The Grit.cx View Of Eurobike Gravel

Chipps takes a look at some of the gravel, travel, drop-bar and ride-far components and bikes on display at the world’s biggest bike show.

As well as keeping an eye out for some of the new bits and pieces in the mountain bike world, I was also looking to see how the ‘gravel and travel’ sector was doing. It seems that everyone had a gravel bike, most with matching luggage and that many companies are relying on the bump in interest in gravel to keep their push-bike sales healthy in the face of increasing interest in e-MTBs. Not to say that there weren’t tons of e-gravel bikes too. In fact, there was a lot of e-everything. However, keeping in the world of pedal-power, here are a few things that caught my eye at Eurobike earlier this month.

Aeroe

A round of applause must go to New Zealand’s Aeroe, who keep coming up with more and more clever ways to bolt racks, seemingly immobile to swingarms, fork legs and seat collars without needing rack eyes, miles of Velcro or a drill. If you’re not keen on bikepacking bags, or don’t have the bosses, give them a look.

Shimano GRX Di2

Shimano’s GRX Di2 has only recently been announced, so there weren’t loads of groups on display yet. However, expect a lot of interest in the next model year in Shimano’s flagship gravel groupset. Shimano itself has high hopes for it and is predicting a fair amount of spec on gravel bikes later this year and into 2025. After Eurobike, I actually got an extended test on the new groupset in some special circumstances, so stay tuned for that story on grit.cx

Canyon Highbar Helmet

Not on public display, but being carried discreetly by a couple of product managers was the new Canyon Highbar helmet, which should be available later this summer . It’s a Canyon CFR (so, high level racing) level product and it has a few more advantages than just looking a bit different. To start with, it’s hard to wear wrong and it’s very easy to quickly adjust to a good fit. It doesn’t need to be cinched down super tight to achieve the same fit as a regular strap helmet and, in Canyon’s tests, it’s not only more aero (no flapping straps…) but it’s also noticeably quieter to wear. We have one incoming for more testing soon. What do you reckon?

Revelate Designs

This was Revelate Designs’ first Eurobike and it was keen to show off many of it’s innovative bags. Newer readers might not know that Revelate (formerly Epic) Designs was one of the very first ‘bags on bikes’ bikepacking luggage makers and it continues to innovate from its base in Alaska. We got to see the Pitchfork aerobar bag, the Stoat seatbag and the Pronghorn roll bag, along with an Egress Pocket – updated camera bag. And if you’re a full suspension kind of adventurer, the Nook and Cranny bags were designed to store things in every available space on your bike.

Mavic is back

Mavic has been keeping a relatively low profile for the last couplethree years as it had to basically rebuild itself after some behind the scenes company sale action. It’s back on target now, with a full line of wheels, (colourful) shoes and clothing for all disciplines.

Not forgetting Surly

Surly was on show as usual to remind showgoers that it was making big tyre compatible road bikes and adventure machines way before they were cool. 

And also a shout-out to Ritchey who were making a big thing of its steel, conventionally tubed drop bar and hardtail bikes. There aren’t many people who ‘get’ them, but those that do, REALLY do…

Camelbak

Camelbak, well known for its backpacks, was showing off its on-bike storage, which happens to include some water storage options.

I loved the 2L Quickstow bladder – it’ll fit into a top tube bag, but thanks to Camelbak’s sealed Quicklink hose attachment, it can be unclipped and used (off bike, or in a pocket) as a collapsible water bottle as it also has a regular Quickstow lockable bottle valve. There was also a tiny 0.4L version of its excellent Podium bottle, intended both for kids’ bikes, but also for enduro bikes with little room for bottles.

USE/Exposure

Exposure Lights is always good to visit to see the latest incremental improvements in its lighting technology. Like Apple laptops, every year everything is 10% more powerful and uses 10% less battery – which is impressive, but doesn’t usually make for a stunning story. However, this year, there was a great deal to talk about. 

You may already know about Exposure’s Reflex technology, which uses accelerometers and heat sensors to adjust your lighting power based on how fast (and steeply) you’re travelling, so as to maximise burn time. And how about its Tap technology, where a quick tap on your helmet light will dim (or brighten) the light without having to find the fiddly switch? Well, Exposure has combined the two systems in its new ‘Mesh’ architecture. Using this, the handlebar light and the helmet light can be linked, so that the Tap technology controls both lights at once. Conversely, the Reflex system in the head unit can also adjust the power of the helmet light depending on speed. This should mean you simply turn the lights on at the start of the ride and not have to touch them for the duration of the ride. Clever stuff. Expect this to be ready in time for this winter’s night riding season. Exposure is also making a running change to the charging ports so that, going forward, everything will be chargeable by USB-C.

Also on the same stand was the USE Vibe stem. ’34 years in the making’ it uses the same elastomer tech that has powered its suspension seatpost since 1990. The Vibe suspension stem runs four elastomers (three down, one up) and allows just enough damping to keep your wrists and fillings intact.

And while we’re here, the USE gravel bars feature a flare (don’t they all?) but this flare doesn’t start until after the brake hood clamp, which means that you’re not trying to brake on a 45degree angle…

Hope/Lotus Olympic Track Bike

There’s not other reason to show this off, apart from to go, ‘Wow, look at this crazy Olympic track bike, with all the carbon bits built in-house at Hope in Barnoldswick…’ – it’s the correct side of bonkers for us.

Ergon saddles

Ergon saddles are used by a lot of riders we know. It has done a great job of pioneering the flatter-style saddle, along with plenty of cutouts for comfort. However, one bit of feedback the company got was that the bigger the cutout (especially on women’s saddles) the more, er, splash through there was from the rear tyre, which over a long ride can make things worse that not having a cutout at all. So the clever Ergon engineers developed a thin rubber cutout ‘plug’ that sealed the base of it back up, keeping bums dry in the worse of weathers.

‘Short’ e-Cargo Bikes

A couple of things that e-bike motors have made possible: 1. Really unergonomic cruiser and beach bikes that would have been torture to ride more than 400 yards of flat seafront path without a motor and 2. Really cool, short wheelbase cargo bikes that might still fit in your garden shed but which still allow you to carry loads of groceries and/or children with ease. We approve (of the cargo bikes anyway…).

Fidlock

The German attachers of anything to everything continue to innovate, this time with the Pin-Lock – a different application of Fidlock’s philosophy of ‘It clicks on with a magnet and then you need to do something different to remove it…’

Seen on lights from Lupine and more, the Pin-Lock simply clucks into place and then a pull down (rather than a twist) of the retaining ring releases it.

Ortlieb

Ortlieb showed off some nice new bikepacking bags and racks, with the Quickrack taking centre stage – it uses a thru-axle-replacing, er… thru-axle with nubs built in so that you can instal or remove its racks in seconds. There was also a great handlebar-mounted front rack solution that allows a bit of stashing and bodging, which is inevitable on a long tour, when things no longer fit into your carefully curated bag allowance… Obviously, it’s all super-tough, waterproof and made in Germany.

So that’s it for the moment from our three days at the world’s biggest bike show. There were plenty of other quirky things to see that will probably be appearing in future news stories and Fresh Goods Fridays. We didn’t have the staff to give you an aisle-by-aisle breakdown, but we hope it gave you an idea of the work and enthusiasm that’s still out there in bicycle world.

Stay tuned for more grit, gravel, groad and grunder from us at grit.cx and we hope to see you somewhere out there, between the top of the hill and the teashop.