SRAM’s Secret 13 Speed Gravel Groupset + New Race Bikes | Unbound 2024

Unbound is the biggest gravel race in the world and brands, somewhat unsurprisingly, use the attention the event generates to tease some new products.

This year we have a shock sighting of a new 13-speed SRAM Red AXS XPLR groupset. There was also a host of new bikes and some tasty new aero tech.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:22 New SRAM Red AXS XPLR
02:40 New Bikes
04:58 Hydration Skinsuits
06:04 Huge Tyres Rule

See Ted’s Bike In More Detail

Unbound 2024 tech trends: fat tyres, prototypes, gravel skinsuits, suspension and… beach cruisers?
https://www.bikeradar.com/features/tech/unbound-gravel-trends

Unreleased SRAM Red XPLR AXS breaks cover at Unbound with 13-speed cassette
https://www.bikeradar.com/news/sram-red-xplr-axs-groupset-spotted

Pro Racer Gravel Tyre Width And Pressure Secrets

NEW 12-Speed Shimano GRX Di2, What You Need To Know!

The Best Gravel Suspension Forks | 6-Way Mega Test

NEW SRAM Red AXS Review: The Lightest Electronic Disc Groupset Yet

EVEN MORE Of The Hottest Pro Gravel Race Bikes

Hottest Pro Gravel Race Bikes Of The Traka

Listen to the BikeRadar Podcast
→ https://www.bikeradar.com/bikeradar-podcast/

Follow BikeRadar on our social media channels:
→ https://instagram.com/bikeradar
→ https://facebook.com/bikeradar
→ https://twitter.com/bikeradar

BikeRadar is supported by Mountain Biking UK and Cycling Plus Magazine –For more information and to subscribe please visit
→ https://bit.ly/3nMr3Rn

For more content like this see our latest subscription offer –
→ https://www.cyclingplus.com/subscribe-today/
→ https://www.mbuk.com/subscribe-today/

the Unbound gravel race is the off-road world’s kind of Tour of France the Pinnacle of Dusty gravel racing and hot bed of gravel Tech has provided some seriously Cool Tech this year which we were all too happy to photograph as we roam the pits let’s start with a new gravel group set from SRAM before we get on to new bikes and the latest Aero clothing a new 13-speed SRAM red access explore group set appears to have broken cover at the 2024 Unbound gravel race when SRAM recently launched its Flagship red access group set a gravel variant was curiously admitted Now red access explore has broken cover and it’s a radically different product from its Road counterpart boasting a brand new rear deria with a hanger incorporated into the deria itself this then mounts directly onto a SRAM udh Dropout now a key detail to my eyes is what’s potentially going on inside that deria the road-going red access rear deria rely on an orbit fluid damper but the new deria appears to borrow the overload clutch found on ttype transmission rear derailers given that gravel racing takes in much rougher terrain than a road race we’re not surprised to see this as it will simply reduce chain shatter and chain drop from what we can see the new gravel group set borrows many of the same components as the red access group set the shifters brake calipers and disc brake rotors all appear to be identical the new new crank set though leaves a few unanswered questions it appears to be one by only and the teeth are presumably orientated to mesh nicely with that chain over the weekend we’ve seen a few Riders using different crank set setups so Keegan sween’s Santa Cruz Stigmata had a one by Arrow chain ring with an integrated power meter others though well they use the existing 12-speed red one crank set with a non-integrated power meter so this suggests that there may be some backwards comp compatibility between the new 13-speed components and the existing 12-speed chain rings I reckon we’ll see SRAM release a new crank set with updated graphics and tooth profiles though as every new group set needs a crank set a big question that remains for me though is whether SRAM is going to switch to 13-speed across their other group sets it would be super cool to see but I think the reality is a way off ttype transmission is only the best part of what a year old and the new 12 speed red access is just under 3 weeks old so it wouldn’t make sense for SRAM to supersede a product so soon into its life cycle right what about those new bikes this season Tre Rider Russell final has piloted what looks like the next checkpoint up front there’s an integrated bar stem combo with plenty of flare in the drops the framelines appear to borrow from the domain road bike and there’s the addition of a udh hanger the vibration damping ISO speed decoupler located at the junction of the top tube and the seat tube well that appears to carry over to Ridley athletes Peter Havoc Annabelle Fischer and Toby Perry were spotted riding a likely successor to the Ridley canzo fast we can’t glean much from the images that we saw but it appears to receive plenty of aerot tube shapes possibly borrowed or at least informed by the Brand’s Falcon RS era road bike havoc’s tire clearance isn’t visible for all of the Dust but clearance appears to be improved over the previous generation giant Rider Brendan Johnson raced aboard what looks to be the next iteration of giants gravel bike the Revolt details are again rather scarce but it appears that it’s on Trend with an arrow handlebar internal routing from the bar to the frame down tube storage and a very compliant seat post it’ll be very interesting to see what the tire clearance is though because those tires look properly fat to me and alled gyers with two new bikes oh yes the new frames look long and very very slack with Tire clearance that eclipses anything the company currently offers now the US Brand’s gravel bike the able which took the win in the men’s and women’s Unbound 200 in 2019 has an elevated Drive side chain state for improved Tire clearance but it maxes out at 43 mm in the rear so these new bikes are something else entirely the chain stays are very low tucking the rear wheel in while maximizing clearance one bye rans Ram’s unreleased 13-speed Gravel Drive Trin however Allied Rider Tyler leine is a Shimano athlete and ran the Brand’s new 2×2 grx di2 kit opting for narrower Victoria Treads which could be a choice dictated by front deria compatibility given allied’s inhouse manufacturing capabilities it’s also possible that these are two very different prototypes Rafa’s blero suit that’s bladder Arrow skin suit to you and me made its debut at Unbound the notion of an AOS skin suit with a sleeve for an integrated 2 L hydration bladder might have sounded like a bit of an April fools a few years ago but the proof was in the podium as lack Morton wore it to a first place finish according to Raa the blo suit won’t be available to purchase in the near term however they will develop the concept with plans to launch a consumer ready version down the road someway clothing company rule 28 has also developed a similar skin suit with an integrated 1.5 L bladder which apparently improved aerodynamics in the wind tunnel and if a full skin suit isn’t your thing castelli has launched its hydration ready unlimited Pro Jersey which also features a hydration sleeve I guess that makes hydration backpacks like so last year now it was also pretty hilarious to see each brand launched their thing and pretend that it was like the only one available gravel tires have seemingly got bigger again this year Unbound 200 winner Lain sped to Victory on the largest Victoria tires he could squeeze into his canondale Super 6 Evo CX up front he ran a 50 mm torano dry bringing up the rear was a 44 mm Mescal despite the extra heft of these tires set a new course record of 9 hours 11 minutes and 47 seconds 45 mm Continental Terror speed tires didn’t stop eventual women’s winner Rosa closer from suffering a front wheel puncture after about 200 km but the German PhD student showed the benefits of running Tire inserts as she was able to nurse the slash Tire around 30 km to the feed Zone despite the crash caused by the puncture closer surprised everyone by catching the leaders and winning a nine up Sprint aboard her Rose Back Road the 2023 men’s winner Keegan Sween went big running 45 mm Maxis reavers tread pattern is also pivotal though there is a school of thought that if the gravel is large and loose the minimal tread of most gravel tires won’t actually provide much traction anyway for example former Unbound Champion Ted King ran 44 mm Road slicks but if in doubt just goes super wide Pac and Mel run 29 in X 2.25 in Maxis Aspen ST tires these are true cross country race tires and his eighth place finish proved their worth but what was the most popular gravel Tire of this year’s Unbound specialized Pathfinder still appears to be the fan favorite well I don’t know about you but I absolutely loved the racing this year and I loved the tech even more now if you like your gravel race Tech why not click up here and check out all of our tracker videos from this year and you know the job to wrap up like comment and subscribe