ve done is a handful of oil changes and I’ve installed a replacement shifter grip.

Belt Drive

Amazingly, I’m still on the original belt components too.

The only time I’ve had problems with the belt is when I’ve hit sticky volcanic mud that’s combined with small rocks – the rocks can stick to the belt and jam the drivetrain. This has only been once over the last few years.

I’m using a very low belt tension; well under the recommended tension by Gates. This appears to have given me an even longer wear life than normal, and a lower belt resistance too. This is only possible because the KOGA’s rear triangle is built particularly stiff, so the belt simply cannot walk off the cog.

The Hanseline belt care stick I originally used was terrible. If you’re riding in dry, dusty environments where your belt can squeak, 100% silicone treadmill lubricant is my pick. I use less than 50ml per year as belt lubricant is only necessary for the dust.

Bottom Bracket

Eccentric bottom bracket shells have a reputation for making noise, but my experience is that Bushnell BBs will remain completely silent. The sealed bearings in my FSA BB are still spinning ok, but they’re on their very last legs – I’ll be installing new cups this week.

Pedals

Although my original Shimano XT pedals could probably go on and on, the pedal body got a bit sloppy for my liking, so I’ve just fitted a brand new set. I’ve clocked 50,000km on these pedals a few times, they seem to wear out a bit quicker off-road.

Brakes

The Shimano XT hydraulic brakes have been reliable as ever. I’ve only completed one rear brake bleed so far, and I’m likely on my tenth set of brake pads. The rotors needed changing at 18 months as they had literally thinned in half.

Seatpost

I still love the Cane Creek eeSilk seatpost. With its 20mm of vertical travel, I think it’s perfect for mixed terrain as I never feel it moving underneath me.

After 30,000km+ of use, it’s developed play in the bushings but this is not noticeable when I ride. I take the elastomer out every three months and add some silicone lube around the edges – the movement gets a bit sticky otherwise.

Saddle

The foam on the beloved saddle that I’ve been using for the last eight years has gotten a bit firm. I also wanted to see if I could travel without padded shorts, so this year I ditched my cycling shorts and got a saddle with extra padding.

This Selle Italia MAN Gel Flow saddle is almost identical in shape to my previous saddle, making it instantly familiar and comfortable. I haven’t needed to use padded shorts at all with this seat.

I have, however, found it’s necessary to sit more upright on this saddle, as the extra padding puts too much pressure on my pubic arch in a performance ride position. As a result, I’ve moved my handlebars a bit higher than previously.

Fenders, Racks, Kickstand

Racks are another likely component to fail on a bike trip, but I’ve found that Tubus racks are up there with the toughest available. While they now have surface rust, the racks continue to work as new.

The only thing to note is that the front rack required regular bolt tightening for the first few weeks. It could be worth using Loctite on the bolts if you want to expedite this process.

My original fenders took a big hit in my sausage rock accident, which resulted in both of them breaking. The ones you see here are a brand new shiny new set.

I normally destroy kickstands after 18 months or so. The springs always get sloppy and sometimes the pin that holds the kickstand together will just fall out. Luckily, kickstands are cheap and easy to replace – this one is a few months old.

Now that we’ve been through everything I’ve broken, upgraded and replaced, let’s talk about my new frame.

New Frame

This is my new WorldTraveller frameset!

I wanted to test an even more upright ride position, so I got the bigger frame size (63cm). Coincidently, KOGA had a new limited edition colour to promote.

It’s called ‘Viper Green’ and you can order a WorldTraveller in this colourway right now. It’s the same green that Volkswagen Group has used on various performance cars, including Lamborghinis.

Summary

I’m still very happy with my KOGA WorldTraveller after 30,000km+ use. I’m amazed at how new it still looks, which is a testament to the quality of finishing for both the frame and components.

I’ve found this bike handles luggage better than most touring bikes due to its high lateral stiffness. The maintenance is absolutely minimal when you use a belt drivetrain and Rohloff hub – I’m really just changing brake pads, keeping the bolts tight and adding a few drops of silicone here and there.

For the most part, I just get on this bike and ride.

The post Here’s My $6000 KOGA WorldTraveller Touring Bike After 30,000km Use appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

Today, I’ll talk you through how I’ve optimised my new bikepacking bike for my current backcountry adventures.

Even if you’re not into mountain biking or bikepacking, I hope to teach you something about frame design, suspension setup, tyres and the tuning involved in squeezing the most performance out of a full-suspension bike.

But first, how did I end up with a long-travel enduro bike for bikepacking?

A Bikepacking Bike For A Very Specific Purpose

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that Oaxaca offers the best gravity mountain biking in Mexico.

Sierra Norte, the mountain range behind Oaxaca City, provides more than a dozen trails with 1000 metres (3300ft) or more of elevation drop. Most trails started life as ancient paths carved into the mountains over thousands of years, taking the most direct route from point A to point B. The trails are often natural, rocky, loose and incredibly steep.

My current mission is to explore as many of these ancient paths as possible and the best way to do that is on an enduro bike.

My Enduro Bike Criteria

To find a bike for steep, technical terrain, I set some minimum requirements:

• Full-suspension bike with more than 160mm travel to give me traction on the roughest trails.
• 63 to 65-degree head tube angle to provide a long front centre length and desirable steering characteristics.
• 78-degree effective seat tube angle to keep my front wheel planted on steep climbs.
• Long frame reach (510mm+) to suit my obnoxious arm span.
• Dropper seatpost so I can place my body weight almost anywhere I need between my front and rear tyres.

Luckily, I got a stock alert on a bike that ticked all boxes (Nukeproof Mega 290 Comp), I hit buy and it was shipped to Mexico.

The Nukeproof Mega 290 Frame Geometry

Let’s start with the frame geometry of the Nukeproof Mega. The Mega follows the ‘long, low and slack’ mantra of modern mountain bikes.

By increasing the wheelbase length (longer), lowering the bottom bracket height (lower) and slackening the head tube angle (slacker), you end up with a bike that:
1. Lowers your centre of mass compared to other bikes, making it more stable on steep and rough terrain.
2. Increases your front endo angle, making it harder for you to pitch over the bars after hitting a rock or root.
3. Offers a high mechanical trail figure, which acts as a stabilising force to straighten out your steering after your front wheel has been knocked off-line.

One downside to a bike with this geometry is that it hinders your ability to climb steep, technical trails with tight turns. Luckily, most of my climbing is on fire roads.

Slack head tube angles result in a heavy steering feel, so you might be thinking my 64-degree bike is a bit of a handful. This is actually not the case, and that’s because I’m using an 800mm wide handlebar that has ample steering leverage to overcome the steering, front bag weight and low front tyre pressure.

To get a sense of how much leverage helps a slack bike to handle well, all I have to do is ride with my hands further inboard – the reduction in steering control is huge.

A downside to a slack bike is that you also get a lot of wheel flop, which is a destabilising force that pulls your front wheel to the left or right when you ride at slow speeds. Again, steering leverage reduces this effect significantly, but it is always noticeable when I’m climbing.

The steep effective seat tube angle at the back of the bike makes climbing surprisingly easy. This is because my centre of mass is further forward of my rear axle than other bikes, which means my front wheel doesn’t want to lift up, even when I’m grinding up 15% inclines.

Right, let’s move on to the suspension.

How I Optimised My Suspension

The Mega has 170mm (6.7″) of travel up front and 160mm (6.3″) at the back. It uses both an air fork and shock, which is better for bikepacking as I can easily add or remove air in accordance with whether I have luggage or not.

It’s clear the Mega has been optimised around descending. The frame design allows the rear shock to be very active under rear braking (low anti-rise), especially when it’s deep in its travel. I find this characteristic useful on the loose, chunky terrain as it gives my rear wheel the most opportunity to grip.

When riding uphill, the rear shock is definitely too active, bouncing up and down much more than I’d like (the bike has low anti-squat values). Unfortunately, this particular model of the Mega doesn’t come with a compression lockout switch on the shock to save costs.

I know this doesn’t sound great, but I’ve found a workaround!

I slow the speed at which the shock returns from an impact (rebound), which dulls the suspension response significantly. I then ride fire road climbs with a high cadence, which prevents my shock from dipping too far into its travel. It’s actually a very effective solution.

I’m really happy with the shock damper tune when it comes to descending. It seems really well-suited to my bike and body weight. I’ve set my shock up very soft for the loose terrain, which helps to maximise traction as it’s super reactive to bumps. It works well on the trails here as there aren’t many big gaps to send, which would likely bottom out my shock.

I’m generally happy with the performance of the fork, although it could be better. I again run it soft with zero compression damping to get the highest small bump compliance and grip possible.

The downside is that it sits a little deeper into its travel than I’d like. More compression damping would allow it to sit higher, but even just one click feels harsh on the fast, repetitive bumps here.

A more advanced suspension damper would allow me to better tune my fork (high-speed compression adjustment, in particular). There’s actually a Rockshox damper upgrade kit available with more tuning capability, so I might drop one of those in soon.

How I Optimised My Tyres

Tyre choice is absolutely critical for the terrain I ride.

With the loose, scrambly, Oaxacan trails, I cannot push my tyres into corners for additional grip like I would on a well-groomed trail. This terrain calls for tyres with an aggressive tread pattern and lower pressures.

With low tyre pressures, my tyres can deform more, increasing the contact patch, and therefore, ground grip. It also reduces the effective spring rate of the front of my bike, providing even more grip over high-frequency bumps.

The grip isn’t the only thing a lower tyre pressure optimises. Your tyres play a key role in increasing bump compliance, which reduces the ‘harshness’ of a trail for your hands and upper body. I often drop more than 1000 vertical metres in a single run – low tyre pressures help me to minimise how far or fast my handlebars move over bumps, resulting in significantly less arm and hand fatigue.

To dial in my tyre setup, I’ve recently teamed up with Schwalbe to test tyre models in different widths, tread patterns, rubber compounds and sidewall constructions.

I figured 2.6″ wide tyres would best serve the loose terrain here, as I’d be able to use lower pressures to increase grip and reduce fatigue.

But strangely, the most aggressive front tyre model, the Schwalbe Magic Mary, was not providing enough grip when I was cornering hard on soft surfaces compared to my outgoing 2.4″ tyre. This was even occurring down at 11psi/0.8bar in my front tyre!

I was initially quite perplexed but I think I’ve worked it out. When the tyre is scaled up from 2.4″ to 2.6″, the tread pattern simply becomes too open. I solved my front grip problem entirely by switching to a 2.4″ model with 15-16psi/1-1.1bar.

Another interesting thing is that Schwalbe sidewalls are really, really stiff. This provides much more puncture protection and prevents the sidewalls from collapsing in hard corners. But the downside is that they ride harsher than other tyres at the usual pressures.

To give you an idea, my previous Michelin front tyre had the same amount of ‘harshness’ with almost 50% more tyre pressure (22psi instead of 15psi). This means that you will always need to experiment with pressure when switching between tyre models.

The rear tyre I’ve settled on is called the Schwalbe Big Betty. I’m happy with the 2.6″ version, which I run at 17-18psi. The less aggressive Schwalbe models worked out fine on rockier, hardpack trails, but the Big Betty is the only option for me when the surface is loose.

Ok, you’re probably hearing my low tyre pressure and wondering how I’m not rolling tyres off my rims and ploughing my rims into rocks…

The Benefits Of Tyre Inserts

To run low tyre pressures, I’ve fitted Schwalbe Procore tyre inserts to my bike.

You can think of Procore as a separate road bike tyre fitted inside your mountain bike tyre. A special inner tube then allows you to choose to inflate the inner tyre or the outer tyre.

Tyre inserts prevent pinch flats and protect my rims from impacts. Instead of a rock slamming directly into my rim; the rock will instead bounce off the inner tyre. Ultimately, I can run lower tyre pressures to get more grip and comfort, without the risk of denting my rim or getting a flat.

Procore also puts outward pressure on my tyres, locking the bead to the rim. Before using this system, my Michelin tyres would regularly ‘burp’ on rocky trails, losing small amounts of sealant and air pressure. This simply doesn’t happen anymore using Procore.

Another really handy feature of Procore is that it makes tubeless setup really easy with a hand pump! I just partially inflate the inner tyre first, which seats the outer tyre to the rim without the need for a large rush of compressed air.

And finally, Procore makes switching tyres easy, as the inserts take up almost no volume compared to foam inserts like Cushcore, so you can easily manipulate your tyres to get them on and off. I can change my tyres just as quick with this system as with no tyre inserts.

Apidura Backcountry Bikepacking Bags

Let’s change the tune a bit and talk about luggage. I needed waterproof bags as it was guaranteed I’d be riding in super wet conditions sometimes.

The Apidura Backcountry bags looked perfect, using a mix of soft X-Pac VX21 fabric for the rollable areas and Apidura’s own 420D nylon for the areas that require stiffness and abrasion resistance.

No other company is seam-welding VX21 fabric to be waterproof, as the fabric coatings make it very hard to adhere seam tapes. I’m glad that Apidura found a way.

The bags are super stable – people have literally accused me of using bubble wrap inside my bags instead of regular luggage as they sit that stable. The handlebar pack is the only noticeable bag when I’m riding. On slow, tight turns it makes the bike want to tip harder into corners due to its high centre of mass.

The only thing bag that I think needs improvement is the Accessory Pack – the velcro closure is simply not secure enough. On my first few rides, I lost a few items on rough trails and quickly learned to move my gear to other bags when the trails pitched down.

I’m using my dropper post seat pack about 20% of the time. Surprisingly, it doesn’t hit my wheel at full travel thanks to my massive inseam. When the trails get steep, I definitely prefer to use a backpack so that my legs and bum have much more freedom to move about.

One thing I didn’t consider was that stem/feed bags wouldn’t fit due to the short stem. There is simply not enough space left for turning when I fit them!

I’ve stuck some ISC surface protection tape to my frame to make sure my bikepacking bags don’t make a mess of my paint.

The Nukeproof Mega 290 Components

The Mega uses the latest Shimano Deore 1×12 drivetrain.

It has a really low climbing gear (17.3 gear inches) that I’ve calculated will take me comfortably up long climbs with an average gradient of 13%, even when I’m fully loaded. I’ve probably only used my highest gear just once or twice since I got my bike, so I could actually benefit from a smaller front chainring to make climbing even easier again.

The Deore drivetrain is great for the price – it’s quiet and shifts well even though my derailleur has taken some big hits.

The drivetrains biggest downfall has been in muddy/gritty conditions. The shift performance suffers much more than other derailleur drivetrains, and it gets pretty loud and crunchy too.

As you may know, I’m a big proponent of gearbox drivetrains, so I have a Kindernay 7-speed gearbox coming in just a few weeks. I’m excited to share with you how the extra 300 grams (10oz) of unsprung mass affects the suspension performance and whether I notice a suspension performance gain from the lack of a derailleur clutch.

My brakes are Shimano Deore four pistons, which offer large surface area brake pads, and big-ish 203 and 180mm rotors. This is enough power for my needs as I’m pretty light on brakes.

The Shimano Deore brakes do lose power after repeated braking on long descents though (brake fade). I’d love to test out some Hayes Dominion A4 brakes, as Bike Magazin’s lab test shows that they offer 15-25% more power and appear to be significantly more resistant to fading (see comparison HERE).

The Brand-X dropper has performed flawlessly, although 170mm is not enough travel for an XXL bike – Nukeproof should have specced the 200mm model instead, or even better, a 210mm OneUp post.

You might be familiar with my saddle. It has been on all of my touring bikes since about 2013. I kept getting a saddle sore in a specific spot with the flatter and wider Nukeproof saddle – going back to this familiar model keeps me comfortable all day long.

Summary

I hope you’ve enjoyed this in-depth enduro bike analysis!

I think my choice of bikepacking bike is almost perfect for my current adventures. The frame geometry pairs particularly well with the steep and loose terrain here. It’s been fun tinkering with my suspension and tyres to achieve the maximum grip and comfort down Oaxaca’s epic descents.

The frame’s build quality and suspension components have exceeded my expectations of a $3000 full-suspension bike. I cannot think of another enduro bike that offers better value-for-performance.

I’ve just released a bikepacking film that will give you guys a better sense of the terrain here, along with how I travel on this bike, so make sure to check it out.

The post Why The Nukeproof Mega Is The Ultimate Bikepacking Bike (For Me) appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

You’ll have noticed that I don’t emphasise weight very often on CyclingAbout, and that’s because it matters so much less than you think.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some great reasons to use lightweight gear, and I’ll discuss them all later in this article. But if you’re trying to reduce weight to go significantly faster, you’re probably barking up the wrong tree.

Today, we’ll find out the time penalty of each extra kilogram that you add to your bike or equipment. We’ll then compare these time penalties to other forms of cycling resistance.

Let’s start by putting weight into context.

Putting Weight Into Context

When you ride your bike up a hill, it’s not just your bike weight that you are hauling. You are pushing your body, clothes, shoes, water, food, pump, spare tube, and any luggage you might be carrying.

Your body weight makes up the majority of this load; it’s often more than 80% of the total.

While a bike that’s 10% lighter than another feels really impressive when you lift it up (eg. 9kg instead of 10kg), it often only reduces your total weight by 1% – which is now sounding much less impressive.

Shaving grams off bikes and equipment is often a very expensive pursuit too. One kilogram can be the difference between a $200 tent and a $600 tent, a $600 steel frame and a $1600 titanium frame, or a $3129 gravel bike and a $6199 gravel bike!

Additionally, lightweight products are sometimes much less durable. I find this with zips, waterproof fabrics, aluminium cassettes (and cassette bodies), tyres, and rims, in particular.

Alright, let’s find out how weight affects cycling speed.

Bike Speed Calculators

My journey to being less obsessed with weight began when I stumbled upon a website called Bike Calculator, which after filling in all of the parameters, could predict my cycling speed using a mathematical model.

I tested it out using my power output (200w), body weight (78kg), bike weight (15kg), and gear weight (various). I then created a simple 100km ride profile.

My Simple 100km Hilly Ride Profile:
» 5km up, 5km down (10x) on a 3.59%* gradient
» 1796m/5892ft* elevation gain
*The next section will explain why these numbers are oddly specific

I got time predictions on four different luggage weights so that I could work out the time, per extra kilogram, on my course.

Bike Calculator Provided The Following Time Predictions:
5kg Luggage: 4 hours, 14 minutes, 49 seconds
6kg Luggage: 4 hours, 16 minutes, 5 seconds – 76 seconds per extra kilogram
15kg Luggage: 4 hours, 27 minutes, 50 seconds – 78 seconds per extra kilogram (+13:01)
25kg Luggage: 4 hours, 41 minutes, 27 seconds – 80 seconds per extra kilogram (+26:48)

It turned out a kilogram should add between 76 and 80 seconds over 100km. And even if I reduced my power output by 30%, or set the parameters to a smaller rider (55kg) with a lower power output (120w), a kilogram was still only worth two minutes.

Considering that my route had quite a lot of climbing, a minute or two, over 4-5 hours of riding was significantly less than I had expected, so…

… I decided to conduct my own weight experiment!

Weight Testing on a Hilly Route

I rode my bike fitted with a power meter and two large panniers on a 15.37km (9.5mi) undulating route which offered 276m (905ft) of climbing. I pedalled along at 200-watts which was a power rate that I knew I could sustain over a full day of testing.

The route was well-sheltered, significantly reducing any hindrances from the wind. It was designed to mimic a day of cycling in the hills, whereby around 1800m (5905ft) of elevation would be gained over 100km.

I conducted two test runs with three different luggage weights: 5kg (11lb), 15kg (33lb), and 25kg (55lb).

Weight Testing Results

Carrying 5kg (11lb) on a 15.37km Circuit with 276m Climbing
Run 1: 39:55
Run 2: 39:25
Average: 39:40

Carrying 15kg (33lb) on a 15.37km Circuit with 276m Climbing
Run 1: 41:26
Run 2: 41:22
Average: 41:24 (+1:44 with 10kg extra)

Carrying 25kg (55lb) on a 15.37km Circuit with 276m Climbing
Run 1: 42:40
Run 2: 42:24
Average: 42:32 (+2:52 with 20kg extra)

Real-World Weight Testing vs. Mathematical Model

The numbers from my test are a little abstract, so let’s extrapolate them out to 100km to see how closely they match Bike Calculator’s prediction of 78 seconds per extra kilogram.

Extrapolated Data: 100km (62mi) with 1796m (5892ft) elevation gain
5kg Load: 4 hours, 18 minutes, 4 seconds
15kg Load: 4 hours, 29 minutes, 17 seconds – 67 seconds per extra kilogram (+11:13)
25kg Load: 4 hours, 36 minutes, 47 seconds – 56 seconds per extra kilogram (+18:43)

The added time averaged out to be a touch over a minute, suggesting that my perception of how weight affected cycling speed was, indeed, a bit off.

Bike Calculator was within just 1.5 and 4.5 minutes of my outdoor testing times, which I think is impressive considering the simple ride profile I created, only matched the distance and elevation gain. I’m sure the accuracy would improve further if I spent the time to make the gradients correct.

Weight & Flat Terrain

I later attempted an outdoor weight test on flat roads. It turned out that whether I carried 5kg or 25kg, I couldn’t find any significant difference in speed at 200-watts.

Feeling confused, I fed my parameters into Bike Calculator and it predicted that I should be just 10 seconds slower per extra kilogram over 100km.

I guess that explains why my speeds were so similar; weight really doesn’t matter on the flat.

Five Situations When Weight Actually Matters

The data and mathematical models suggest that a kilogram probably won’t slow you down that much. But there are a few instances when focussing on lightweight bikes and equipment is completely justified, in my opinion.

1. You do actually race (be honest).
The difference between winning and losing is sometimes measured in millimetres. One kilogram less is going to help here, and the benefits of that weight saving only increase the longer and more mountainous your race.

2. To improve bike handling and feel.
Heavy bikes don’t feel as snappy or responsive when accelerating or cornering, making them feel a little less inspiring to ride. They are also significantly less agile when you overload them with all your luggage.

3. To use a bike that isn’t designed to carry heavy loads.
If you’ve seen my video describing the differences between bikepacking and touring bikes, you’ll know that touring bikes are stiffer, and are built with a slew of overbuilt components (stronger wheels!) specifically to handle high luggage weights. But here’s the deal: if you can keep your luggage to a minimum, you can reliably travel on almost any bike – not just a touring bike.

4. To make lifting your bike and luggage easier.
There are many instances where you might need to carry your bike. For example, I’m often carrying my bike on hike-a-bike sections of trail, as well as up and down stairs in apartment blocks, hotels, and train stations.

5. To make flying cheaper.
A few extra kilograms can really add up when you get to the airport. Make sure to keep your bike light enough so that you don’t get caught out with crazy fees!

The Types of Resistance More Important Than Weight

Let’s talk about the factors that are often more important than weight when it comes to cycling speed.

Bike Calculator predicts that five extra kilograms adds 2.5% more time on my 100km hilly ride profile, and it’s just 0.4% more time on a flat profile.

(Power = 200w, body weight = 78kg, bike weight = 15kg, gear weight = 0kg)

We can compare these time percentages to the two other main forms of cycling resistance – rolling and aerodynamic resistance.

1. Rolling Resistance

If I fit some of the slowest-rolling touring tyres (Vittoria Randonneur) to my bike instead of the fastest-rolling ones (Schwalbe Almotion), my 100km hilly route would require 12.0% more time to complete.

In this case, rolling resistance is almost 5x more significant than adding 5kg to my bike on the hilly profile (12/2.5=4.8), and 17x more significant on the flat profile (6.7/0.4=16.8).

That said, these numbers are particularly big because I’m comparing the fastest tyres with some of the slowest. But even if we compare tyres closer to the middle of this list (Marathon Greenguard vs Marathon Mondial), the rolling resistance still works out to be more significant than the extra 5kg of weight (+3.7% time on the hilly profile).

You can see my tyre rolling resistance article HERE.

2. Aerodynamic Resistance

Through my aerodynamic testing on a flat velodrome, I found between 6.4% to 7.9% extra ride time was required to cover 100km when using panniers instead of bikepacking bags.

This means that a change in luggage set up on a flat ride could be 16-20x more significant in terms of time than if I added 5kg of extra luggage to my bike (7.9/0.4=19.8).

You can read my list of aero savings for bikepacking HERE and see my velodrome test HERE.

Summary

The data is quite clear; bike weight is not as important as you think!

My real-world testing, along with the numbers from the mathematical models, suggests that a kilogram extra weight will likely add one or two minutes on a hilly 100km bike ride. And on a flat route, a kilogram is likely worth 10 or 20 seconds over 100km.

This is worth thinking about if you find yourself obsessing over bike and gear weight.

Perhaps, you can use this information to save $1000-2000 by choosing a steel bike rather than titanium. Or when your ultralight gear wears out, maybe you could replace it with something more durable. You could even pack a thicker, more comfortable sleeping pad to get a night of better sleep!

The post Why We Should Stop Our Obsession With Bike and Gear Weight appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

I’ve been working on a lot of long-form, highly-researched articles of late, which has meant I’ve had less time to highlight cool new bikepacking bikes…  so today, let’s go back to the CyclingAbout roots.

Here are my handpicked bunch of recent bikepacking bike developments that you need to catch up on.

Fairlight Faran 2.0

Fairlight has been making some killer bikes for a few years now, but it’s the Faran 2.0 that really piqued my interest.

I’m not even going to scratch the surface in terms of frame details here. Instead, you should refer to this 73-page document to see the Faran 2.0 in all its glory.

What I love about Fairlight is that they not only make their bikes in five different sizes, but they offer a ‘regular’ and ‘tall’ frame option in each size.

This essentially determines the height of your handlebars in relation to your saddle, allowing riders with strong core strength and high flexibility to set their bars lower for a ‘performance’ fit; those who want a ‘relaxed’ bike fit can set their bars higher.

These geometries can also be useful for riders who have long torsos and short legs (where a regular frame is best), or short torsos and long legs (where a tall frame is best).

Onto the details. The top tube has been ovalized to provide the equivalent lateral stiffness of a bigger/heavier tube. This is a really neat touch that’s not found on many stock bikes, especially at the £899 price point (frameset).

The Faran 2.0 has some really neat modular cable guides that screw into the frame, allowing you to use the cable guides that suit your build. For example, you can mount the cable guides for both a front and rear derailleur (2X), just the rear derailleur (1X) or you can fit small plugs in lieu of the cable guides if you have Shimano Di2 wiring.

In addition, there is internal dynamo wiring up the fork (see page 36 of the Faran document), which enters the downtube (page 41) and pops out at the rear dropout for a rear dynamo light (page 43).

Otherwise, there are all the mounting points you need for racks, cargo cages and bidon cages.

You can find ample tyre clearance on the Faran 2.0 – enough to fit 27.5 x 2.4” Continental X-King tyres on Hope XC rims. Or if you’re more of a smooth gravel rider, you have ample clearance for 700 x 45mm slicks.

The steering speed is particularly quick on this bike, which is mostly a function of the long 60mm fork offset. The idea behind having a quick steering frame geometry is that once you’ve put luggage on your fork, the weight of the luggage will slow the steering back down again, resulting in a bike that steers just like a regular gravel bike (without front luggage).

Low trail is a pretty sound way of designing front-loaded bikes, but keep in mind that the steering works out to be pretty twitchy when you don’t have any front luggage attached…

Read more about the Fairlight Faran 2.0 HERE.

Tumbleweed Prospector

The latest Tumbleweed Prospector was unveiled about six months ago. I like this bike for a number of reasons…

Firstly, it’s built around the 14-speed Rohloff internal gear hub. If you’ve been around this website for a while, you’ll know that I think Rohloff hubs are the ultimate gear system for a touring/bikepacking bike.

Rohloff gears replicate the gear range of a normal derailleur drivetrain, so you won’t miss out on any high or low gear ratios. But the key difference is that the gears are hidden away, protected by the safe confines of a sealed aluminium hub shell, making everything extremely resilient against mud, grit, dust, snow and sand.

In addition, your gears will never skip, you’ll never need to buy a cassette again, the maintenance is minimal and there are almost no parts that are susceptible to external damage.

You can read my 16 reasons to use a Rohloff hub HERE.

But Rohloff aside, the reason why I wanted to share this bike is the updated tyre clearance.

The Prospector will now squeeze in 27.5 x 3.8″ tyres, which bridges the gap between a plus-bike (~3.0″) and a fat-bike (~4.8″). The boost in tyre width simply gives you more options with where your Prospector can go, which is a good thing if you prefer the adventurous side of life.

27.5 x 3.8″ tyres are not as uncommon as you’d think. You can find them on mid-fat bikes like the Canyon Dude and Salsa Beargrease.

But what is uncommon is the fact that the Prospector is using a rather normal bottom bracket shell width (73mm), which will put your feet a normal distance apart compared to all other fat bikes (100mm wide shells are pretty standard on fat bikes).

Read more about the Tumbleweed Prospector HERE.

Salsa Timberjack

I’m a sucker for a good value, well-designed bike.

Salsa has just given the Timberjack an update, and it’s now a more capable and more fun mountain bike. Priced from just $1699, all Timberjack models get a 130mm travel suspension fork along with a size-appropriate dropper seatpost (200mm drop on XL bikes!), which will help you to confidently conquer more technical terrain.

There are four different build specifications to choose from, and each of these is available with either 27.5 x 3.0″ or 29 x 2.6″ tyres.

If you ride looser trails with lots of sand, snow or mud, you’ll undoubtedly benefit from the wider 27.5+ wheels. If your trails are smoother and more compact, or you’re heading out on long dirt roads, you’ll likely enjoy the faster-rolling, less-squirmy 29″ wheels.

Inside the frame, there is full-length cable routing – a feature normally reserved on much more expensive bikes.

I like that the Timberjack has 17mm of chainstay length adjustability at the rear dropouts. This means you can run the chainstays shorter if you’re carving up singletrack trails, or longer if you’re out bikepacking and want some more stability out of your rig.

There is also a non-driveside dropout available that’s specifically designed to equip a Rohloff internal gear hub.

Diving into the geometry details, we can see the frame length has been increased at the front, which will give you more confidence when riding down steeper terrain (this is because the endo angle is larger).

Increasing the front centre of a bike shifts more of your body weight from the front tyre to the rear tyre, resulting in a bit less front end grip when you’re riding seated.

To accommodate for this change in front-to-rear weight distribution, Salsa has cleverly steepened the seat tube angle by 2-degrees to put bodyweight back on the front wheel, allowing the bike to have similar amounts of front grip as previously (perhaps even more).

You can get the Timberjack frame for $599, which could be the ticket to a rowdy custom bikepacking build. If the front suspension isn’t necessary for you, pair the Timberjack frame with a Bombtrack BPC or Trek 1120 rigid carbon fork for a lightweight frameset under $1000.

You can read more about the Salsa Timberjack HERE.

Curve Titanosaur 36er

Yep, I added some weird 36″ bike into the mix.

This prototype titanium gravel bike is currently getting manhandled down in Australia. We have deeply corrugated roads in the remote parts of our country, which can go on for 5 or 10 days – without respite.

The idea around having gigantic wagon wheels is that the ‘angle of attack’ of each corrugation is reduced, which allows you to conserve more of your forward momentum and, therefore, go faster on bumpy roads.

These wheels will technically roll along with less effort, provided the 2.25″ tyres don’t bog too far into softer road surfaces. Curve test rider, Jesse, shows that it’s pretty easy to ride up some stairs with the big wheels, which gives us some proof of concept.

One of the downsides to a bike with wagon wheels is the weight.

Even using titanium for the frameset, carbon rims and a top-of-the-line SRAM drivetrain – it’s still 18kg/40lb. But given that Australia is flat through the centre, the weight should make almost no difference to your average cycling speed.

A bike like this is never going to be agile on trails, is limited by tyre options and will no suit shorter riders for obvious reasons. It’s also very terrain-specific.

But given I’m 198cm/6ft6 and I love to head out into the desert, this kind of gravel bike could be right up my alley.

Mahall Expedition Series Gravel Bike

I recently stumbled across Mahall Bikeworks and their semi-custom expedition gravel bikes. This is a bike that has been designed around 500mm chainstays, which are about 10-15% longer than a typical bike.

There are two big advantages to having longer chainstays:
(1) The longer wheelbase provides more stability at speed, which will keep your bike more composed on rougher terrain.
(2) You can more comfortably climb steeper gradients with the longer chainstays. This is because the looping angle at the back of the bike increases, meaning your front wheel will stay planted, even on the steepest ascents.

There are disadvantages to long chainstays too, but they are significantly reduced when a bike is loaded up with luggage.

Shorter chainstays are usually preferred on both mountain and road bikes. They make a bike feel more nimble when making quick direction changes, for example, when riding on singletrack, or changing your position in a peloton. And a particularly big advantage when cycling off-road is that short chainstays make your front wheel easier to lift over obstacles.

As technical singletrack makes up on a tiny percentage of most bikepacking trips, long chainstay bikes with their ability to climb well and offer extra stability, are a great direction for the industry to go, in my opinion.

It’s great to see Mahall Bikeworks joining the long chainstay ranks, along with Rivendell and Jones. A handful of European touring bike manufacturers are running 470-490mm chainstays too.

To learn more about chainstay length, dive into my Frame Geometry Masterclass.

KHS Grit 330

The KHS Grit 330 is a nice carbon gravel bike, but it’s the drivetrain that really caught my attention.

If you have the proclivity to ride on steep gravel roads like me, you’ll know that most gravel bikes do NOT have appropriately low gear ratios. You end up dropping your pedalling cadence significantly on anything long and steep, resulting in the rapid fatigue of your muscles.

And this issue is only exacerbated further when your bike is loaded up with a bunch of gear.

So, why not just be a hero and push harder?
Big gear ratios are simply not efficient for cyclists.

The key to riding comfortably in the hills, and more importantly, enjoying yourself – is to not overexert yourself when you ride.

By using appropriately low gear ratios, you will find you can climb at the same pedalling cadence (RPM) and push the same amount of power into the pedals as when you’re riding on a flat road (mechanical advantage is your friend).

According to the data from my Bikepacking Bike Buyer’s Guide, the average climbing gear across all 700C gravel bikes is 26 gear inches. In order to make this bike a climbing machine, KHS has paired 46/30t front chainrings with an 11-36t tooth cassette. The result is a low gear of 23 gear inches, which is 11% lower than average.

More gravel bikes with a 23″ climbing gear: Bergamont Grandurance, Jamis Renegade S3, KTM X-Strada, Litespeed Watia, Norco Search XR S2, Obed Boundary, Rock Machine Gravelride, Specialized Diverge Elite.

See more modern low gear ratio 2X drivetrains HERE.
Learn about why hills are not harder than cycling on the flat HERE.
Learn how to calculate the steepest hill you can ride up HERE.

The post 6 New Bikepacking Bikes That You Need To Know About appeared first on CYCLINGABOUT.

People often talk about bikes having a ‘dead’ feeling when they’re too stiff, a ‘noodly’ feeling when they’re too flexy and a ‘lively’ feeling when they’re just stiff enough.

After owning bikes that are stiff, flexy and everything in between, I believe there’s a Goldilocks zone for frame stiffness, where there is noticeable but minor amounts of frame flex, contributing to that buttery smooth ride that we all desire.

We are going super deep down the frame stiffness rabbit hole today. We’ll be discussing what frame stiffness is, when it’s important, the relationship between stiffness and frame materials, whether frame flex slows you down and how you might go about finding the perfect stiffness on your personal bikes.

What Is Frame Stiffness?

We can assess the stiffness of a frame from a number of different locations.

There’s the steering stiffness, which is the amount of movement the frame twists at the head tube. This type of flex is most noticeable when you push down on the pedals and pull up on the handlebar. A bike that has a high steering stiffness will feel especially snappy and more reactive to your steering inputs. Keep in mind that the overall steering stiffness is also largely dependent on the stiffness of your fork, front wheel and handlebar.

Then there’s the pedalling stiffness, which is the amount of movement your frame deflects near the bottom bracket shell when you pedal.

And finally, we can look at the vertical stiffness of a frame, which I’ve previously discussed in this article about frame comfort.

To give you a sense of the range of stiffness in a bike frame, the most rigid mass-produced frames are approximately twice as stiff as the least rigid frames.

Describing Stiffness

I like to describe frame stiffness on a spectrum between two points.

A stiff or responsive bike has a snappy and direct feel to it. Under acceleration, it will have that up-and-go bike feel, but will also feel harsher over road imperfections. Additionally, there is a case to be made that the braking performance and traction is not as good when cornering a stiffer bike, so stiffness is only good to a point.

A flexy or forgiving bike is less communicative of the road or trail below and will feel laggier under acceleration. It will move around more with your rider inputs, which feels nice, again, to a point.

What Factors Affect Frame Stiffness?

A bike frame that feels stiff to one rider, may feel flexy to another. This is because there are multiple factors determining how much your bike will move underneath you.

First, we have rider factors. These include your power output, how much you weigh, and your riding style – for example, whether you’re riding out-of-the-saddle and accelerating quickly, or whether you’re just cruising along.

Then there’s the bike factor. The intended use of the bike will require varying degrees of stiffness too. For example, a hardcore hardtail will have higher stiffness requirements than an ultralight xc hardtail given the larger forces at play.

And lastly, there’s the luggage factor. Bikes intended to carry luggage require additional frame stiffness or the frame may become too noodly to ride.

Frame Stiffness For Touring and Bikepacking

Touring and bikepacking bikes support front and rear luggage, and your frame is the medium that resists the twisting forces between these two points. When it comes to the handling, stability and general feel of a bike laden with luggage, touring frames need to be built extra stiff.

The downside to a bike that resists twisting forces is that it cannot be optimally tuned for riding without luggage – that is, there will not be the minimal amounts of flex that make the bike feel ‘lively’ to ride, unless it is all loaded up.

You should know that the pedalling stiffness also needs to be super stiff with belt drive touring bikes. As the beltline has a low tolerance for side-to-side flex, belt drive bikes are stiffer at the bottom bracket than any other bike, which ensures the belts cannot skip.

You can read a more comprehensive article about frame stiffness for touring bikes HERE.

Finding The Goldilocks Zone

Let’s go over some rider scenarios to get a sense of when a rider can achieve noticeable but minor amounts of flex in their bike.

Heavier rider, higher power output
A higher stiffness will be required to combat both the ground forces when cornering and when pushing hard on the pedals.

Lighter rider, lower power output
On the opposite end of the weight and strength spectrum, a reduced frame stiffness will allow a lighter rider to achieve the equivalent ride feel.

Just cruising along
With a mellow riding style, a lower frame stiffness will dance around more with lighter inputs.

More aggressive riding style
If you’re out-of-the-saddle sprinting, cornering hard and just generally pushing the bike’s limits, you’ll likely prefer additional frame stiffness.

Flat handlebars or wide drop bars
Wider handlebars have more steering leverage, which makes it easier to flex your frame torsionally. To achieve the equivalent ride feel, a well-designed frame with a wide handlebar will have a higher steering stiffness.

Are Stiffer Bikes Faster?

It is generally assumed that a bike with high pedalling stiffness is faster because there is less energy lost to the frame.

But outside of someone who is using their bike for sprint finishes, as long as your brakes don’t rub or your gears shift under load, a bike with half the stiffness at the bottom bracket is unlikely to make a meaningful difference to your cycling speed – simply because the range of deflection is so small.

The aerodynamics of a bike and rider, as well as the rolling resistance of your tyres, are orders of magnitude more important.

Some have hypothesised (and even field-tested) that most of the deflection force is returned back to the drivetrain on a flexy bike, but I find this scenario quite unlikely.

Here’s why. The frame deflection from your pedal stroke slowly builds from 1 o’clock to 3 o’clock, then slowly releases by 5 or 6 o’clock. It isn’t released in one go (with most of the variables locked in place) as some experiments have attempted to show.

In the noisy and dynamic environment of pedalling a bike on the open road, frame deflection is one of the dozens of variables that store and release energy in the system. It’s unlikely that one variable (frame flex) is responsible for the majority of the energy storage and release.

A more likely scenario is that the energy returns in part to your drivetrain, but is also lost as heat to your wheels, tyres, crankset, pedals, shoes, feet, ankles, legs etc.

Are Steel Frames Less Stiff Than Titanium, Aluminium and Carbon?

The data we will be using today comes from the legends at Tour Magazin in Germany.

They have created a standardised frame deflection test, and have over 1000 road and gravel bikes measured (of roughly the same size) for us to compare. I have kept a record of almost every bike ever tested, which will allow us to understand the deflection values of different frame materials.

The “N/mm” values are the amount of force (in newtons) required to move the head tube and bottom bracket shell a millimetre. As this is a static test, this information is not 100% definitive about how a bike will flex under a rider – although, when you look at the entire data set, the force per millimetre values correlate around the intended use of different bikes.

For example, an aero race bike used in the Tour de France usually offers a minimal amount of frame deflection, and a dedicated touring bike is often stiffer again.

Steering Stiffness // Head Tube Deflection Test – 56cm Bike (Average)
Aluminium – 105N/mm
Carbon – 97N/mm
Steel – 88N/mm
Titanium – 86N/mm

The head tube data shows that steel or titanium frames have, on average, less steering stiffness. Aluminium bikes work out to be approximately 20% stiffer than both titanium and steel, while carbon bikes are closer to 10% stiffer.

Pedalling Stiffness // Bottom Bracket Deflection Test – 56cm Bike (Average)
Aluminium – 63N/mm
Carbon – 62N/mm
Steel – 53N/mm
Titanium – 53N/mm

At the bottom bracket shell, the carbon and aluminium frames are again stiffer, with 20% more force required to move the cranks a millimetre than either titanium or steel.

These lower frame deflection values at both the bottom bracket and head tube could explain why steel and titanium bikes are often considered to have a nicer ‘ride feel’.

But this isn’t the end of the story – let’s take a look at the total range of deflection on all bikes tested.

Head Tube Deflection Test – 56cm Bike (Range)
Aluminium – 69 to 145N/mm
Carbon – 63 to 131N/mm
Steel – 69 to 115N/mm
Titanium – 75 to 106N/mm

Bottom Bracket Deflection Test – 56cm Bike (Range)
Aluminium – 45 to 87N/mm
Carbon – 39 to 84N/mm
Steel – 42 to 77N/mm
Titanium – 44 to 68N/mm

Above is the lowest and highest deflecting bike of each frame material. When we look at these ranges, it is clear that a bicycle engineer can design a very responsive (stiff) or forgiving (flexy) bike using any frame material.

Small Bike Sizes

So, how does a small frame compare to a big frame? Tour Magazin has the data to help us here too.

Steering Stiffness // Head Tube Deflection Test (Average)
Aluminium (50cm) – 101N/mm
Aluminium (56cm) – 105N/mm
Carbon (50cm) – 95N/mm
Carbon (56cm) – 97N/mm

Pedalling Stiffness // Bottom Bracket Deflection Test (Average)
Aluminium (50cm) – 66N/mm
Aluminium (56cm) – 63N/mm
Carbon (50cm) – 62N/mm
Carbon (56cm) – 62N/mm

The good news is that the average small bike frame is not obnoxiously stiff, which could easily be the case as smaller frame triangles are inherently stiffer than bigger ones. The fact that the stiffness values are similar means that bike engineers are doing a somewhat good job at optimising the ride quality of their bikes.

But there is still room for improvement – smaller riders are often lighter and with less power output. This would mean that many smaller riders would achieve a similar ‘ride feel’ with more frame flex when compared to taller riders.

But here’s the issue. Bikes need to be designed around the heaviest, strongest rider. An example, Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan rides an XS sized bike, and it’s safe to say his power output would be orders of magnitude different to the average rider of his height.

The Custom Bike Advantage

While many people get custom bikes so that they can perfect their bike fit, a better reason to get a custom frame might be to optimise the ride feel.

As most bikes are designed around the heaviest and strongest riders, the cyclists who have the most ride feel to gain from a custom bike are likely those who are lighter and with a lower power output than typical.

Bastion Cycles deserve a shoutout here for allowing their customers to specify their preferred level of frame stiffness, both torsionally and vertically, as part of the ordering process. Bastion can offer this level of customisation because they print their own titanium 3D lugs and construct their own filament-wound carbon tubes, which is pretty damn cool.

In addition, the Bastion order form has the stiffness data of a handful of popular bikes baked into it, which gives their customers a sense of how their new frame will feel underneath them.

Aluminium and Carbon Bikes With Similar Stiffness Values To Steel/Ti

We now know that steel and titanium bikes are, on average, less stiff than carbon and aluminium bikes.

But given there’s a large range of deflection values across all frame materials, let’s say you wanted to match the flex characteristics of the average titanium or steel bike. Or perhaps you’re a bit lighter and you’re looking for something with a bit more give.

Lower stiffness bike models:
Aluminium: Trek Emonda ALR5 (road), Giant Contend (endurance), Giant Revolt (gravel)
Carbon: Trek Emonda (road), Trek Madone (road), Felt AR (road), Trek Domane (endurance), Giant Defy (endurance), Look bikes (all)

Almost all Trek and Look road bikes seem to have more torsional flex baked in. Specialized is currently trending towards less frame stiffness with their latest model Tarmac SL7 and Aethos road bikes. Giant endurance and gravel bikes are also tested to be more forgiving.

Higher stiffness bike models:
Cannondale System Six (road), Specialized Allez Sprint (road), Specialized Venge (road), Cannondale CAAD Optimo (road), Specialized Sequoia (gravel), Merida Silex Carbon (gravel), Felt Broam (gravel), Cube bikes (all).

Aero race bikes and low-cost aluminium bikes are usually the stiffest bikes of all. The data also suggests that almost all Cube bikes are built particularly stiff. And for bikepacking and touring, the Specialized Sequoia, Merida Silex and Felt Broam will ride at their best with luggage attached.

DIY Frame Stiffness Tests

An excellent way to get a sense of the frame stiffness of different bikes is to benchmark them against each other.

Here are two static tests I do before riding a new bike:
1. A front end wiggle test. This involves gripping the seat between your legs and pushing and pulling on your handlebars. You will see and feel the frame twist underneath you.
2. A bottom bracket deflection test. This involves locking both brakes and applying pressure to your forward pedal. You will see the frame deflect to the side.

As these tests are static, they will only provide a ‘snapshot’ of how stiff a bike will ride on the road, so you need to go for a test ride too.

I recommend taking notes on how stiff a bike feels in the static tests as well as out on the road. Testing multiple bikes statically and dynamically will give you a sense of what ride characteristics you prefer.

And if you’re test riding a touring or bikepacking bike, see if you can do so with luggage attached.

Other Ways To Determine Frame Stiffness

If you don’t have access to test bikes, it’s much harder to know how a bike will move underneath you.

The intended use of the bike is a good clue for how a bike will ride. A road race bike will usually be stiffer than a road endurance bike. A touring bike will usually be stiffer than a bikepacking bike.

With titanium and steel, it’s easier to predict ride characteristics because the largest diameter frame tubes are almost always the stiffest. This is because when you double a tube’s diameter and wall thickness, it becomes 16 times stiffer!

Carbon and aluminium are much harder to predict as there are more variables associated with the frame design. In this case, it will pay to read some reviews from journalists that you trust, who are ideally a similar height and weight to you.

Summary

Finding the Goldilocks zone of frame stiffness requires careful consideration of your physical attributes as well as your riding style, bike setup and intended use of your bike.

Interestingly, the data suggest that bikes of any frame material can be engineered to ride in a forgiving or responsive way. However, a titanium and steel bike will have a lower frame stiffness on average, which could be enough to get a lighter cyclist on a more suitable bike. But this isn’t a given – the stiffest titanium and steel bikes are much stiffer than the average aluminium or carbon bikes.

At the end of the day, I’d recommend testing lots of bikes to get a sense of the ride characteristics that you prefer and go from there.

Read About Frame Comfort HERE and Different Frame Materials HERE

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