Category: Components

Rolf Prima just introduced the Sojourn wheel set for Adventure/Gravel. It fits right into our needs with an internal width of 25mm and an outer of 28.5mm. It is cost effective as well, priced at $699.00, not cheap, but you are still under a grand. Weight is quite good at a claimed 1695g and I weighed them ready to go, seems, tape, etc, at 1741g.

We had the opportunity to attend the recent Shimano GRX Press Camp in Columbia Falls, Montana. There, we received a glimpse into the future of gravel bikes and components, including Shimano’s awesome new GRX Di2 electronic gravel groupset.

Out of the box I felt that these tires looked great for most gravel road and dirt road riding. Donnelly says the side tread areas are a “scaled up herringbone” pattern, and while that is accurate, it does not give you the sense that I got when feeling the tread with my hands.

PRO Bike Gear introduced a number of new components and accessories for gravel and all-road bikes today at the Eurobike trade show in Germany. Highlights include a new 27.2mm dropper post, new carbon handlebars and seatposts, and an off-road version of the popular Stealth saddle.

The Eurobike trade show is happening in Germany now and with the demise of the North American trade show, Interbike, and no replacement for it, show news is packed into the time slot for Eurobike. Press releases are flying everywhere as a result. Here are a few tidbits concerning the gravel/back road rider which may be of interest that have come across our RidingGravel.com e-mail.

WTB today released the news that their popular Byway model is now available in several 700c sizes with their TCS tubeless ready casings. These offerings will also be available in both black side wall and the traditional “Road Plus” skin wall colored side wall. All are TCS tubeless compatible with WTB’s “Dual DNA” rubber compound.

Vibrocore™- If you are searching out every bit of help you can get with vibrations and comfort, then, yes. These bars will do something for you. My feeling is that this benefit is hard to quantify, but one other thing this handle bar has is not hard to figure out. That is its rating for MTB use.

Living up to its name, the Discover Big Flare Bar features 30° degrees of kicked out, drop section goodness. That’s the most flare on a bar that we have tested.

Lately it got me thinking that there are quite likely a metric ton of old 29″er wheels out there that have great possibilities for modern gravel bike use.

In May, Shimano caused quite a stir when it announced GRX, the world’s first dedicated gravel road components. It’s a bold move from the Japanese component giant, and it’s a sign of the direction they see cycling moving in the future. We recently got an exclusive first ride on Shimano’s GRX mechanical group and here are our first impressions.