March 3, 2020

New 650b Áspero

Welcome to the era of speed in gravel.

A new breed of rider is emerging—one who loves the freedom and exploration that gravel culture was founded upon but who has a hunger to ride wild, to go full bore, and to explore not just geography but personal limits. This frontier requires a new kind of gravel machine, one engineered not to roam the trails, but to slay them.

For these athletes, we created a machine engineered for pure, unapologetic speed, ready to take down finish lines, KOM leaderboards, PR’s, and FKT’s. A single bike that first generates maximum speed and then second, controls that speed across the variable conditions gravel athletes must conquer. A machine built without limits, for the riders willing to test them.

Ideal For: Gravel racing, from endurance to gravel enduros

Áspero Amplifies

Stripped down racing frame outperforms traditionally over-built hauling frames.

Áspero Adapts

Unpredictable conditions. Predictable control.

Different outside rolling diameters of various wheel and tire combinations affect the handling geometry of the frame. If the tire size is altered without acknowledging the effect on trail, the result is wild swings in handling - faster or slower - from the design basis trail value, which is problematic for high-speed control.

Haul ass, Not cargo.

Road racing inspired. Gravel racing refined.

It’s time to change the paradigm of gravel bike design from hauling gear slowly to empowering athletes quickly. Leveraging vast knowledge from road racing, the Áspero frame is designed with world tour stiffness for greater pedal power transfer, using less and lighter material to aid climbing and accelerating, while maximizing speeds with aerodynamic shapes critical to efficiency at speed.

Handling

Two-position adjustment

“Trail” - Front wheel response to rider input - is the most critical factor in high-velocity handling. The ability to adjust trail with the two-position "Trail Mixer" to compensate for the extreme range of tire sizes ensures a uniform ride experience.

Multiple Configurations

Bike adjusts to different wheel/tire combinations to maximize control. We engineered the bike to fit most 700x42 or 650x49 tire/wheel combos, comfortably. Of course, there are variables - rim width, tire casing / tread depth - which will affect final clearance. IMPORTANT NOTE - We always recommend there to be 4mm of clearance around whichever tire/wheel combo is installed on the bike.