- Gravel is just everywhere
at Eurobike innit?
Look at this gravel.
- So many brands have
brought gravel bikes,
gravel tech, there's a gravel saddle
and all the kit that
you need for adventure.
(upbeat music)
Now, you can't talk about gravel bikes
without mentioning these guys, Surly.
They pretty much invented the
gravel bike, it's fair to say.
And this one is their latest,
called The Midnight Special.
Came out earlier in the year,
and on our gravel spectrum
it kinda falls more
towards the road end.
Certainly in terms of the
products that they offer.
Now, as you can see it's
based around 650B wheels.
These ones shod with
nice 47 mm wide tyres.
But actually, it'll fit
up to 60 mm wide tyres.
That's flippin' enormous.
Now this category is kind
of loosely been termed
Road Plus, but with those tyres on
Surly are calling it Road Plush.
Which I thought was kinda cool.
Now it's based around
a CroMoly frame, 4130,
and you can see that the
position is definitely
at the relaxed end of the spectrum
when it comes to road.
It's covered in bosses
to fit all kinds of racks
and luggage on there.
So I think that's fair to say
that is a bike built for adventure.
- I'm on the Shimano stand,
and Shimano's components brand
Pro has also come to the bikepacking party
with a new range of bags.
So firstly, there's a seatpost bag
that has 15 litre capacity.
There's a handlebar
bag, which has 8 litres.
And then there's also a frame bag
and a top tube bag as well,
which is 0.75 litres and 5.5 litres.
Say, there's a number
of cool little features
on these bags that I wanna
draw your attention to.
Firstly, on the seatpost bag,
is these nice rubber blocks,
these sponge blocks.
And what these do is help
protect your seatpost
or your frame from scratching.
And they also help stop the
bag, we're told by Shimano,
moving around laterally
and swinging around.
Securing it better than most
other bags on the market.
All the bags are made
from a waterproof fabric
to help protect your belongings
in particularly bad weather.
And those same rubber
blocks are also found
on the bar bag as well.
So, what this means is in
addition to help protecting
your frame and your handlebars
from getting scratched,
it also means you've
got a bit of a gap there
so that you can actually get your hands
on the tops around the bar as well.
- Now here's a cool
little bit of budget tech
from Topeak that I really like.
It's called the tuby
booster and it's basically,
it's a bit like a
homemade CO2 air canister.
Except it's not just CO2, it's normal air.
So what you use it for is
to help to inflate pesky,
tubeless tyres that
might struggle to seat.
So most of them are kind of okay now,
but every now and then you'll get one rim
and tyre combination that
really doesn't wanna go up.
And so you need to use something
a little bit more powerful
than a standard floor pump.
And so with this, you use
your standard floor pump
to put loads of pressure inside, 160 psi.
And then it's got supposed
to be a normal CO2 canister
type fixing on there.
So you screw it onto the valve
and then hey presto, you've got 160 psi
going straight into your tyre.
Genius.
- This absolutely beautiful bike
has just caught my eye.
So, it is a Vielo V + 1.
Now you probably haven't heard of Vielo
'cause they're quite a
small boutique indie brand
from the UK.
But, the V + 1 is designed
to be an all encompassing
sort of very versatile adventure bike,
but is equally capable
on road as off road.
So here we've got it fitted
with the seriously bling
Zipp 303 Firecrest 650B wheels,
which are a smaller diameter
than a 700C wheel.
Now the main advantage with
this, is that you can fit
much bigger tyres with
much greater air volume.
So, it can take up to
40mm tyres if you want,
making it really capable off road.
And there's also a lot
of compliance built in
to the frame as well.
So you can see these
really nice thin seat stays
are designed to flex
and also the chain stays
are slightly flared as well.
But, if you want the
versatility to be able
to go and ride with your
mates in a group ride
and not get dropped, then
you can also fit a standard
700C wheel with a slightly
skinnier tyre as well.
Now, another cool feature about the Vielo,
is that it's a 1x specific frame.
So here you can see
we've got the SRAM force
1x chain set fitted and
this is a really nice one
'cause it's the Quarq DZero model.
And also there's loads
of other great features.
So, to make it an incredibly practical
and versatile bike you've
got hidden mudguard mounts
or fender mounts if you're American.
And they're front and rear.
But also bolts so that
you can attach lunch boxes
and luggage if you wanna go
on a bikepacking adventure.
There's also yeah, some
hidden bolts underneath here
as well for a tool box.
Just a really neat, neat and tidy,
very smart but very practical bike.
I really like it.
Love the colour as well.
- Katherine had a look at
these over at the Dirty Kanza
but I haven't yet and I really
wanna get my hands on them.
So here we go, these are the new Enve
gravel specific wheels.
This is the G23, which is the 700C version
with 23 mil internal rim width.
Then this, conveniently labelled the G27,
because it's the 27.5" wheel
but so labelled because
it's got 27 mil internal rim width.
So this is for really
plump tyres like 42 mil
up to 2.25 inches if you
don't mind me swapping
my measuring systems there.
And this one is for 35 mil
up to 45 mil wide tyres.
And I can't quite tell you just how light
these things are.
Bonkers, this is 330 grammes for the rim,
this one just 320 grammes.
And the other notable bit is the tech
that's migrated over from mountain biking.
It's not the first Enve drop
bar specific wheel to have it,
but the beads there, the
bead hook is hookless, okay.
So you run 'em at lower
pressures obviously,
because they're bigger
tyres, but it helps it seat
much, much quicker.
- Selle San Marco are a
brand with an undeniably
huge amount of heritage
when it comes to cycling.
Having brought out their
first saddle in 1935.
So brace yourselves, we're
gonna go on a really quick
journey through time and saddle space.
Starting with this.
This is one of their first Concor designs.
Look at that.
That's absolutely crazy.
And the Concor has gone
through a few changes.
This is the 1994 model.
And it's actually, look at that,
and it's still available today actually.
Which is really awesome.
It's just an enduring classic design.
But, they've got some new stuff as well.
Including, a brand new logo.
But, the most exciting thing I've seen
is this GND saddle which is just come out.
Now this is a saddle that's
been specifically designed
for off road applications,
including gravel riding
or adventure riding.
Now in order to make
it better for that kind
of application, it's actually
designed to support you better
in a slightly more upright position rather
than a full on road position.
And so it's a little bit
wider and gives really good
seat bone support here.
But also, my favourite
part, is that it's got
shock absorption built into
it and this really awesome
core zone here you can see,
which is just really squidgee.
And it just feels great.
I just really wanna sit on it.
- For some bikepackers/adventurers
only the absolute
most bomb proof kit will do.
And so if that is you,
take a look at this.
So this is the first
drop bar shifter system
for pinion gearboxes.
So pinion gearboxes are like
an adventurer's wet dream.
They're bomb proof basically.
Maintenance free in
combination with a Gates carbon
belt drive.
So you don't need to
touch it for 10,000 km.
But, you've always had
to use a flat handle bar,
because they haven't had a shifter.
But now, Sync have been
authorised to create
the first ever drop bar
shifters in collaboration
with TRP.
So you've got your TRP hydraulic brakes
and then you've got your
sync shifters up here.
And basically the way pinion works
is that you have like one cable to push
and one cable to pull
and then in this case
you end up with basically
like mechanical ETAP.
So one hand shifts up
and one hand shifts down.
Now then have a look at this.
Do not be deceived, this
is not a mountain bike
creeping on to GCN, because look.
It's got drop handle bars as well.
This is the brand new Moots Baxter.
And it's another of these
bikes that's kind of
genre bending.
So it's like a 29 mountain
bike, monster cross,
gravel adventure bike
with drop handle bars.
So, whatever that is.
Anyway, it looks like
a huge amount of fun.
That's 100 mil suspension for up front.
Obviously got those flared
drop handle bars as well.
And then in terms of the
position on this bike,
so it's a little bit shorter
than a mountain bike.
So that sorts these there and you can run
those drop handle bars
which put you a little
bit further forward.
And then it's also a little bit shorter
in the head tube as well.
You'll notice that the
saddle is bizarrely low
and that's 'cause it's got a dropper post.
Oh yeah, this one is all about fun,
and it's very coolly connected to heh,
your left hand shifter there.
Which obviously 'cause it's running 1x,
you don't need it to shift
so you can control your dropper post.
(soothing music)
Anyone who is into cycle
touring or adventure cycling
will no doubt be familiar
with the brand Ortlieb.
They have been around a long time.
Their first panniers in
fact, came out in 1981.
After, I was told, the
founder was cycle touring
around England and was fed up not only
with being wet himself
but having completely wet luggage as well.
And so waterproof has
always been synonymous
with Ortlieb.
But they have always
concentrated on panniers
until very recently when
they brought out their
bikepacking range.
And here at Eurobike there are one
or two new pieces as well.
Like the frame bag and the
top tube bag here as well.
Now I'm told that they are waterproof.
This one is waterproof to
a depth of 1 1/2 metres
for half an hour and
that's because this zip
is super duper waterproof
and all the seams
have been welded as well.
Also, I don't know whether you noticed
but clearly whoever's bike this is,
they're a proper bikepacker.
They've graduated.
Topeak were the bags
that I used when I went
on my Morocco bikepacking adventure.
And I couldn't help but notice
they brought out some new
ones called the Versicage.
So this is like a plastic
frame that very simply
and quickly attaches to your front forks,
and then you can basically
put whatever you want in it.
So in this one, you can see
they've got their bike camper,
bike specific tent that
actually uses your bike
as a tent pole.
But you could put water
in there, whatever,
and very quickly and effectively
boost the storage capacity of your bike
with no extra mounts needed.
Look who I've just bumped into.
It is Josh Ibbett, our bikepacking guru.
Josh, have you recovered from Morocco yet?
It was pretty tough that one, wasn't it?
- Just about yeah.
I mean it got half way old for three days,
so it's pretty tough.
- Yeah, and surprisingly
perhaps Josh has cycled
to Friedrichshafen in Germany.
In terms of accommodation,
was it the hedge
'round the back of the shed?
- No, I thought I'd go for luxury here
'cause I'm on a business trip
so I went for a bus stop.
- Bus stop, nice.
Now, in all seriousness,
bikepacking is taking over
Eurobike and everywhere
you look there is something
kinda bikepacking or adventure related,
how does that feel for you?
- Well it's great.
It shows the kind of tough riding I do,
but I enjoy it.
A lot of other people enjoy
it, it's becoming mainstream.
It shows that it's getting more popular.
I mean big brands like
Shimano are bringing out
their own kind of bike packing ranges.
- Yeah.
- And that's just really great.
It just sort of validifies what we do.
- Yeah.
Now, when certain brands get in to kind of
bikepacking stuff, like
they obviously don't have
the immediate credibility
in terms of whether
their products are up to scratch.
Is it hard to get like your bags right?
Are there things that you know established
bike packers know that
maybe newbies don't?
Like myself.
- I think a lot of the smaller brands
who've been started by riders, quite often
have the edge over bigger companies.
'Cause obviously they're out
there riding every single day.
I mean you learned a lot in
Morocco didn't you about,
- I did, yeah
- What works and what doesn't.
- Yeah.
- So I think often the smaller companies
do have that edge but the
benefit of the larger companies
is that they can bring
the price point down.
So if you were just thinking
about getting in to it
and you don't really
know what you need yet,
it's a great opportunity to
lower the sort of the barriers
to entering, just give it a go.
Give it a go, there's no
excuses not to really.
- Yeah.
Now what are you doing here, if I may ask?
- Well I'm trying to start my own event.
My own bike packing race.
So I'm looking at doing
something towards the end
of next year.
Of around 1,000 miles,
somewhere in Europe.
And, yeah I'm trying
to get it up and going
off the ground.
So if you want to race next year,
let me know.
- A thousand miles you said?
- Yeah just a short one.
- Might start training.
- Quite frankly, if you don't
want to go on an adventure
after seeing all that,
then I don't know what it's gonna take.
- Yeah, absolutely.
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