20 VISION 20
We profile four prestige gravel bikes entering the fray next year
o part of the bike-making bike-mak world is developing as fast as the th gravel sector and there are no suggestions that 2020 will see an easing ea off the accelerator, if these four fou exciting bikes are any measure. measure
GT GRADE
First up, the GT Grade. The original Grade was a firm favourite among our testing testin team, and was in the run-off for our 2015 Bike of the th Year. It may have been one of the first ‘road’ bikes to have disc brakes, and was ahead of its time back when w it arrived on the scene, but looking back at the original now, and comparing to where the gravel market has moved to, and the Grade, with clearance for just 35mm tyres and lacking a thru-axle, is showing its age.
Senior Technical Editor Warren Rossiter says that’s what he liked – and likes – about the original Grade, and feared that the new model would “become something more dirt focussed, more ‘extreme’, more ‘adrenaline’, well I guess a bit more GT.”
Thankfully, says Warren, that’s not the case, with GT “refining a winning formula”.
Warren tested the range’s top dog, the Grade Carbon Pro, in Girona’s backroads this summer. Gearing is a pedal-spinning friendly machine with 2x11 (46/30, 11-34), and the 37mm WTB Riddler tyres (the new Grade allows up to 42mm rubber) didn’t feel too compromised on tarmac and were tenacious on everything bar sloppy mud. The back end flexes and complies with ease, achieved by the seatstays being unbound from the seat tube, and the extremely thin seat stays are solid, rather than hollow.
The higher ‘grade’ Grade has a fork that can be flipped, in a manner similar to our current Bike of the Year, the Rondo HVRT. This changes the trail — the position of the wheels’ contact point relative to the handlebar – and the reason behind this was to make the frontend nimbler to counter the effect of weight when riding the bike fully loaded with bikepacking bags.
The new Grade is fully MPG – what GT call Mounting Points Galore – to attach all manner of cages and bags. Other changes include it being dual wheel size – with 650b wheels, a huge 47mm tyres are allowed, and now has a more sporty geometry compared to the relaxed upright position of the original.
“The new Grade is a smart piece of engineering,” says Warren, “that champions the original’s successes and raises the performance from an endurance bike with offroad chops to a great endurance bike that could easily be a serious machine for those looking to take their gravel riding to a higher, racier level.”
Pricing runs from £3500 for the Carbon Pro (Shimano Ultegra Di2), right down to the £850 aluminium Elite (Shimano Claris).
CERVÉLO ÁSPERO
Cervélo’s C Series was the first real mainstream rival to the Grade in 2016 and, like GT, has gone full throttle into the gravel world with the Áspero. Meaning ‘rough’ in Latin, it’s naturally, coming from Cervélo, built for speed, aimed squarely at the riders of races such as Dirty Kanza. With tube shapes similar to the company’s R Series road race bike, the bike has the stiffness to match where it needs to be. Though it’s not pro-low, it’s certainly a lot more aggressive than most gravel bikes.
In the 700c wheel set-up, it takes 42mm tyres, in 650b, 49mm. Unlike most dual-wheeled size chassis, such as the Open or 3T, Cervélo hasn’t gone down the asymmetric chain stay route — where the driveside drops much lower to stay out of the way and give ample clearance for the chain line. Instead it’s gone for a double dropped design, which works around standard wheels and uses Cervélo’s long-time bottom bracket standard, BB Right.
For all Cervélo’s talk of the Áspero being a racing machine, it hasn’t skimped on fixtures. The frame
(which is the same across all models) features three bottle cage bosses, with a dual position on the down tube, a bolt-on tube guard above the bottom bracket shell, a bento box mount on the top tube, internal cable routing and routing for a dropper post, too.
Warren rode the top-end Cervélo Áspero Force eTap AXS at the launch of the bike in the Trossachs early in July.
“Straight off the mark, the Áspero is different from your average gravel machine,” he says. “If it wasn’t for looking down upon a 40mm wide Donnelly gravel tyre I’d have sworn that team Cervélo had given me an R3 by mistake. On the road it feels firm and stiff, which had me wondering how the bike would cope once I got off the surprisingly smooth Scottish singletrack lanes and onto something altogether dirtier. Thankfully these concerns proved unfounded.
“The Force AXS eTap in a 1x setup offers a decent range with a lowest gear of 36/33 and a top gear of 36/10. It’s the perfect setup for off-road jaunts and the drivetrain was perfectly quiet and free of chain-slap on even the roughest of surfaces.”
Three models are available, starting with the Apex (£2699) to the Force eTap AXS (£5399).
CANNONDALE TOPSTONE
Cannondale were early players in the gravel scene with the Slate, and though it had plenty of fans –
The new Grade is a smart piece of engineering that champions the original’s successes and raises the performance to a great endurance bike
including Warren Rossiter, who owns one – it was limited on tyre size, and wheel size (650b only), and, thanks to its Lefty fork, was expensive for an aluminium bike. Last year’s aluminium Topstone, which, like their Synapse road bike, has an endurance focus, boosted the brand’s presence at the more affordable end of the market, and this new carbon Topstone completes their range, with pricing spanning £4799.99 for the Carbon Force AXS to £2099.99 for the Carbon 105.
The Topstone’s key feature is the ‘Kingpin’ suspension system in the back end, which offers 30mm travel at the saddle. The bike is compatible with both 700c and 650b wheels with a generous tyre allowance (40mm and 48mm), and Cannondale has achieved this without having to lengthen the chainstays or offset them to allow for clearance or chainline. It also features the all-new tubeless-ready Hollowgram HG22 carbon wheelset, and a new aluminium stem and carbon bar.
Warren was impressed with his first ride on the topend machine in the Trossachs this summer, with SRAM Force eTap AXS groupset. “The minute you get on board you start to experience the smoothness of the leaf-sprung shockless rear end.
“I have to admit, I was expecting a mild-amount of bobbing from the rear-end when pedalling seated, especially when climbing, but the Topstone’s back-end was remarkably free of bounce under normal conditions. It could be a great choice for someone looking for a one-bike-for-everything machine – a similar gravel/all-rounder approach to the GT Grade. It felt Synapse-like on the road (which in my opinion is