The Traka is, as someone aptly put it to me while I sat in a square packed with amatuer riders turning out in their best kit, gravel fashion week. It's like Milan at the end of September, except everyone is stressing about their carbs in a different way.
In recent years it's begun to match Unbound as the event to be seen at, and I'd say this year it's probably surpassed it. The number of brands, events, pop-ups, and general maelstrom of big tyre mayhem is probably such that it couldn't actually be supported to the same degree in Emporia.
It's also become the event to launch new gravel bikes, much like the Critérium du Dauphiné is for road bikes, but somehow even more so here. I've spotted eight new bikes that are either in prototype phase, final testing, have launched specifically over the event, or are just a handful of days old. One I can't tell you about though - sorry!
Right, let’s kick things off with an all new BMC Kaius that I managed to steal away from a fancy bike shop for ten minutes.
Don’t be fooled by the slick nature of these Continental Terra Competition tyres, it can take 55mm knobbies.
Unlike many of the new bikes we will get into it retains quite a slender looking frame, despite the wide forks.
As ever, an integrated cockpit is a must.
Truncated tubes, but the head tube isn’t crazy deep.
The hoses route through recesses covered by a plastic cover, which should make installation a lot easier.
As well as bosses on the underside of the down tube there is a set for a bento box up top.
To be unobjective for a second, I think the Kaius looks pretty stunning, especially with the slicks, and the front end is the best bit in my opinion.
One neat feature is this strap tab that can be bolted to the underside of the down tube to strap various things to like a mud stick for Unbound.
Down the road I managed to squirrel away Simen Nordahl Svendsen’s Fara GR4 into the street from one of the many popups across town. This is his spare bike, so not his true Traka spec, and I’m told this is more how he would run it for Unbound, just with a bigger chainring for Kansas.
The front end swallows the massive Schwalbe MTB tyres with ease.
The cockpit is a novel two piece design that's somewhere between the Cervélo S5 bar and a set of Coefficient bars.
These Race Pro Thunder Burt Speed tyres are new from Schwalbe, too, and are labelled as 2.1”.
Like the Kaius, the headtube here isn’t massively extended rearwards.
I was told the clearcoat used over the raw carbon is black tinted to avoid the bike looking grey.
It’s becoming less and less common, but round seatposts still have advantages; you can run a dropper, and they tend to have more flex for comfort than aero or D-shaped options.
Frame storage is very on trend right now, though anything in there isn’t easy to access in the race.
One last thing in the Fara popup were these wheels… not new Campagnolo Boras, but certainly new logos.
Normal Look pedals; nothing to see here.
Gotcha! They’re single sided, which is a new trend that seems to be growing in popularity.
At the start/finish paddock I spied this. Not a Traka bike, but it was ridden to a new 7 day distance record by Alex McCormack.
3826.47km, mostly in the rain, hence the somewhat bodged rear mudguards.
Drop bar MTBs seem to be here to stay, for the time being at least.
I’m surprised the suspension fork wasn’t bouncy enough to avoid whatever is going on here.
That’s one way to put it, I suppose.
There’s not anything greatly special about this S-Works Crux, though the paint is lovely and understated, however…
Not sure I’d want to sit on this for 10 hours or more off-road!
Speaking of unlikely gravel bikes, it pays to follow your nose at Traka. This paint caught my eye…
Good Grief, it’s a road bike… or is it? It’s a Specialized Roubaix that, in this guise, is very much a gravel bike.
Goes to show that you can get away with under-biking more than you think.
It probably helps if you’re former WorldTour pro, Daniel Oss, though.
Despite launching a different new gravel bike (more on that later), this new Factor aero gravel machine drew the eyes of many in the crowd.
The fork is unmistakably similar to that of the hyper-aero ONE road bike.
I stalked another Factor rider into a car park to get some more shots.
Much like how road bikes are going, it seems to be super aero at the front, with a focus on low weight the further back you go.
Piotr Havik had a very tricked out Colnago when I cornered him at the Smith stand.
Double-sided Gabaruk gravel chainset in raw aluminium.
These WolfTooth DEL pedals are like the Look ones from earlier.
“The Traka is not cyclocross”.
The rear cassette, save for the largest sprocket, is machined from a single billet.
Courtesy of Havik’s fiancé, Mérida Miller who also rides for the Castelli Spirit of Gravel cabal.
He was also on new, carbon-spoked OQUO wheels.
Most riders carry tubeless plugs and a couple of CO2 canisters. This rider just strapped a one-shot solution that blasts gas and more goop into the tyre through the valve. It’s ugly, but it probably works well.
This Look is the oldest of the new bikes I saw at a fortnight old or so, and has already been ridden to victory at Belgian Waffle Ride by Russel Finsterwald.
Oh look, another brand new bike casually being ridden through the crowds under Unbound XL winner, Rob Britton.
Here it is, the new Factor Sarana, in a different setup for Victory Bosoni, but still for the Traka 560.
I can’t think of a gravel bike with more dropped seat stays than this, can you?
The rigid fork is suspension-corrected, so if you fit a bouncy fork as Bitton had you maintain the same geometry and handling characteristics.
Bosoni hadn’t maxed out the Sarana’s 57mm clearance.
While the 560 race means packing more with you in frame bags, some things need to be close at hand to avoid having to pump manually in the dead of night in the cold.
It’s a more svelte front end than the hyper-aero machine.
These are new wheels from Black Inc., too: 46 gravel wheels, almost certainly denoting the depth.
It’s my tech gallery and if I want to put in a photo of Cane Creek’s eeWings titanium cranks then nobody is going to stop me.
It’s some whiplash going from titanium to a wooden bike but here we are.
I’m told this Ornus is hollow, and only weighs 8.8kg.
The joinery is beautiful, but if I had one of these in the UK I think I’d worry about it rotting. Luckily it’s in Spain where it famously only rains on the plain, which isn’t where we were.
Another new thing, this time in the form of a whole new Campagnolo groupset with a striking cassette that caught my eye.
Record is a tier down from the über-expensive Super-Record, but retains much of the aesthetics and features of the top-tier option.
It’s fully wireless, as is to be expected.
The lever shape looks pretty similar, too.
Despite ditching the thumb buttons for a short time, Campagnolo has brought them back and they’re in evidence here.
I’m not totally sold on the cassette from a visual standpoint, but overall it’s a tasty looking setup.
It actually has more than a passing resemblance at a glance to this all carbon Gemini Rigel chainring I saw on a Giant on the same rack.
While Chad Haga was on a new bike we will get to that later. For now look at the tyres; I’ve not seen an ‘ST’ version of the Maxxis Aspens before, and Haga was tight-lipped about them. I really rate the Aspens, so am keen to see what these are about. I presume a faster casing in a slightly narrower width than the full MTB tyres much like the 50mm Continental Dubnitals.
Preloaded bacon strips in case of emergency.
If you’re going to have a national champs setup you may as well go all in, right? Ben Perry is doing things properly.
He’s also aboard another brand new bike, the Ace from Guava.
Like Havik, Perry has a twin-sided Gabaruk power chainset, but this time in a fitting red.
Matching high-flow Muc-Off valves and contrast nipples make for a classy wheel build.
The head tube is oddly devoid of a logo, though. You never really notice something until it’s gone.
Matching Industry Nine hubs are also a very bling touch for the Canadian who came home in 4th.
Another drop bar MTB on the stands.
Want another new bike? That’s lucky: Here’s an unreleased Ridley.
The front end is very similar to the Noah Fast 3.0 road bike, but the tyre clearance isn’t.
The bottom bracket starts to dwarf the Traka-spec chainring.
RS2? Rally Sport 2? Answers on a postcard.
This front light was held in place with Velcro, presumably for easy removal once it got light.
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I’m told the aero gains over the current Kanzo fast are single-digit in wattage terms.
Here’s that monster BB from the wrong side.
While the aero gains are modest I was told the rolling resistance gains that can be won by fitting 2.2” MTB tyres were in double-figures.
Pieter Potters is clearly happy with it.
He was the only person I saw using Schwalbe’s new Clik valves. Apparently they’re on all the family bikes and make it easier for his young children to do their own tyres. If you want to raise your own tyre nerd then it pays to start early, folks; take it from the Belgians.
At the queue for bike checking from the commissaires I spied this Seka. I am ashamed to admit I forgot the name of the nice chap who let me shoot it, but it’s a busy day and I’m certain he’s forgotten my name too.
It’s not a brand that’s super common yet, but it is growing in popularity and it drew the eyes of many around me.
Henry Nelson of Lunchbox Racing had the narrowest bars I saw all weekend.
He’s a narrow boy, though, as he pointed out to me.
The bars are from Profile, and apparently these levers “needed to come in a bit more, actually”.
It’s been at least four images since I showed you a new bike, so here’s Adam Roberge’s brand new Felt Breed, with FOUR bottle cages, all of which were filled with 750ml bottles for the race.
He was one of very, very few riders running Shimano, and like many riders at Paris-Roubaix had resorted to a hybrid XTR x GRX drivetrain.
A round seatpost, much like the Fara at the start of this massive gallery.
And like the Factor Sarana, the fork is suspension-corrected, though not nearly so wide. These 50mm Continental Dubnitals were quite close to the fork legs.
Let’s keep the new bike ball rolling with a prototype Canyon Grain CFR, complete with custom frame storage bags.
Here’s a stealthy version of the same bike, but in a smaller size. It’s very like the new Endurace CFR in its proportions, but with much greater tyre clearance.
There were a few bikes on show behind the Canyon stand. Some had the standard cockpit that is common to many Canyon drop bar bikes, while others didn’t.
The downtube becomes very chunky around the bottles, presumably to maintain a similar width to the wider MTB tyres as well.
Here’s one fitted with the new aero cockpit that released with the new Endurace a few short weeks ago.
It seems like Enve is coming out with something to take the fight to Zipp in terms of wide, aero gravel wheels.
“G SES Pro”, says the label.
They really are quite wide, but there's another version that I’ll show you shortly that made these look normal.
They do look to support the 50mm Dubnitals well.
Showing a rim’s width while it’s in a bike isn’t easy, but I tried my best.
Back to new bikes, here’s the last one: A new Argon18 that I happened upon while doing some important admin over a frosty euro lager in a bustling square. This job is easy in Girona.
It ticks almost all the same boxes as the new Ridley: Aero, mega tyres, huge bottom bracket, but no frame storage.
Oh yes, top marks to the paint designers for this one!
The forks have a very pronounced squared-off rear side.
This was quite a small bike (I shan’t get the rider in trouble with their sponsors), and the fork was almost wider than the head tube was tall.
You can have all the aero in the world, but if you haven’t got the legs you’re still going to be beaten by a strong Dane on a round-tubed S-Works Crux.
As riders trickled into the finish I caught another glimpse at the crazy new Factor aero gravel bike.
These forks are bonkers!
I think you could probably fit a 3” tyre in there with relative ease.
Here are Ben Perry’s Quoc shoes at the finish. The Maple dials are a really classy touch.
These dials however were covered to make them more aero.
OK, I promised you some even wilder Enve wheels so wrap your eyes around these. There’s actually loads to unpack here, not least the homemade frame bag and the fact this rider was competing on giant slicks. The wheels, as well as being mega deep and mega wide were also slightly wavy and not actually Enves at all, but Lightbicycle rims with Enve stickers... sorry!
That's your lot, folks. I hope you enjoyed flicking through this gallery as much as I did shooting it! See you for the next one soon.
