Icelandic Warrior

Tom Marvin heads north to try out the new Seigla on its home terrain. But would it live up to its creator Lauf’s billing as ‘the holy grail of gravel bikes’?

Words Tom Marvin Images Snorri Tryggvason

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I’d left England basking in some early spring sunshine, but Iceland’s international airport, Keflavik, was sitting under a heav y blanket of slush as the plane touched down. Snow was blowing in from the north, and as I waited for the final journalist to arrive for the press trip, I was glad I’d packed my winter boots and thick, windproof clothing.

As I waited, there was time to grab a bite of the country’s unofficial national dish – the hotdog – as well as a few chocolate-milk-based calories, before we made a quick dash to a jacked-up 4×4, built to tackle the very roads we’d be riding on Lauf’s new bike the next day…

Havin’ a Lauf

Iceland may not be known as a hotbed of the cycling industry, but Lauf has been ploughing its own furrow for the last five or six years and the people behind the brand were keen to tell their story. They’re rightly proud that the company has gone from a quirky brand producing a niche mountain-bike product, to becoming, arguably, one of the most influential gravel brands around. I ask company founder and CEO Benedikt Skúlason why it went to a direct-sale model two years ago, focusing mostly on the US but happy to ship worldwide. “It makes us part of the cycling community, not part of the supply chain. It doesn’t hurt that you’ll also get the best possible price!” he says.

Lauf’s first product, in 2013, was the Trail Racer 29” mountain bike fork. Its leaf-sprung chassis, delivering 60mm of travel, didn’t set Cycling Plus’ sister magazine MBUK alight, though. The independent dog-links either side of the front wheel, attached to the main fork chassis via a dozen glass-fibre springs, twisted and twanged, even if the travel was supple.

However, mountain biking in Iceland was then focused on the country’s biggest race, the Blue Lagoon Challenge: a fairly flat dash, largely on gravel roads. The route didn’t tax the fork’s lateral stiffness, but did require it to deal with high-frequency buzz – ideal if your fork has zero friction but a lightweight, slightly twangy, chassis. This was just before the whole ‘gravel’ thing blew up. And, when it did, Lauf was ready. Early gravel riders were already putting the 60mm fork on their drop-bar bikes, and it wasn’t long until Lauf downsized its fork, launching the go-faster 30mm-travel Grit in 2016.

Fast-forward a couple of years and the brand released the True Grit – a race-orientated gravel bike, with a long and stable aggressive front end paired with a short, snappy rear, targeted at gravel races in the US, where it quietly found its way onto the top steps of dusty podiums in America’s Midwest.

Times are changing

Lauf’s True Grit is still a fast, capable bike, but times have changed in the gravel world – the cutting edge of design has moved on and Lauf wants to remain at the sharp end of the sport. To this end, it has just launched the Seigla – the Icelandic for ‘resilience’. When the True Grit was born, 40c rubber was considered wide, and the 45c rubber this frame could fit, at a push, wild. These days, 40-45c rubber is normal, and riders are realising the benefits of even wider rubber. The Seigla has room for 700x57c tyres or 29×2.25in MTB rubber.

Lauf has had to pull a few tricks out of its sleeve to do this but, in combination with its new dropped stays, designed to help triple frame compliance compared to the True Grit, the creators believe this is the future of the gravel race bike. Skúlason says Lauf’s ‘Long 4 Speed’ geometry has changed the gravel game: “It uniquely combines the fast fit and feel of a road bike with the stability and control associated with XC mountain bikes,” he says as I take in the Seigla’s long reach, slackish head angle and stubby stem paired with a super-short rear end.

The 425mm chainstays are shorter than on virtually every other bike around. This has been achieved, we learn, by using a deep but thin solid-carbon plate that emerges from the bottom-bracket shell and transforms into the chainstays, along with a 73mm threaded shell, rather than the usual 68mm. To accommodate this, SRAM has built Lauf some longer-axle cranks, testament to the impact this brand is having.

The Seigla’s rear triangle is the most obvious evolution away from the True Grit’s traditional doublediamond shape, with the seatstays dropped down. This separates the junctions of the seatstays and top-tube into the seat-tube, so the seatstays push on the seattube when the rear wheel hits a bump. This bows the seat-tube inwards slightly, facilitated by the thinning of the top-tube as it meets the seat-tube and giving the junction a hint of flex. Combine this with seatpost flex, accentuated by the slack seat-tube angle and that’s how you achieve three times the vertical compliance of the Seigla’s predecessor, all without links, pins, pivots or rubber bumpers.

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The Grit fork hasn’t been left behind, either, we’re informed. Although bikes will initially ship with 40c and soon 45c rubber, the Seigla’s ability to take 57c tyres means the fork’s shoulders have been widened. The axle is now 12x100mm, rather than 15x100mm.

Smoothing the way

I’ve now spent a fair bit of time on the Seigla. First on some cold rides on that trip in Iceland, and more recently back at home near Bristol. I’ve been riding the Weekend Warrior Wireless (£3,150), though with carbon e-thirteen XCX Race Carbon wheels borrowed from Lauf’s pricier bikes (the WWW comes with e-thirteen XCX Aluminium wheels as standard). It’s decked out with SRAM’s excellent Rival AXS electronic drivetrain, including the single-sided power meter cranks – you’ll have to look elsewhere if you want a 2x drivetrain, though, as there’s no room in the frame for a front mech. Most of my riding has been done on 700x50c Maxxis Rambler tyres, though I’ve tested it with 29×2.2in Maxxis Ikon MTB tyres too.

But back to Iceland, where I was also filming on my GoPro for BikeRadar’s YouTube channel. The conditions underfoot and around me helped me test the bike to its limits. The cold air was killing my batteries, which I had to stuff into my bib-tight pockets, while the GoPro itself was zipped up snugly below my Sportful Supergiara Puffy.

My GoPro frequently required attention, but the ride’s pace didn’t slow, so I was forced to sort out my electronics quickly, shove my hands back into my thick winter gloves, and then sprint the next couple of kilometres to catch up with the crew. The ice that held the dirt road together was thawing, turning patches of the road into a peanut buttery consistency – one minute my power propelled me forward, the next it simply seemed to deform the ground below, sapping speed at an alarming rate. With its race-focused attitude, at least the Seigla actively wanted to get back up to speed, so where possible I made the most of its aggressive shape and fast-ish rolling rubber to close the gaps.

Though we stayed low in the valleys, we were still battered by the weather. Iceland’s savage winds always seemed to come from the front, while simultaneously snatching at the front wheel, forcing continual micro-corrections. Where safe, groups of us tucked in together, shielding from the wind, before taking a turn at the front. When you drop off the back, you drop like a stone, and getting back into the protective atmosphere leaves you gasping icy air, while your legs burn under insulating Lycra.

The evolution of Lauf

Inspired by prosthetics, the idea of the radical Trail Racer fork was hatched

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● One of Iceland’s foremost manufacturing companies is Ossur, a world leader in prosthetics. Benedikt Skúlason’s engineering background, and interest in composites, led him to join this Icelandic company. While working on prosthetic feet and seeing their composite components going through millions of repeated stresses, he wondered why the bicycle industry’s interest in composites only focused on their low weight, rather than their long-fatigue life and flexibility. Being both aware of composites’ utility and having an interest in mountain biking, it wasn’t long until he pitched an idea to friend, industrial designer Gudberg Bjornsson.

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“In 2013, the Trail Racer fork was launched and found its way to the top step of the podium in the first race it entered”

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Prototypes followed, from basic proof of concepts through to near-finished carbon and glass-fibre demonstration pieces. Then, in 2013, the Trail Racer fork was launched and found its way to the top step of the podium in the first race it entered – fittingly staged in Iceland. The rest, as they say, is history…

Mullet over

Fortunately, the Seigla proved comfortable. Its 72.5° effective seat angle leaves your hips well positioned over the pedals, while the 70mm stem means the longish reach doesn’t feel stretched. The Rival gears are smooth and shifting is consistent. The XPLR drivetrain comes with a 10-44t cassette, where the True Grit was specced with a ‘mullet’ with a 10-50t cassette, giving it a wider range, but with bigger gaps between the gears.

Lauf’s Smoothie bar has a comfortable backsweep so your wrists never feel awkward while cruising. The hoods feel a little further forward than they might on a less swept-back bar, but they don’t actually sit too far in front of the stem’s faceplate. The inclusion of glass fibres in the tops of the bar is claimed to help quell gravel buzz. Lauf chooses not to spec a dropper post, but you can slot in RockShox’s 27.2 Reverb AXS. Internally, there’s no cable routing for a traditional dropper, though ask Lauf nicely and it’ll give your shop’s mechanic information on how to adjust internal cable routing runs – this will require holes to be made in the frame’s internal cable channels, though.

On smooth tarmac, with tyres at low pressure (I ended up running 24psi in the 50c rubber), there’s a little back-end bounce at higher cadences, but shifting to a harder gear sorts that. Even at these pressures the Rambler rubber doesn’t hum on tarmac. While the Seigla might not be as pin-sharp as a road bike on 25c tyres at 80psi, it consistently surprised me how easy it is to roll with speed on the road. Put some power through the pedals and it behaves well. The stiff BB junction doesn’t bend under your watts so big efforts are rewarded with surges forwards.

You can throw MTB suspension experiences out of the window too, as the Grit fork barely bobs while your arms and legs wrestle the bike from side to side. The only thing you might notice is the shift in relative position of the bar to the tyre’s contact patch. This feels like a function of both the tyre and wheel’s natural lateral flex under load, along with a tiny hint of the fork being made from multiple parts, rather than a single carbon monocoque. Understandably, compared to the lighter, less-treaded Rambler, the Ikon tyre introduced a little more lag into the bike’s reactivity.

“While the Seigla might not be as pin-sharp as a road bike on 25c tyres at 80psi, it surprised me how well it rolled on the road”

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While I might not choose such wide rubber in the UK, it’s good to have the option. Over rougher gravel sections or washboard road surfaces, the thirdgeneration Grit fork comes into its own. With no friction, it tunes out high-frequency chatter, boosting comfort levels beyond those usually found on a gravel bike, working well with the larger tyres and Smoothie bar.

Grit and gravel

One of my criticisms of the True Grit was that its compliant front end made the rear end feel harsher. Lauf’s claims that rear-end compliance has been tripled with the Seigla, along with the high-volume rubber, seem to run true. Its back end, though still not as smooth as the front, feels noticeably more comfortable than the True Grit.

And while I rated the True Grit’s descending, the Seigla takes it to another level. The frame compliance no doubt contributes. Rattle it over rough roads and the bike feels unshakeable. The Grit SL fork takes the sting out of the worst of the bumps and smooths road and gravel buzz. It obviously can’t be compared to a telescopic mountain bike suspension fork on bigger hits, though; it’s undamped, doesn’t have a hugely progressive spring rate and has limited travel. In fact it can get a little confused on mountain bike-style descents, which can cause some twist and twang, but you’re unlikely to be on these surfaces much.

However, its efficiency at smoothing the way must be recognised. Road and trail minutiae disappear as the front wheel flutters over surface imperfections, isolating you from fatiguing buzz. Hit a pothole, and while you’ll still bang through, the impact is muted and punctures less likely.

With the long front end aiding that higher-speed stability, the additional give at the back and generous tyre volume help to calm the ride and offer composure when skimming over rougher road. In fact, once I got down to 24psi, I started setting personal PBs down rocky double-track descents, testament to the bike’s willingness to carry speed over choppy terrain. Ultimately, if descending speed comes from a combination of grip, handling, braking and comfort, the Seigla offers it in spades.

Deservedly, the True Grit garnered many fans, thanks to its stable handling and smooth front end. And now that limited tyre clearance and relatively rigid rear end have been definitively addressed with the Seigla. Exciting things are coming out of Iceland…

Lauf Seigla Weekend Warrior Wireless

Need-to-know info on this trail-smoothing Icelandic gravel guru

Price From £3,540
Frame Seigla carbon
Weight 8.97kg (M)
Sizes XS, S, M, L, XL
Fork Lauf Grit 3rd Gen, 30mm travel
Drivetrain SRAM Rival AXS XPLR (42, 10-44) with single-side power meter
Brakes SRAM Rival, 160mm rotors
Wheels e-thirteen XCX Aluminium
Tyres Maxxis Rambler 40c (at launch)
Bar Lauf Smoothie (XS/S 40cm, M 42cm, L/XL 44cm)
Stem FSA V-Drive
Seatpost FSA V-Drive
Saddle Fizik Aliante R5