Swapping essentially new SRAM Apex hydraulic shifters to AXS without cutting the hoses. Have others gottan away without needing to bleed the brakes after (and do I actually need new olives/barbs)? Seeing mixed answers and curious what others have actually done.
Curious about the current-gen Argon 18 Krypton Pro and would love to hear from owners. How are you liking it so far?
There is pretty much nothing out there on the Otso Waheela R that came out this year. I have always had liked Otso, and Wolftooth, because they are a local company for me in Minneapolis and appreciate their Right to Repair motto. Anyone riding one?
Anyone running a road front derailleur on a 2025+ Áspero? What tire clearance are you actually getting?
I'm thinking about swapping my '26 Áspero over to a full SRAM Force E1 road setup (FD, RD, cassette, etc.) since it's basically become my all-road bike.
I know SRAM says 700x42 max with a 415 mm chainstay, but I'm curious what people are seeing in the real world.
How are we feeling about our 165mm cranks?
I started swapping between 165mm and 170mm cranks last year on a few different bikes mostly because, well, I like trying new things.
At the end of the day, and as a lot of people have already pointed out, the main benefit of going shorter seems to be comfort and the ability to hold a more sustainable aero position.
That said, I ride mostly around the city (Twin Cities, MN) with plenty of stoplights, stop signs, and short punchy hills. Every time I go back to 170mm, I’m reminded how much I personally appreciate the little bit of extra length.
I could honestly ride anything from 165–170mm and be happy. Depending on the ride, I might slightly prefer shorter or longer, but it’s pretty marginal for me.
I'm currently on a '26 Cervelo Aspero with Rival XPLR 13-speed, Reserve 42/49 wheels, and 32mm GP5000s. I've also upgraded it with an ENVE carbon seatpost, stem, and handlebars, so it's already a very smooth, fast road setup.
I stopped by my LBS and test rode an X-Lab RS7 Di2, and I came away seriously impressed. I expected it to be quicker on the road, but what surprised me was that it felt every bit as comfortable as my Aspero. The RS7 was incredibly composed over rough pavement, yet it felt noticeably more eager to accelerate and change direction.
The shop is also a Trek dealer, and after riding the RS7, I honestly had a hard time getting excited about a similarly spec'd Madone for a significantly higher price. Only question is the actual support you are going to get from X-Lab vs Trek if something does happen.
Does anyone know of any road saddles with longer rails? I'm trying to move my saddle farther forward, but I'm already at the limit on my current setup (ENVE Selle Italia Boost SLR + 0 offset seatpost).
For some context, I have relatively long legs for my height (84 cm inseam at 175 cm) and run 165 mm cranks on my '26 Aspero. Between the 73ish° seat tube angle and my higher saddle height, I end up sitting fairly far behind the bottom bracket. That closes my hip angle and makes it harder to comfortably pedal in a bent-arm, aero position. The bike is set up as more of a race-oriented road and gravel bike, so I spend a lot of time riding in that more aggressive position.
One thing I've been wondering about with the new wave of aero gravel bikes is why most brands still seem to be sticking with STAs similar to their older non-aero offerings.
The whole point of these bikes is to be faster and spend more time in an aero position. Aero road bikes are moving this direction and it seems like a lot of people who are looking for an aero gravel bike are the ones pushing their saddles all the way forward and running longer stems to do accomplish to get a more progressive fit anyways.
More so curious what discussion comes of this, but other than the Crux 5 I am not seeing other brands going closer to 75 degree STA.
After almost a month on my ’26 Aspero (SRAM 13-speed) it’s almost the perfect n-1 bike for road and gravel.
I run Reserve 42/49 TA wheels with road tires for most of my road riding and Reserve 40/44 GR wheels with 700x45s for gravel. Regardless of wheels, it just feels like a fast, comfortable endurance (won’t go so far as to say race) road bike.
On the road, I don’t feel like I’m giving anything up. On gravel, I don’t feel under-biked. It’s the closest I’ve come to a true do-it-all bike.
The only real knock is tire clearance, but adding more clearance would likely change the geometry and some of what makes the bike ride so well in the first place. For the riding I do, Cervélo seems to have nailed the balance... until they release the next Aspero with most likely 50mm tire clearance.
Need to swap the stem and cranks still, but honestly not much else is needed. With the ENVE 700x33 road tires and the Reserve 42/49 TA wheelset, this thing feels more like a fast road bike than a gravel bike. It also came with the Reserve 40/44 GR wheelset for gravel duty.
Coming from a 2025 Cannondale SuperX, this bike just feels better on both road and gravel to me. One thing very apparent with stiffer aero gravel bikes like the SuperX is that they’re really designed around larger gravel tires, which help mute the harshness of the frame. Once you throw skinnier road tires on them, the stiffness becomes very apparent.
As someone who works on my own bikes, I’m also significantly happier being able to run whatever seat post, stem, headset, etc. I want. I actually laughed while lowering the stem after buying it because the whole process was so refreshingly straightforward.
I’ve been using my 2025 Cannondale SuperX as both my road and gravel bike lately, mostly out of convenience. Realistically, the majority of my riding is on the road with Reserve 42/49 wheels and 700x33 ENVE road tires. Overall it does the job well, but I have to imagine that even with lighter wheels and skinnier tires, it’s still not going to feel as quick-handling or outright fast as a true road race bike like a Specialized Tarmac or Trek Madone. (The plan has always been to eventually add a dedicated road bike anyway.)
For those of you who own both a racier gravel bike and a road bike, how noticeable is the difference on the road? Does the road bike feel significantly faster/sharper, or is the gap smaller than expected?
Currently riding a Cannondale SuperX as my road/gravel race bike and love it, but the tire clearance is starting to feel limiting. After my last 100-mile gravel race, I became a believer in 50mm+ gravel/MTB tires for gravel events.
Because of that, I’m considering building up a Trek Checkpoint SL 7 Gen 3 frameset I can get cheap. Curious how people feel about the Checkpoint as a road/gravel mixed-use bike compared to something racier like the SuperX.
I still do a lot of road riding for training and to connect gravel and single track, but I’m not chasing road PRs. Usually run 38mm René Herse Barlow Pass tires on my road wheel set. Would go size M with the stem slammed (will be around where my SuperX is stack wise) so I think it'll still be a nice and aggressive fit.
Did my first real gravel race yesterday. The 100 miler at Granny’s Gravel Grinder in Minnesota and it definitely reset some of my assumptions. I ran 40mm Schwalbe G-One RS Pros mostly because I already had them. The course was roughly 80/20 gravel to pavement, and coming from a pure mountain biking background (CO and WA for the last 8+ years), I figured that setup would be more than enough. I’ve been pretty skeptical of the whole go bigger trend in gravel tires..I was definitely wrong. Even on 40s, running relatively low pressure, the gravel absolutely beat me up over the course of the day. My position is on the aggressive side but normally very comfortable. However, paired with those tires, I felt myself getting progressively less comfortable as throughout the ride. Chase Wark recommended 45s for this race, but after this race, I’d strongly consider going 50mm+ next time. Safe to say I’m now casually browsing bikes with massive tire clearance…
TLDR: Thought 40mm tires would be plenty for a 80/20 gravel race. Bigger tires are real.
