The Traka: Hottest Pro Gravel Race Bikes

The Traka gravel race is Europe’s equivalent to Unbound in North America. Riders tackle gravel roads in 50, 100, 200, 360, and 560km distances.

In the first of two videos from Traka 2024, Felix and Liam have been on the ground in Girona searching out some of the hottest, most interesting, and wildest bike setups designed for conquering this brutal event.

Which of the bikes is your favourite? Are there any bikes that we missed? Let us know in the comments!

Remember to look out for our second roundup of bikes.

#gravelbike #traka24 #traka2024

What Are Pro-Level Gravel Cyclists Riding? | 2021 UNBOUND Gravel Race
→ https://youtu.be/z5GQU1gcotA

6 Unbound Gravel Race Bikes 2022
→ https://youtu.be/4i3kkO1l9ZQ

ALL The Tech From Unbound Gravel 2023
→ https://youtu.be/T8KrDuy22yE

Colnago G4-X Gravel Bike First Ride Review
→ https://youtu.be/QJ2AcdoXQNQ

9 Of The Best Gravel Bike Upgrades
→ https://youtu.be/hakHBHAQ1y8

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I’m with Sam Andrews out of the UK you’re a privateer this year doing the 360 yeah and you have a very nice bike it’s all right is it yeah it’s pretty pretty flashy so yeah it’s a tatii REI um handmade in Italy and uh yeah it’s pretty pretty special for sure I think uh I think I really want to have a look just towards the rear end cuz two features here one is a super squash top tube yeah so it’s um super thin and T have had this techn for over over a couple of decades now I think and um yeah it basically just uh takes a lot of the shock out of the out the out the road and the rough rough surfaces and um yeah ultimately looks pretty pretty sweet as well and it’s their their design they’ve developed and uh yeah and then strapped to it is a CO2 canister ready to go you’re expecting the worst I assume just quick access really I do it in most most races um yeah worst comes to worst it’s there ready to roll just whip it off bash it in the tire other cool mod that I have just noticed I didn’t spot this up at the front we’ve got the uh the 360 camera capturing the chaos from all angles he yeah stay tuned is it actually going to stay clear of mud uh I don’t know I’ve been having to clear it quite a lot uh on the wcky today but yeah and then 360 km is a massive distance um all of your snacks and stuff in this Frame bag yeah absolutely yeah so this will be just rammed with gels uh bars sandwiches all that sort of stuff what’s the race strategy full gas from the start um well I’ve done this twice now so I kind of know what to expect and know how to to ride it so plan is to just stay stay steady stay comfortable for the first 100K and then once we hit the the first climbs start to just follow the moves and then uh basically hold on till till the end uh but the main thing is yeah just try and stay safe not have any Mechanicals and uh watch out for all the big puddles out there there is a bit of a storm Inc coming so we will make this quick I do want to know how much it weighs though um that might not be good just ahead of the race if it’s not the answer you’re looking for we’ll hook it I I might have to drop some stuff out if it’s oh right my gem work has not been doing the job 11.2 apparently 11.2 kilos is the limit of my shoulders right now not too heavy it’s all right yeah it’s more than I thought really maybe I have to drop some stuff yeah so obviously that’s with all of the the kit in the bag um bottle on there camera all that sort of stuff so yeah do does weigh a little bit lighter without all the all the stuffff all the paraphernalia I think uh Nature’s bike wash is just about to hit us uh there are some big storms in Jona right now uh we’ll let you get going but first thanks a lot man good to see you cheers now we’re with Cynthia Carson who is the winner of the Atlas mountain race not on this bike but you’ve got a new bike yes Dora the Explorer this is Dora yes we love it uh this is three T’s which is what’s the model the extrema it’s the newest bike in the gravel lineup and it’s really Burly you can fit uh 2.25 tires in here yeah that looks like some massive space and it looks like you’ve got it set up for a massive ride I I’m seeing all sorts of things there’s three bottles on here you’ve got the pump on the non- drive side is that a hydration yeah thing amazing so so where does that feed into there’s a 1 and 1/2 lit bladder in the frame bag from apidura the racing frame bag so what’s in there Jin whiskey should be should just Just Energy drink in there yeah actually just water these bottles will have the uh scratch high carb mix and one bottle of water as well so so what else it makes this bike special I can I can see some pretty fat Bape at the front is that all just for Comfort yeah so I’m typically an ultra racer I race my bike for a long time so I have bar fat gel under here from physique and then yeah the bar gel the thicker bar tape just for comfort and then what else is special is that this is a integrated stem it’s the integral from 3T as well so no cables much cleaner so I just want touch on the drivetrain a little bit more cuz to me that looks like a mountain bike drivetrain what’s what’s technically is what’s the so it’s a mullet setup yeah what’s the thinking there it’s a transmission and the frame is actually a udh so it all these derailers only work with a udh specific bike so yeah 3ts come out with their udh frame to kind of go in line with that saram requirement so Cynthia the mountain bike gearing what’s the thinking behind that so I was originally going to do the 560k and there was a lot of climbing and with that I wanted to be able to have a lot of higher RPM spinning ability with a a heavier bike and the weight that you would be I would be carrying a saddle bag yeah higher RPMs are better for me saves your muscles and you use more of your endurance for that and going uphill obviously means lightweight is required I’m sorry we’re going to have to weigh it if that’s all right let me grab my hanging SC yeah oh gosh I I’m going to actually plug my ears um I don’t want to know but you can say it on the video okay hanging scales in hand they zeroed um let me see that definitely says zero it says zero we’re good definitely let’s go under under here this is actually fully loaded too I was just I water bottles and everything ready ready oh my arms 14.5k yeah put it down put it down put it down so this is actually the second set of these wheels and we’ve only interviewed two Riders so far so that’s 100% we are going to take a deeper look into your Wheel and Tire setup in another video so make sure that you stay tuned for that but finally good luck in all of the races that you’re doing cuz you’re doing the 360 the 200 and the 100 F loaded on the race calendar cheers thanks [Music] I’m now joined by SJ from sterker with a team Edition standard uh ketten Kens sag Kens Saga Kens Saga this is very different from pretty much every other bike that we’ve seen this is metal this is aluminium and yeah we we haven’t really seen anything other than carbon at this year’s race so can you take us through the main points of this bike yeah I think for me I’ve always bikes that look like bikes like kind of old school yeah yeah that old school for me I think what’s really important is the care the standard have gone into with the bike you know it’s custom tubing from data it’s handmade hand painted out in Italy it’s CNC dropouts they’re custom made you know there’s a lot of thought that’s got into this rather than just slapping tubes together so this is one of the first gravel bikes to ever have the udh which means it’s going to be hopefully future proof super combatible and you know no need to take a spare in the future there’s a few little Easter eggs on this bike up here what’s what’s this that’s a cat with a a chainsa yeah I think one of the things I love about this brand is just how playful they are the name of the bike it means chainsaw in German so a little Motif you tested my my German you know language knowledge there and I just wasn’t up to scratch um this is very much a bike that looks quite traditional with the straight top tube but then you get to the front end and you’ve got what a custom headset there and you know all integrated SLT ceramic speed bearings in the headset and also in the bottom bracket comes with lifetime warranty normally mechanics hate me I tend to ride bikes to Absolute death but with this they pretty much serve themselves and look after themselves instead of having the traditional gravel bars I’ve stuck on the road stem and Road handle bars from data it’s a 38 a little bit thinner but you know I live in London I got a one bed the luxury of having space for multiple bikes it means with this I can just swap in and out Wheel sets and I can race this as a crit bike too so you were meant to be doing the 560 it got cancelled yeah yeah and then you’re on bottle Duty for the other races so you’re you’re not racing this weekend um but I was wondering whether this is your race setup cuz I’m I’m looking at this gearing and I’m seeing a an absolute Whopper of a chain ring and a quite minuscule cassette on there would would that have been your gearing for the race no definitely not and I’ve had a few funny looks this week as well it was going to be a GX Eagle on the back with a 1050 probably and then I’ve brought the front down to about 42 these hunt wheels are pretty special so they’re with a new type of resin they are testing new types of resins ones that are more sustainable ones that are more planet friendly and I think they’re going to have more to say about that this year but at the moment they’re just a pleasure to ride and they go oh well a prototype wheel uh we’re looking forward to obviously hearing more I’ve not heard anything about these but you heard it here first how much does it weigh do you think should we find out yeah let’s do okay let’s let’s go pretty much loaded up as well that is coming out at 9725 how do you feel about that ah it’s fine I think you know I’m no spring chicken I’ve got a fair bit of weight to me but it’s super agile it’s super aggressive to ride that feel on the descending and that comfort and that confidence it gives you you know I can live with deny going up the hills yeah not too bad I’d say SJ thank you very much for talking to us uh good luck in the bottle handing out duties I hope the weather is a bit [Music] nicer it’s a bit later in the day now the sun’s come out I’ve made my third fourth outfit change and we’ve been joined by by Kenneth out of the ammani team a collection of riders out of some East African countries and we saw this factor and we just had to get it I mean look at it Kenneth could you talk us through your race bike please uh I’m going to be using my Factor bike um with the slam group set I have the a 42 plank in front and uh behind I have a 1052 so you were meant to be doing the the the big 560 race that race was cancelled have you made any changes to your gearing for the shorter race or is it just still standard on the gear ratio I kept the same but uh for sure the most thing that I changed is the the bugs and the light a little bit later for takings your position to me looks very narrow at the front is this a 38 or a 40 uh this is a 38 so you know now is second is becoming more fast so just try to get any advantage you can get all eror all ER all the time and then in terms of tires super crucial um especially when a guy like this is going super super fast for so long um what’s your tire setup I’m using the Victoria tyano mix 8C wow 38 so quite narrow yeah a bit narrow because of the the rain sping and the mud just to have a good clearance so you want to just make sure that your bike’s not getting clogged up with the mud it’s muddy I want to be moving smoothly so fast yeah so your saddle obviously you need something that’s quite comfy at the front end cuz I’d imagine your position is going to be so far forward what saddle have you got there uh I got the physique the Adaptive One they go it’s pretty good for long distance yeah yeah yeah all of us will agree that we’ve got to finish with your bike check on this fantastic paint job um there’s so many things here what what kind of elements is this is this a leopard print or actually is um is a Gila Gila I I don’t know my animals so well to be fair but it’s lovely you’ve you’ve got the white into the yellow and green and the and the pink logos all the Rafa logos I love this thing this is gorgeous Kenneth this looks like a super Speedy setup to me built for one thing yeah winning sure well mate good luck with the race and uh I hope to see you on the top step of the podium thank you