Alex: Over in GCN, you can see myself and Si putting two gravel bikes through their
paces on a variety of different terrains. Whilst they're both technically gravel bikes,
they're actually quite different. We've got a light and fast gravel racer and a rowdy
burly gravel bike on steroids. Si: Yes. Here on GCN Tech though, we thought
we'd go back a step and take you behind the scenes a little bit, showing us building up
the bikes from scratch and diving in to some of the details, like, in fact, these brand-new
Continental tires that Alex has managed to blag himself. You've only been here two weeks,
mate. It's a disgrace. Alex: I'll take that.
[music] Si: Shimano have very kindly helped us to
make these videos, including sending us a truckload of parts in order to actually get
the build underway. Alex: Yes. As you will obviously see, we're
using Shimano's GRX gravel-specific group set as the basis of our bike builds, and we
can then tailor it to exactly how we want the bikes to ride. I'm even going to switch
in some mountain bike components on mine, too.
Si: I think that might be a first on GCN Tech actually, mountain bike components.
Alex: Yes. I think you might be right. Si: Honestly, both of these builds would be
right up my street, but for the purposes of this video, I'm going for the light and fast
bike, the base of which is this, which is a carbon Salsa Warbird, their raciest gravel
bike they do. It draws on all of their experience. They have more experience, in fact, than anyone
in this game because they were the first to create a gravel-specific bike. Oh yes.
Now, as I said, this is going to be a light and fast bike. Gravel, still, yes, but with
the parts that I've got installed for it, I think it is going to be one serious speed
machine. Before we get going, can I just draw your attention? How cool is that head badge?
Look at that. I've never commented on a head badge before, but I like that.
To dial in my speed machine, I've got some seriously slick parts going on there. To start
with, I've got GRX Di2 shifting. If you want to go fast, you wouldn't have anything else,
wouldn0t you? I'm also going to be running a two-bike crank set. Two very good reasons
here. Firstly, it gives me a big spread of gears. I've got 48/11 as my biggest gear,
so that's for some pretty fast riding. I've also got a tiny little gear as well, 31/34,
but that 11 to 34 cassette gives me some nice, close ratios, which is really important for
fast riding, whether that be road or gravel. Now, you can also see behind me, I've got
an aero wheel set going on there, oh yes, because aero is going to be important as the
speeds we're going at. Also, tubeless. Now, this is super important. I won't ride a gravel
bike without tubeless setup basically. It just makes life so much better off road. I've
got a Continental Terra Speed tire on there. 40-mil. I could go narrower, but I like the
volume of 40-mil tire. Finally, with aerodynamics in mind, I've not
gone for Monster wide bars on my gravel bike, 42 centimeters wide. I can imagine Alex shaking
his head at this point with me suggesting that a 42-centimeter wide bar is aero, but
it's certainly more aero than what he's got. Alex: That all sounds thrilling, Si, but I've
got some great parts lined up for my bill, too, starting with mechanical GRX. I've got
mechanical because we're going extreme, we're going mountain biking. We don't need lightweight,
fancy electric gears. Plus, I'm using my left-hand lever to operate this dropper seat post so
that we can really rail the aggressive descents. That's going to be where I'll leave Simon
behind obviously. I've also gone for-- As I said, you can mix
in mountain bike components with Shimano's GRX range. I've got this mountain bike chain
set here because, as I mentioned, my frame has got boost space in to allow for the super-wide
tires, and you need to have the relevant chain set for that, too.
On the subject of tires, these are what I'm going to be using, which are Continental's
Ruben. These are going to be set up tubeless with a new tread pattern which has got super
fast rolling, central knobs, and then big aggressive ones so that I can go super fast
on the descents. Combined in with that, talking of the descents, this bike is all about being
aggressive and having great control over the rough terrain, so I've got this super flared
handlebars to give me the best control I can over all sorts of terrain and the more extreme
stuff I can tackle in a gravel bike. I suppose we better get building.
[background noise] Si: To a roadie, I'll admit, that's not massively
close ratio, but offroads, I see that's probably about as close as you want, because otherwise,
you'd find yourself changing gear all the time. I've fallen into that trap before, because
your speed does vary a lot more when riding gravel, so you want slightly bigger jumps
than you might do if you were going to ride, I don't know, Paris–Roubaix or
something like that. [background noise]
Alex: I'm going for a rough and tough rowdy gravel bike, and
this is what I've got to work with, the Mason InSearchOf. What a frame it is. It's amazing.
It's got boost spacing to allow for far bigger mountain bike tires. It's made using Reynolds
853 steel tubing, so I can fly over the rough stuff and rail the descents.
As I've already mentioned, this frame uses boost wheel spacing. That's enabling us to
use this mountain bike wheelset and brand new Ruben Continental tire, which they've
been kind enough to supply for us. This uses their brand new pure grip compound and ShieldWall
puncture protection technology. That's a layer of cross-woven fibers in the sidewall to allow
fantastic flexibility and suppleness of the tire, and that gives it brilliant puncture
protection against the sort of cuts that you could get on the side of the tire.
[background noise] As we're progressing through the build of
this bike, one thing that stands out to me is just the amazing craftsmanship of this
bike and the attention to detail. I've already mentioned it's a construction of Reynolds
tubing, but it's actually a blend of Dedacciai Zero tubing as well as the Reynolds tubing
as well. Part of the attention to detail I'm loving the most is actually the rear dropouts
here and the way that these are machined and formed, it's actually pretty impressive.
[background noise] All that's left now is to head out and ride
it. There you have it, the finished articles. What do you think of these?
Si: I'll tell you what, Alex, I am absolutely chuffed to the bits with the way these two
bikes have come out. Alex: Have come out well, haven't they?
Si: They look absolutely awesome. Alex: Very good.
Si: What a day to take them for their first rides? I couldn't have wished for a better
day, really. Alex: Yes.
Si: Do take a good look at these because, unfortunately, no matter how much Muc-Off
we throw at them, they are never going to look like this every again, are they?
Alex: I'm afraid not, no. Not so good. Si: No. Anyway, make sure you head over to
GCN, if you haven't already, to see the video where we put these two dream gravel bikes
through their paces. [00:15:44] [END OF AUDIO]