Unbound Gravel was a hotspot for unreleased new bike tech this 12 months. We noticed SRAM’s unreleased 13-speed Purple XPLR AXS groupset, a COROS bike pc with 90+ hours of battery life, new area of interest race package and new wheels.
We additionally received glimpses of recent bikes, together with a prototype Big, which we’re fairly positive is a brand new top-end Revolt.
This bike was raced by Australian Brendan Johnston, a.ok.a Trekky, of the Big Manufacturing facility Crew within the males’s elite 200-mile occasion. Johnston completed in fifteenth place after a powerful efficiency in a “merciless” race that noticed him undergo three flat tyres.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
Big stays mum on the main points of the brand new bike, however here is what we all know:
Big launched the Revolt gravel bike a decade in the past, and a number of other iterations have since been launched, addressing the necessity for ever-more succesful and sooner off-terrain steeds.
The vary’s flagship mannequin, the Revolt Superior Professional, has pushed the boundaries of weight whereas hanging a stability of compliance and capabilities with pace and race geometries.
Improvements over the previous few iterations embrace:
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– A flip chip rear dropout to permit riders to regulate the wheelbase to fine-tune the dealing with for various kinds of terrain.
– The decreasing of seatstay junctions with thinner-diameter tubes to enhance rear-end compliance.
– The model’s proprietary D-Fuse seatpost geared toward decreasing shocks and vibrations from the tough floor.
Many of those applied sciences seem like current on this prototype as nicely.
At first look, the most important change is the addition of downtube storage—an rising pattern in gravel bikes and one thing that riders, fairly than racers, have been asking for, Big revealed.
Incorporating storage into the downtube includes greater than merely slicing a gap within the carbon. There are advanced design components to think about, together with devising an entry door or cowl, hinges and latches, guaranteeing that the compartment and the contents do not intrude with the interior cable routing, and, in fact, the structural integrity of the downtube. To compensate for the cutout, producers should add further materials, that means that this new prototype might not be any lighter and even as mild as its predecessors.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
New is also the interior body routing. Inner routing is not the simplest for house mechanics to work on, however it does create clear—maybe much more aerodynamic—traces and permits riders to connect equipment with out the interference of cables.
The D-Fuse seatpost and flip-chip are current on this prototype as nicely, however notably lacking is the addition of a UDH interface. Launched by SRAM in 2019, the Common Derailleur Hanger (UDH) standardizes the derailleur mounting interface throughout completely different bike frames, geared toward bettering shifting efficiency and rising the system’s robustness.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
A UDH interface is required to run the brand new 13-speed SRAM Purple XPLR AXS derailleur we noticed, which Trekky, whereas being an SRAM-sponsored athlete, couldn’t make use of. Whereas he did use the brand new SRAM purple brake-shift levers, carried over from the newly launched SRAM Purple highway groupset, Trekky has to make do with a SRAM mullet construct consisting of a 1x chaining within the entrance and a 12-speed mountain bike transmission derailleur and Eagle cassette within the rear. Whether or not this bike, as soon as commercially accessible, will function a UDH interface is as of but unknown.
The brand new SRAM Purple brake-shift levers
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
The cockpit on Trekky’s bike seems to be CADEX’s Aero Built-in Handlebar, a $699 improve that we’re guessing won’t be normal problem on the commercially accessible bikes or maybe on the very top-end fashions solely.
For his course recon rides, Trekky was working CADEX AR 35 Disc Tubeless gravel wheels with carbon spokes and wrapped in 50mm Pirelli Cinturato tyres with ample clearance left.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
As with the present mannequin, the prototype sports activities accent mounts on the toptube and downtube.
Once more, Big wouldn’t reveal something about this aside from what our personal eyes may see however we’re sure will probably be launched later this season. Keep tuned.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
