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| The Lauf "True Grit" gravel bike Image courtesy of Lauf. |
I heard a story from last Spring's Dirty Kanza 200 about a ride one fellow was getting to be extricated from the course after DNF-ing. He was in a car with the Lauf Suspension company's owner. I heard nothing but good things about the man and his love for gravel events. So, it comes as no surprise to me that Lauf has a complete bike now on offer for gravel grinding.
Of course, it is carbon fiber, since it is aimed at racing, which is also cued by the saddle to bar drop you see here. It also features the second generation of the Grit gravel fork. 30mm of undamped travel are on tap here. There is one thing I really like about this bike and one thing I really do not like while there is another thing that I feel is just aesthetically wrong. (I bet you can guess the last one.)
I've been an advocate for slacker head angles and longer offsets for gravel bikes for years. Just as with mtb designs, this idea has a lot of merit for the rider doing lots of gravel travel. Lauf did use a slacker 70.5° head angle which I think is fantastic, but they stopped short of going long on the offset with a 47mm offset. I suppose they are using the slacker angle to account for a slight steepening of the head angle as the fork sinks into its travel.
I do not like the bottom bracket drop here which is right in line with Euro cyclo cross geometry at 65mm. In fact, for gravel bikes, that height is ridiculous. There really is no benefit to using a high bottom bracket for gravel bikes, and it takes away from stability at high speeds on looser gravel. I'll tell you something- I stop having interest in any bike sporting CX type BB height. It basically seems to me to be a nod to making this bike a possible CX bike choice for those buying in, but to my mind, it takes away a vital facet of stability which, in my opinion, cannot be compromised on. Your mileage may vary, but Lauf made a mistake here and the bike could have been so much better. Too bad.......
Besides, The Duke wouldn't cotton to a bike making compromises that is named "True Grit", now would he? I don't think so.
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| Gravel World's rig |
Ha! How pretentious does that sound? Like I deserve to be in a "worlds"of anything! Well, I cannot help that they call the event "Gravel Worlds", so there! They let me in, so I am going.
And.....I'm taking "Captain America". (Note- My daughter dubbed the bike thus, so I am going with it.) I've done a couple of modifications here which are note worthy. The first is adding the BodyFloat seat post from Cirrus Cycles. I used the same post on my Fargo last year to great effect. The washboard gravel they have down there around Lincoln is no match for this post.
I also added the Redshift Sports ShockStop stem to the Tamland. The stem should also reduce front end induced vibrations and over the course of 150 miles, I should feel fresher than I would without it. In my test run Thursday morning I was pretty happy with how smooth it felt. Together with the BodyFloat, the bike felt much calmer in rougher stuff that would normally have your arms shaking.
Finally, since the Tamland doesn't have an under the down tube bottle mount, I swapped over the B-Rad system from the Otso Warakin and this will allow me to have two easily reached bottles, a third on the seat tube, and one stashed inside the top tube bag. With all the chances at convenience store stops, and oasis stops, I should get by just fine with that amount of water on-board.
I'm choosing to run the excellent WTB Resolute tires for the event on my White Industries, WTB rimmed wheel set all tubeless, of course. I'll have 46T/36T X 11-36T gearing for plenty of low end and good high end ranges without running a wonky chain line. I also will be using the Ritchey Venturemax bar on this attempt at Gravel Worlds.
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| MONe Bikes El Continente |
So, I have a few things in cycling that will always get my attention- Plate crown forks, fillet brazed construction, single speed capability, and drop bar specific, non-suspension corrected designs. I also have a fascination with 29+ wheels, as I think the possibilities of that wheel size are mostly misused and misunderstood by most companies that try to use them.
Well, I saw someone post this frame from a company called MONe Bikes on Facebook and I was like, "Dang it! There is a bike I can get behind! " It is steel, fillet brazed, uses a plate crown fork, is a drop bar specific design with no provision for suspension, and can be set up single speed. Plus it is a 29+ wheeled rig.
Yep. I sure do like it!
Some Salsa Cycles honches asked me a couple years ago what I would do for a 10th anniversary Fargo. Well, had I seen that MONe Bikes El Continente back then, I would have just handed them the image and said, "Do that!" If I could persuade them to do it now, I would. But as the 2018 stuff will be released September 8th by Salsa, that probably will not happen. I doubt they have the hutzpah to just go with a non-sus corrected deign, for one thing, much less a specific 29+ rendering of a Fargo.
Maybe, (hopefully), I'll be wrong.
Have a great weekend and get some bicycling done!
9 comments:
How does that MONe handle SS chain tension? EBB?
@Rob- Telescoping chainstays. Click through to the site to see a close up.
Thanks for this post. Going down hill at night on gravel with a tall bb height is so skiddish. Why don't they understand that?
Ari
That MONe is something else...
Speaking of new gravel bikes... One new QBP model that was not subject to embargo was the All-City Cosmic Stallion. It rang enough of my bells that I ordered one the day they became available. So far I am loving it, especially the way it rails on fast gravel descents. What are your thoughts?
@BluesDawg: Love that they used a low bottom bracket, simply detest the steep head angle in conjunction with the low offset fork. So, mixed bag from my viewpoint. Beautiful execution and aesthetics though. I love how All City bikes present.
As far as geometry and how it affects handling, I still haven't seen anything quite like my Tamland yet to sway me off that bike.
Whoever came up with the name Cosmic Stallion deserves a raise. What a name.
I can't wait for the Black Mtn Cycles disc. I have high hopes tha Mike will nail it right. I think most manufacturers design their frames around an already made and available stiff a## carbon fork.
That Mone bikes frame really spoke to me when I saw it as well, especially with the bluish treatment on the steel. Unfortunately, having it as an N+1 would likely mean N+2 frames sitting in my garage unbuilt for a while, so I guess I'll have to pass on the intro offer at this point. To your comments tho, I'd love a non suspension corrected Fargo, but going down that path would likely mean a long wait as they would have to build/design a different fork and get that all the way through testing.
I talked to someone about the fact that the Powderkeg fork braze-ons face backwards like the first gen Fargo, vs the newer steel ones, and they commented that was all due to when the fork was designed, and the time it took to get the safety approvals done. Had they opted to move the braze ons to the front, it would have delayed the bike at least another year.
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