All the Latest Gear from This Weekends Unbound Gravel
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Unbound Gravel is the most well-known gravel race in the world. With riders from many corners of the globe descending on Emporia, Kansas, brands were eager to show off their latest greatest gravel innovations for the event. The pace of innovation in off-road and gravel riding has increased rapidly over the last few years. It wasn't that long ago that Bicycling staffers completed Unbound on tires as small as 35c. This weekend you would have been extremely hard-pressed to find a tire smaller than 40c on any competitor's bike. We were on the ground to geek out over the pro bikes and the various hacks and setups of riders looking to go the distance.
First up is Cynthia Frazier's race-winning 3T Exploro Ultra. Cynthia rides for the Velocio//Exploro women's team and completed the 350-mile Unbound XL race in 22 hours, 25 minutes. It was a new women's record and good enough for 11th overall amongst the entire field. Interestingly, she did not use aero bars—which are particularly common in the 350XL race. Nonetheless, her average speed was an incredible 16.3 mph.
Frazier opted for the larger Wahoo Roam to help navigate the 350-mile route.
To ensure the computer lasted the length of the event, it was plugged into a battery pack. Wahoo computers are capable of pass-through charging, meaning they can be on and working while also being charged.
The 350XL race begins at 3 pm on Friday, so there is no avoiding doing a full night of riding. Lights are a critical piece of gear in this event. Frazier opted for a Sinewave dynamo headlight.
The Schmidt SONdelux dynamo hub (that powers the light) was a stock option provided by Hunt Wheels on the 30 Carbon Dynamo wheelset. Unfortunately, this particular wheelset is no longer available, but Hunt does offer other Dynamo wheel options. The small piece of electrical tape on the fork leg guides the dynamo wire up to the light.
A spot tracker is required for 350XL riders.
Frazier was on the newly released Schwalbe G-One RS tires that seemed to be everywhere at Unbound.
The new tire features a tread designed to be run one way on the front tire and a reversed on the back. The design provides better braking traction for the front wheel and improved pedaling traction for the rear.
This Cervelo Aspero was lurking near the HED wheels tent and caught our eye with an all silver wheelset.
The HED Emporia GA Pro wheelset is available in a silver edition, and I hope more brands offer a finish like this for their wheels because it looks great.
We spotted these minimally branded Hunt wheels on a bike being used in the 350XL. Currently, Hunt offers a 35mm deep carbon gravel wheelset, so this was something new. We don't have any details that we can share yet, but it's a good bet the new wheels will be hookless and at least 25mm wide internally.
An Outbound Lighting Detour light on a 350XL bike. While the light's advertised run time is not long enough to last through the night, it is capable of pass-through charging, so it will still run while being plugged into a battery pack.
Shimano has recently launched a silver version of its GRX groupset.
It's functionally identical to the GRX components (unless you count shininess as a function).
The silver parts appeared alongside a new GRX branded carbon wheelset with a more gravel friendly 25mm internal diameter, a competitive weight, and a hooked rim profile.
We figured this was just a rebranded mountain bike brake lever, but nothing on the Shimano website looks like these levers. The reservoir's shape looks different, and the reach adjust dial sits behind the lever instead of its usual spot.
The Ceramic Speed booth was busy optimizing bikes for their sponsored athletes the day before the 200.
Rob Britton's Felt got the complete treatment with a prepped chain and fresh pullies.
While Britton's bike was getting serviced, we noticed he was using a Classified Powershift rear hub. A two-speed internally geared hub that is designed to replace the range offered by a front derailleur.
Britton has the remote switch for the Classified system tucked in under his GRX hood.
Britton's bike: Cleaned, prepped, and ready to race 200 miles of gravel.
Fenders are never a bad idea on long rides with rain in the forecast.
There are only four spots to refill water along the 200-mile course. Depending on a rider's average speed, this can mean riding for three to five hours between refills. So, it's not uncommon to see creative solutions for attaching extra bottles to bikes at Unbound.
Ian Boswell raced this Specialized Diverge in the 200. A four-up sprint decided the race, with Ian taking 3rd after covering the 200-mile course in just 9:22 (averaging 21.3 mph over rough gravel roads). Boswell opted for the Diverge over the lightweight Crux. When asked about this decision, Boswell cited the Diverge's ability to smooth out the rough gravel roads at Unbound as being more important to success than the lighter weight offered by the Crux.
Boswell was perched on an S-Works Romin Evo with Mirror saddle.
Having quick access to a tire plug can mean the difference between getting rolling, losing minimal time, or having to reinflate a tire that has lost too much air to be ridable.
A tidy flat kit is great for quick access, but it leaves your spares exposed to the elements on a muddy day.
Boswell also had a Dynaplug repair tool at the ready.
Boswell was ready for a fast race at Unbound this year. He ran a 50 tooth aero chainring up front paired with a SRAM Eagle 10-50T cassette in the back. Pre-race, Boswell mentioned that going up a chainring size allows him to spend less time in the smallest-sized cogs of the cassette for better efficiency.
Take away the Future Shock and this cockpit would not be out of place on a World Tour race bike.
Aero bags are a thing now.
Apidura and Ridley teamed up to make these concept bags are claimed to make Ridley Kanzo Fast 16.66 watts faster at 25 mph, which feels like an optimistic speed on gravel for all but the pros at the front of the race.
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