A Summer for new Roads - Not all Gravel bikes are created equal

What was old is new again.

Aside from the feelings riding gravel can bring out, we love looking at the old sepia photo images of people riding on dirt/gravel roads, with bags strapped to their bikes. These people were the original gravel explorers. However their bikes are not a patch on what is available to today’s gravel army.

Our flagship bike is a 2020 new kid on the block. We have been one of the very early adopters of the Cervelo Aspero. We have written a little about this bike, but mainly about objective components, what build options and prices are available. I’ll recap on those at the end of this blog but I’m about to tell you about our experiences in riding this bike. These are the feelings and sensations that only come with riding this amazing bike.

The most important thing about these bikes is how much fun they are!

We have ridden this bike at length. Thousands of kilometres, since its launch on 18th July 2019. We have taken to the mountains and climbed some of the highest mountains in Australia. This bike has been ridden up the beautiful slopes of Mt.Buffalo in the Vic Alps and when the road turned to gravel, It wasn’t time to turn back. We continued to climb without skipping a beat all the way to The Horn and one of the best view of the Victorian Alps. I’d have missed it on my road bike, but this bike releases the shackles imposed by bitumen.

It’s not designed to be all loaded up for a multi-week bike-packing expedition. It was originally designed as a race bike. The Cervelo Aspero catch cry is “Haul Ass Not Cargo”, however it can accommodate bags including purpose built Cervelo bag on the top tube.

We use it to ride new roads and explore regions we have never thought possible before now. We have ridden the hidden roads, we have ridden the forgotten gravel roads and we have ridden sealed roads. We have ridden fire trails, four wheel drive tracks and we have ridden single track. We have ridden long days and we have raced it. Simply we love riding it.

The first sensation is one of speed. This bike is seriously fast. The frame has been designed with all the aerodynamics of it’s S Series and R Series cousins. It is equally at home charging along the gravel roads of the Dandenongs as it is tearing it up in the bunch on the bitumen. We have taken minutes of our PBs, speeding along the dirt roads and have sat in the bunch comfortably at over 35kmh. It climbs well and descends even better.

We have raced this bike at Gravel Nationals in Lorne (and look forward to more racing) on a course with some serious climbing sectors and some searing descents on seriously rough terrain. While we did not capture a podium position, we were seriously impressed by the speed this bike could maintain on rough terrain and maintain excellent control.

That brings me to the next sensation. A overwhelming feeling of being in control on uncertain surfaces. This bike is extremely well balanced. It handles extremely well. It climbs steep ramps very well, plus coupled with the right wheel and tyre choice could climb almost anything. Equally despite the rough terrain of some of the descents we have experienced, it was as comfortable as any gravel road we have ridden. The handling feel of this bike is equal to the feeling of responsiveness we have always felt from a stiff road bike.

The next sensation is all day comfort. We have taken this bike off road on long 170km days and we were still comfortable at the end of this long haul. This frame is very compliant, soaking much of what the terrain could throw at us. Beautifully coupled with our tyre choice (Schwalbe G-One) on our 700c wheelset and 35 psi tyre pressure and this was a very plush ride.

Quite simply we feel this bike will become the new benchmark in the gravel game. Its worth ducking by and taking one of our demo models out for a spin. We know you will feel the same way and return with a grin.