DAVID'S BEST RACE BIKE. You've been subscribed to our newsletter. Full-length internal cable-guides preserve cables and make maintenance easier. As for the bike, the only issue I had was a hole in the rear tyre that wouldnt seal. Its not designed to carry all your bells and whistles, but still manages to blend an element of comfort into its relatively racy demeanour, with generous front-end-height adjustment if you dont have pro-Tour-esque flexibility. Metres would have been cooler. For a fully-fledged gravel race frame, the Anywhere can be built up pretty light too. One of the reasons for this is its geometry. So the Lauf has offered me a great opportunity to take an evening spin and remind me that theres plenty of good riding to be found locally, if youre happy to have a dig on Komoot and accept that youre not going to be shredding the gnar. The Lauf True Grit is built for gravel racing: big days, covering long distances, over a multitude of dirt surfaces. As this was my first gravel race, I drew some experience from my mountain biking background and couldnt believe how well the Lauf handled on some of the gnarlier descents. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. On Komoot I couldnt tell the difference between fire road and singletrack, but thankfully this narrow sliver of trail through the trees was all passable on my skinny rubber. The Anywhere will handle pretty much whatever adventure your imagination can think of and although it might not be the most comfortable, it will do it with speed at its heart. One tester felt that flared bars forced riders into an aggressive stance. Two straps cinch it to the handlebars, but for more off-road bikepacking Id recommend a handlebar harness to help keep the bag secure Ive got Aplkits Kanga. Ive also been using a number of 76Projects items, including the excellent Modular Computer Mount to hold my Garmin and Magicshine front light. Despite the extra weight and the slight resistance added by the SONdelux hub, the setup worked flawlessly and the feeling of reassurance it gave, particularly when riding at night and in poor weather conditions, far outweighed the negatives. The urban jungle that is Aviemore has its own Orbital. The internal width of the rims isnt particularly wide nor built for the demands of gravel racing, so I changed back to the DT Swiss X1900 wheelset that the bike came with. In December 2019 I took part in the popular Moonrakers and Sunseekers 300km Audax, organised by Will Pomeroy and the team behind Great Western Randonnes. The Anywhere rode well on gravel, fire-trails, asphalt and manicured trails. From 17.6 to 20.7lbs with discs and chunky tires, Anywheres are lightweight. Although the Anywhere is built with gravel racing at its heart, the bike was great fun to ride both on the tarmac and off road, but, on a ride like this, perhaps the front end of the bike could do with being a bit taller for added comfort. Felix spent much of his youth riding mountain bikes but has now gravitated towards endurance and gravel riding. Theres inherent stability from the length, while the front wheel is better able to track the ground, with both the tyres volume and the forks suspension keeping the whole bike calmer. As restrictive as a larger axle size could be, many gravel-specific wheels have end caps or adaptors available to accept the larger axle size. I was hoping this year would continue in the same vein because I had a few long-distance goals I wanted to hit, but that hasnt been the case so far. The familiar route is about half road, half gravel (plus a bit of mountain biking/hike a bike), so the WTB Exposure 32c tyres Ive been using for many miles were perfect for this mix of surfaces. This uses a glass-fibre top blended into carbon-fibre drops. The most obvious changes were the wheels and tyres. Well, it makes a noticeable difference for sure. The Anywhere is nearly identical in feel and handling when on the pavement. With no internal cable routing, youre stuck to either using a non-existent wireless 27.2mm post or an externally routed option, which never looks tidy. The road category has settled on 12x100mm as the standard and Lauf even makes the rigid and suspension fork in both sizes. As featured in my third update, below, I spend regular, but not consistent amounts of time in Aviemore, Scotland. 2023 - Road Bike Action. The Dava Way follows an old railway path and goes through a number of rather cool cuttings. To continue testing the versatility of the Lauf Anywhere, I entered my second hill climb race of the season at Burrington a local hill not far from Cheddar Gorge. Well it performed faultlessly. While the True Grit was celebrated as the gravel markets first production bike specd with front suspension, it remained an outlier for many drop-bar enthusiasts hesitant to embrace either moving parts or the bikes odd appearance. In a few situations, the forks architecture can lead to some unwanted twist, which is especially noticeable on steep, rough corners where you need to brake. Lauf True Grit (technically not on the list) At $3765 this is the most expensive (and best looking) option and I'm hesitant to get this as my first gravel bike because of that The same frame as the Lauf Anywhere but has the Lauf fork and SRAM FORCE 1 ( link) Also a 1x42T cank and 11/42T cassette which seems more sensible gearing for gravel Its incredibly good at reducing handlebar buzz, too, which over long distances adds to fatigue, and helps with bigger hits, but with 30mm travel, theres only so much it can be expected to handle. And, coming from the mountain bike side of things, it feels utterly natural to have a springy front end. I already mentioned the gearing, which I intend to gear down for easier climbing when the bike is loaded up. In 2017, and prior to joining BikeRadar, Felix quit his job as a production engineer to go bikepacking from one end of Japan to the other. Here, the fork sometimes twists and twangs, which can be unnerving. I stripped the hubs down (easy to do), cleaned them out, and replaced the grease with a lighter-weight lubricant I had in the garage, and, so far, this seems to have done the trick. This gives me both extra seatpost extension for comfort and a lower front end. As such, the bike was not only used for the event but for all my training, as well as a considerable amount of time spent kit testing in the lead up to the event in early June. Unfortunately, on that aforementioned first ride, it became apparent that the SRAM Apex rear brake had, at some point, become contaminated. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadars YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. Theres little to fault with the build If you have access to good fire roads, smooth-ish singletrack or proper gravel, a bike like this is perfect. Off road Ive found the handling to be sharp enough to navigate over or around rocks, roots and pot-holes, and still give me the confidence to let loose on the brake levers and carry speed on descents. I did make some changes to the bike, but not that many, which is testament to how versatile the Anywhere is. When I ride road bikes, I gravitate towards the racy, more aggressive end of the spectrum. The new Lauf Seigla takes everything that was good about the True Grit gravel bike and makes it bigger and better. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. I was a little disappointed that the frame doesnt accept mudguards because training in the winter/spring means having to accept that Ill inevitably get wet. Forks. The Weekend Warrior edition that Ive been riding comes in at 8.5kg, while similarly specced endurance road bikes, such as the Cannondale Synapse, weigh around the 9kg mark. Weighing a claimed 450g, the Lauf Anywheres Just A Fork (JAF) has a full carbon construction, triple cage mounts on each leg, and is based around a 15 x 100m thru-axle. I might install clip-on mudguards in the future if I feel its necessary. The handlebars are standard on all Anywhere models and are available separately for $220. They are also tubeless-ready and come with everything needed to make the conversion happen. I felt very much at home, not needing to steer for the best part of 8km, but I did take a quick detour to see a gorge and Huntlys Cave, where two generations of the Gordon family hid from those theyd annoyed in the mid to late 1600s. Anywhere User's Manual. This feature completely changed the way how gravel cycling is regarded. There are various suspension options out there for gravel; whether its an IsoSpeed decoupler from Trek, FutureShock from Specialized, Fox AX, SR Suntour GVX or Laufs Grit. In terms of future upgrades to the bike, I think it would really benefit from a lighter, wider gravel wheelset because the DT Swiss X1900s arent the lightest or widest out there. If youre wondering what Irn-Bru is, well, its a Scottish version of Mountain Dew, but luminous orange instead of luminous green, and likely just as nutritious. Deep down, I was hoping for heavy snow, mostly because one of Scotlands main ski resorts is a mere couple of miles up the hill, and I wanted to fish out a pair of planks and go roost some pow-pow. The Icelandic leaf-spring design looks crazy, but really isn't any different than a. The Anywhere is the exception to Lauf's range, as it sports a conventional, unsprung, rigid carbon fork. Lauf Anywhere here. The head tube is still at 71 degrees and 13.3cm long on our size medium. Despite this, Lauf has created an impressive handlebar in the Lauf Smoothie, which is designed to address the issue of vibration felt through the hands. It is a shame that the JAF fork limits the bikes compatibility with road and gravel wheelsets because the bike is just a wheel and tyre change away from being a wildly different ride experience. So I planned a 90k loop, avoiding the highest bits of the Cairngorm plateau, and packed a saddle bag with a full set of waterproofs, some synthetic insulation and plenty of snacks. I thought the 42t chainring up front and the 11t rear cog would reduce my top speed dramatically and that I would struggle to keep up with my riding companions. In future updates, Ill talk more about the geometry and handling. The new Smoothie bar and 40mm tires isolate the rider from the imperfections of the road perfectly We have about 200 miles on the Anywhere and it has been lots of fun The large tires allow us to run low tire pressures (35 PSI) on the wet roads offering great traction with speed. Lauf has equipped the frame with four pairs of bosses: two within the frame triangle for bottles, one under the down tube for either extra water or storage, and a pair in front of the stem for a bento-box, ready for longer races. The biggest upgrade I made was to the wheelset and tyres. Im fairly confident I enjoyed my visit more than they did. Im currently running some Ritchey pedals, but often swap between pedals for a set of Shimano XT Race pedals and something else I cant talk about right now. With under 40psi in my Maxxis Rambler (f) and Bontrager GR2 (r) tyres, I still skirted around the most glass-like patches of ice without issue, but it was refreshing to be totally comfortable scooting over frost patches, or bits of fireroad where stones and grass poked through an underlying layer of ice, safe in the knowledge that I was fairly, er, safe. Outside of testing bikes, Tom competes in a wide range of mountain bike races, from multi-day enduros through to 24-hour races in the depths of the Scottish winter pushing bikes, components and his legs to their limits. So, whats the seatpost like? However, well leave those arguments for another day. Removing the tubes and a couple parts swaps would easily bring that number down without breaking the bank.
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