{"id":64906,"date":"2024-05-30T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c8193bdb-bae6-46ed-8162-71f14836b894"},"modified":"2024-05-31T14:25:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T12:25:29","slug":"the-evolution-of-gravel-race-tech-from-2006-to-2024-early-adventure-adaptations-to-gravel-specific-everything","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/cyclingplus\/rss_feed\/the-evolution-of-gravel-race-tech-from-2006-to-2024-early-adventure-adaptations-to-gravel-specific-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"The evolution of gravel race tech from 2006 to 2024: early adventure adaptations to gravel-specific everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of Unbound 2024, Ben Delaney looks back on more than 15 years of gravel tech development <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 30 May 2024 at 17:00 PM<\/p>

\n\n

It began, as most things do, with the simple idea to try something new \u2013 using gear intended for another purpose.\u00a0<\/p>

Fast forward to 2024, and gravel race tech is so specific \u2013\u00a0and often so expensive \u2013\u00a0it has more or less become a meme of itself.<\/p>

As gravel has developed from an ultra-fringe, underground activity to an ultra-trendy pursuit (within the confines of the cycling world), scores of companies have jumped on the bandwagon.\u00a0<\/p>

Some have created legitimately innovative tech based on years of first-hand experience, careful R&D and a sincere interest in building better gear for gravel riders.\u00a0<\/p>

Others have simply slapped the word \u2018gravel\u2019 on existing products \u2013\u00a0socks, bar tape, saddles, you name it \u2013\u00a0and hoped to cash in on the trend.\u00a0<\/p>

Here, as part of BikeRadar\u2019s Gravel Racing Week<\/a>, we look back on where gravel riding<\/a> started, where we are now and how we got here. We\u2019ve enlisted some of the riders who were in at the ground level, and who now work at companies such as ENVE, WTB and CamelBak, driving the design of the best gravel bikes<\/a> and gear.<\/p>

Where it all started<\/h2>

When was the very first gravel race? Some would cite Paris-Roubaix, the UCI road race that spans two dozen-plus cobblestone sectors and was founded in 1896. Some would point out that the Tour de France began on unpaved dirt roads, with riders tackling the French Alps on fat tubular tyres, with the first edition in 1903.<\/p>

But most track modern gravel\u2019s birth to America, with the introduction of events such as Trans Iowa in 2005, Dirty Kanza (now Unbound Gravel) in 2006 and Almanzo in 2007, where riders registered for free with a simple postcard entry.<\/p>

Ted King won the 2018 edition of Unbound on a Cannondale Super X cyclocross bike. – Josh Patterson \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The gear often consisted of cyclocross bikes<\/a>, which had the widest tyre clearance of drop-bar bikes at the time.\u00a0<\/p>

The fields were small, by any standards, and the rules consisted largely of the honour system.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Ted
King rode this Cannondale Slate with Lefty suspension for his first Unbound win in 2016. – Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Gravel tech pioneers\u00a0<\/h2>
\"Pro
Early gravel events saw riders line up on a mix of adapted road bikes, cyclocross bikes and pioneering gravel-specific bikes. This is the pro men’s field from the 2012 edition of the Crusher in the Tushar, described as the ‘toughest 69.9 miles on the planet’ and held in Beaver, Utah. – Cathy Fegan-Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Dan Hughes won the first \u2018DK\u2019\/Unbound Gravel on a custom frame made by Brent Steelman in Redwood City, California, that could take a \u2013\u00a0then enormous \u2013\u00a040mm tyre.<\/p>

\"Dan
Dan Hughes won the first edition of Unbound on this very cool bike, which mashed together a couple of frames produced by Brent Steelman. We’ll be bringing you a full gallery of this bike. – Dan Hughes<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Hughes used Campagnolo shifters and a Campag rear derailleur with a Shimano Dura-Ace crank. In subsequent editions \u2013\u00a0he secured three more victories and finished more than 10 times \u2013\u00a0he used narrower tyres until stock frames expanded their clearance.\u00a0<\/p>

Hughes was one of the first inductees into the Gravel Hall of Fame in Unbound Gravel\u2019s hometown of Emporia, Kansas, along with Trans Iowa founder Mark \u2018Guitar Ted\u2019 Stevenson, Unbound Gravel\u2019s Kristi Mohn, Almanzo founder Chris Skogen, The Mid South founder Bobby Wintle, Rebecca\u2019s Private Idaho founder Rebecca Rusch and Gravel Worlds founder Corey Godfrey.<\/p>

\"Yuri
Yuri Hauswald won Unbound in 2015. This is his Scott Addict Gravel from the 2018 race. – Josh Patterson \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Yuri Hauswald was a 2023 Gravel Hall of Fame inductee, in part for his 2015 Unbound Gravel win \u2013 a time when purpose-built gravel bikes barely registered.<\/p>

\u201cMy first \u2018gravel\u2019 bike was Marin\u2019s 2012 Cortina, a carbon cyclocross bike that I could barely squeeze 38s on,\u201d Hauswald tells BikeRadar.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Salsa
The Salsa Warbird was one of the first gravel bikes. – Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cThis was the rig I did my first Unbound on in 2013. I was running a cyclocross tyre from WTB, quite possibly their Cross Boss. Tubeless technology was still in its infancy at this time, so getting your bike set up that way always involved some higher alchemy.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhen I won Unbound in 2015, there really wasn\u2019t much gear that was gravel-specific yet, beyond Salsa\u2019s Warbird,\u201d adds GU community manager Hauswald, agreeing that \u2018gravel-specific\u2019 wasn\u2019t even a term yet.<\/p>

\u201cI still had to squeeze 38s on my bike in 2014, and for 2015 I ran Specialized\u2019s Trigger Pro, which may be the most successful tyre at Unbound, since both Dan Hughes and Rebecca Rusch won many of their titles on that tyre.\u201d<\/p>

Adventure adaptations<\/h2>
\"Neil
Neil Shirley (blue jersey) was among the early pioneers of gravel racing in the US. – Cathy Fegan-Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Neil Shirley, a former pro road and mountain bike racer, who is now ENVE\u2019s marketing director, was an early leader in gravel racing<\/a>. He won events such as the Belgian Waffle Ride in 2013 and 2014, and Gravel Worlds \u2013 the Nebraska-based event born in 2010, not the new-aged UCI World Championships \u2013 founded in 2015.<\/p>

\u201cMy first gravel bike was custom-made for me in 2012 by Calfee to take on Crusher in the Tushar (an event created in Utah by former road pro Burke Swindlehurst, that is now part of the Life Time Grand Prix series),\u201d says Shirley.<\/p>

\u201cThey started with a bright orange custom Dragonfly with \u2018adventure\u2019 geometry built at Calfee\u2019s La Selva Beach, California, workshop. The final product would go on to help influence the market long before most brands even realised gravel was a thing.\u201d<\/p>

\"The
Narrow tyres \u2013 by today’s standards \u2013 were the only option in early gravel races, due to restricted frame clearance. – Cathy Fegan-Kim<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Shirley says the Dragonfly used geometry modified from traditional road to \u2018adventure\u2019 for more stability, slightly relaxed handling and clearance for up to a 35c tyre.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s laughable to think about the high tyre pressures and narrow widths accepted at the time,\u201d he adds.\u00a0<\/p>

The build used ENVE\u2019s 29-inch XC tubular rims laced to Chris King hubs, along with Schwalbe 33c tyres. \u201cBecause cyclocross tyres were limited to a max width of 33c due to UCI rules, finding a high-quality 35c was next to impossible,\u201d says Shirley.<\/p>

\u201cShimano Ultegra Di2 had just released in 2012, but unfortunately, it would be another year before a Shimano hydraulic road disc was an option. Cable-actuated, Avid disc brakes were matched to 10-speed levers with a compact 50\/34 front chainring combo and an 11-32t cassette.\u201d<\/p>

\"Shimano
Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo all now offer gravel-specific gearing. – Ben Delaney \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Since then, gravel groupsets<\/a> have come to the fore, with gravel-specific gearing to combine road speed with off-road climbing capability.<\/p>

However, if you\u2019re looking for a single piece of gear that changed the gravel game, then look no further than disc brakes. Not so much for their stopping power, but for how they freed frame makers up for more tyre clearance.\u00a0<\/p>

Add in tubeless technology, and we\u2019ve come a long way from the good old\/bad old days (depending on your viewpoint) of riding thick cyclocross tyres that maxed out at 35mm with inner tubes and perhaps a tyre liner or Mr Tuffy Strips in the hope of warding off pinch flats\u2026\u00a0<\/p>

Gravel-specific everything<\/h2>
\"Alison
Gravel tech has come a long way since the first edition of Unbound in 2006. This is Alison Tetrick’s Specialized Diverge from 2021. – Specialized<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Fast forward to today, and many of the world\u2019s best gravel riders will take to the Unbound start line on 45 if not 50mm tubeless tyres, 1x drivetrains, aero wheels and frames, skinsuits, aero helmets and hydration packs.\u00a0<\/p>

Gone are the days of gas-station stops and rummaging for food; this is the era of specialised nutrition, F1-style pit stops and gravel-specific flourishes on nearly every piece of equipment.<\/p>

\"Pack
Gravel bikes cover a broad spectrum, from adventure-focused bikes such as the Surly Grappler\u2026 – Russell Burton \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Gravel bikes themselves, for instance, have blossomed into such a large segment that there are two distinct types of gravel bikes: adventure gravel and fast gravel, with plenty of variance in between<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

\"Ivar
\u2026to aero race bikes such as Ivar Slik’s Wilier Rave SLR. – Wilier<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Adventure gravel bikes feature taller geometry, and mounts galore for racks and storage, while fast gravel race bikes<\/a> boast aerodynamic shaping and minimal weight.<\/p>

Suspension has also evolved, with short-travel, gravel-specific suspension forks<\/a> arriving alongside proprietary ride-softening tech such as Specialized\u2019s FutureShock headset, found on the brand\u2019s Diverge gravel adventure bike<\/a>.<\/p>

\"Fox
More recently, we’ve seen gravel-specific forks arrive from the likes of Fox, RockShox and Cane Creek. – Josh Patterson<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cFrom 2013 to 2018, there was a significant shift in equipment, with the industry as a whole getting behind gravel,\u201d Shirely says.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cThe biggest improvement to product has come from tyre-width increases and tubeless compatibility, in addition to clearance on frames ever-increasing. Brands slowly began purpose-building the equipment.\u201d<\/p>

Shirley cites ENVE\u2019s release of the G23 wheels in 2018<\/a>, designed to add compliance to the rims for ride quality, with the leading edge of the rim also profiled to prevent pinch-flats.<\/p>

\"ENVE
ENVE introduced the G23 as a gravel-specific rim in 2018. – Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It\u2019s all about the tyres<\/h2>
\"WTB
WTB was one of the first brands to jump on board with gravel tyres. The Nano 40 was launched in 2014. – Josh Patterson \/ Our Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Elsewhere, WTB had rolled out its first gravel tyre, the Nano 40, in 2014, followed the next year by a variety of all-road and gravel tyres<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

Salsa, Kona, Cannondale, Rocky Mountain and Breezer were early adopters of WTB\u2019s gravel tyres, according to Johs Huseby, WTB\u2019s OEM sales director, who works with bike brands around the world, as well as being a gravel racer himself.<\/p>