EVEN MORE Of The Hottest Pro Gravel Race Bikes

This is part two of our mega bike roundup from the 2024 Traka gravel race in Girona. If you missed part one make sure you check that out here
→ https://youtu.be/BYk6or7dvlU

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

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!
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:21 BMC Twostroke
05:40 Traka Racing
06:40 Colnago G4-X
09:57 Scott Addict Gravel RC
11:59 Fara F/Gravel
Hottest Pro Gravel Race Bikes Of The Traka
→ https://youtu.be/BYk6or7dvlU

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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→ https://www.bikeradar.com/bikeradar-podcast/

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hello and welcome back to part two of our gravel Race Tech video from the tracker we are down here at the finish line of the 200 km event waiting for the Riders to come in but before that go and check out this monster gravel bike which was built for the world’s biggest gravel races well we’ve been super lucky to grab uck bartus all that’s it’s okay uh for a little interview you haven’t got much time we could do a whole video on this bike let’s Dive Right In um some people’s eyes will be offended this is a hard tail with drop bars what’s What’s Happening Here well actually um I do most of the riding or the last years I did most of the riding um coming from Road converting a bit into gravel so I’m pretty much used to uh drop bar writing and and um getting on the mountain bike with like a 70 CM flat bar was feeling just weird as most of my races are Ultra long distance um I really need to feel comfortable for me it was um a very quick decision that I need to change to to drop bars just to feel good on the bike and have the same feeling um like on the brakes absolutely um can you talk me through your suspension setup so it’s uh it’s a front suspension on a rock shock the sit Select Plus um so it’s um kind of a basic but pretty durable um suspension it’s not super lightweight but uh the focus is more on um yeah durability than on lightweight because uh this bike is mainly built um for tour divide in uh in June so it has to survive uh 4 and a half th000 kilm in one go and um that’s that’s a small ride that that that that’s a tiny ride I’m I’m just looking at the front end and I’m trying to work out it’s here your lock out I was trying to see where the cables I was thinking oh maybe he’s got it integrated into his sham red levers or something but it is a a simple cable actuated lever just there yeah yeah yeah it’s um the mount is uh is custom because the lock out how you normally fix it it’s designed to be on flat bar so with the uh 27.2 mm um diameter uh just just in front of that we’ve got a big old front light um and I think it’s a dyo if I see that Hub correctly yeah it’s uh it’s a super nova um m99 front light super bright one of the or the brightest one on the market like I said we’ve got so much to get through here tires crucially um first of all what size wheels are you running these are 29 29 29 in Wheels yeah and then and and the tires both Hutchinson but we’ve got different profiles front and back yeah um um in the back I have a 50 mm Hutchinson T um which is more like hard pack um designed for dry conditions and in the front I have a tundra uh which is more with more profile um bit wet muddy conditions also 50 mm um on the rims they pop out as um 54 55 um and I just mount it um like with the more profile in front to have a little more grip um which I think yes well it it comes in handy these days uh we will we will find some mud out on the route one 730 uh 750 m bottle there I take it you would be running um a rest as well yeah yeah so I have uh 2 L on the back and uh 750 uh a bottle so um 2 and 1/2 lit something that’s uh that’s enough so the rout um if we move down to the drivetrain to finish uh I noticed a rotor power meter I believe um and then it’s a sham uh mountain bike group set yeah so I’m running um the rotor to in power uh Power power meter have mounted uh 34 uh chain ring with the 1052 Eagle cassette uh the xx1 uh the Ria uh pretty solid pretty solid gear you can do everything with it yeah cool and no Dro a post at the rear no that’s uh it’s not that shreddy it’s uh it’s a simple and solid d-shaped post yeah of course we’re going to have to weigh this bike do the honors I’ll come around and do the reading oh hang on take three 1 we’ll call it 13.6 not bad for a big bike well I have to say this is one of the the coolest bikes that I’ve ever seen at any race that I’ve ever been to thank you so much for joining us um massive good luck [Music] right then we’ve got the reporter mic out because they are 10 km away so come on Felix I can I can literally drag you by this lead come on we got to go and film some bikes [Music] what an incredible finish that was super super fast we didn’t catch the winner but we did catch up with asborn HOSA to talk about his lovely new kago g4x here is I’m here with Fifth Place espan hel MOA mate how was that today it was crazy it was really really crazy I’m yeah really tired and yeah I didn’t have the best the best legs today but yeah I kept the the Mind cool and I think I got like a better place actually in the end that my than my legs deserved so I’m really really proud about that we saw the trail conditions changing so much throughout the week leading up to the race how was it out on the course with your with your setup um yeah because I’ve done a lot of Recon we actually we went to indom and then I just stayed in Jona just to do Recon and in the start it was super Dusty uh but then it started to rain full gas and then the car changed a lot but today even it was dry some places so sometimes it was super muddy and sometimes it was yeah really really dry but yeah I got my I got my 45 uh 45 tires uh with some uh PN on so yeah and then of course not to of course the new the new kago g4x which is like you know yeah it’s just another like a little more it has a little more reaction and uh yeah it’s a really really good bike um and then yeah the the kex wheels that uh yeah in the end it’s a super fast setup with the Shimano Shimano components and uh yeah I’m uh like a really important thing today was to take some oil with me because like even though I waxed the chain like then it got got super dry because you just went in these big mods and you could just feel like the stones and everything like you could hear everything so that was like really key and actually when I got dropped I took myself time to to give myself the oil maybe lose 10 seconds more one thing that’s super interesting to me on this bike is that you’ve got a road group set not a gravel group set what’s the reasoning for that like in the end it was uh yeah I’ve gone with with with this with this setup I I actually I was with the grx group uh before on on the other bike but uh yeah like there was like some some some let’s say some problems that to be able to go with the 36 instead of 34 I had to go with like a 12s speed uh and actually was yeah it was really really good for me because there was some times today like on the climb which was like really really hard because it was super steeve it was super muddy so actually that’s that saved me it saved me some energy so like I don’t want to change too much before race like if you have done like I won the the yeah like the real stage in in santal uh on a setup like this and yeah it went really fine uh I didn’t have problems with shifting uh also in the front so in the end it was it was no problem actually so yeah but but I think when we have a little more time to test some things I think it could maybe make sense but to change to one by but uh yeah we will see well a super fast Roadie kind of setup for a super fast guy we’ll let you go sit down and get a pizza thank you very much man well done today thanks for a super fast road setup there I loved it we didn’t get much time to chat with claraa sopy SCF guard but it was very interesting so let’s go and have a look at her second place finishing bike okay so I am with the second place in the women’s 200 race today she is high as a kite this you are so happy with this yeah yeah very happy I can’t I can’t believe it it’s my first time racing tracker and this is beyond everything I’ve dreamed of so I’m so so happy please keep the the the tears to a minimum it would be great um I just want to ask you how is your bike set up today cuz the conditions were changing so much yes um last week I decided to roll with the 45 mm tires because I know my strength is my technical skills so I wanted to do whatever I could to improve that um and I don’t know I don’t do tire pressure so I was measuring this morning with my thumb and thought let’s let’s go obviously the right decision for you um I want to touch on you’ve got a 2 by drive train as well good choice for you today uh yeah yeah I think so because it’s just enough gears for the climbs but I can still push fast on the on the flats I come from a flat country so for me to have like a a solid gearing is is very important for me um and then at the front end you’re running you know quite an arrow setup up here yeah but my handlebar is quite wide actually um uh because like my descending skills is I come from mountain biking so the wider The Handlebar the better uh and I really found that helpful today so the tactic was just full send all day yeah I mean yeah I dropped all I dropped the girls on the first descent and was alone for some time in the front I knew that Kina shift was super super strong so she would probably get back up um but I tried to catch her again on the second descent and I I got quite close uh I just love sending it downhill so I would say you’ve earned sending it right over to the pizza van thank you very much well done this is Sher Cardona she was meant to be doing the 560 yes but now we’re just going to do some training rides cuz you were saying off camera that 320 is just too short isn’t it really yes for Ultra cyclist uh the night is important that’s where the moves are made that’s where the chess game is played I want to dive straight into this cuz this is your lovely faroh bike can you tell us about it please uh yes so I have the far gravel this is size 54 and then I have the new far modular cockpit and I have a bit of a dny setup with a custume 3D printed plate to mount These aerob Bars the zoko aerob bars is this is this for Arrow or is it for Comfort like you just get another another position to be in on the bike yeah I think is mostly for Comfort but actually it makes a difference even on gravel like when you have a long stretch and you need to close the gap to a group is really helpful I will say so or you have a headwind you still feel it and you were saying that the night is where an endurance cyclist kind of really settles down obviously to ride through the night you’re going to need lights uh so I use the Supernova Airstream so it’s really useful because you can also o uh plug it to your power bank and keep on running the light so if you run out of battery you have it there and I also have a helmet light which is really useful if you want to ride fast in corners or descend and I noticed you’ve got your City Safety here with a little bell of course for gravel there’s a lot of dog walker so it’s really useful to have a bell so the Farah F gravel is a bike that you can really load up and you have taken advantage some of them not all of them cuz we’ve got some Fork mounts that have remained yeah all clean but you’ve got the bags here what’s your setup and kind of what’s in there uh yeah so I have the far integrated frame back which is really good because you don’t need to put frame protector you can just attach it and then I have a bolone top tube back from apidura then the apidura tool pouch so I have there are like some repair things like din PLS uh a spare inner tube Etc and then that’s it that’s the lightweight version for Ultra I will say yeah uh kind of so I have my power bank here all my electronics at hand in case I need to charge anything and uh some sunscreen and here uh maybe a rain jacket and mostly food yes mostly a lot of food what’s your what’s your snack of choice for for riding I think everybody knows I love Haribo my snack of choice well some people that are contemplating riding 560 km in one go might think that you might need uh more than one bottle cage on but there’s a secret yeah exactly so I use the apidura hydration pack which is really useful to carry water so I have all the capacity I need and this is purely gels in this bottle it’s a gel bottle normally 300 300 M of we’ve got a ram is that Ram Force explore gar uh yeah the ram force and then I have uh 38 at the front and 1044 at the back so nice and wide especially good yeah especially good for the hills around here nice little mudu guard at the back here yeah so I love this one it makes a difference even with these like puddles so is the asaber wing win too it’s really comfortable and you can easily remove it if you have different bikes you can switch it around your wheels and tires uh so I don’t I have to say I don’t recognize uh the wheel brand but the tires I do recogniz so let’s start with them you’ve got the pellis yeah the pelli chint grav that’s my tire of choice I tested it in uh one of the races I did Bohemian border bash I was like if they can survive that they can survive everything I didn’t have a single puncture I use them them for gravel trips and perfect they hold the air perfectly I didn’t have to pump it or anything and the grip especially in wet conditions is great perfect perfect for right here uh what wheels are they mounted on uh full chome rapid red carbon uh but what is the width here 45 mm awesome and do you know the pressures uh 25 no 27.5 PSI yeah perfect well Sher thank you so much for joining us I’m really sorry that you couldn’t get the chance to race and attack through the night uh but I’m I’m sure the training rides around Jona will serve you well but that was our time at the tracker over we’d seen some incredible racing and Bike Tech but it was time for a cold beer and a very large pizza but before you do the same why not tell us your favorite bike of the weekend down in the comments below and if you want to see part one of this video then why not click up in the corner