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The bike of the future (1/2)

Where is road and gravel bike design heading?

I want to talk about road bikes, but it starts with a gravel bike. Which actually started with a road bike. Are you still with me?

Posted by Gerard Vroomen , photos by Gerard Vroomen, Marc Gasch - 06 November 2018

When I was four years old, I would take my little kid’s bike into the woods and ride on paths normally reserved for hikers and various animals of the non-human variety.

It was fun, fast and safe, away from other traffic. Since these kid’s bikes have 40-50mm tires, it was comfortable too and I don’t recall flatting very often. In short, kid’s bike makers figured out forty years ago what the adult world is only starting to grasp now: Cycling should be fun, and riding where cars are not on  bigger tires delivers it in spades.

Funnily enough, our heroes were the type of riders who rode bikes that looked nothing like ours, on roads that looked nothing like ours. But we didn’t let that affect how WE wanted to ride our bikes, not even if I gave myself the nickname “Sour Milk” while racing through the woods (the local hero at the time was 1980 Tour de France winner Joop Zoetemelk, which means Sweet Milk in Dutch).

As I grew up and my bike tinkering started to become more “serious” (not sure why the hats), I dabbled in Human Powered Vehicles and eventually turned my hobby into a profession involving triathlon, road, time trial and track bikes. But just like Zoetemelk couldn’t change the way I rode, neither could the bikes we built at Cervélo.

So I always ran the biggest tires I could (28mm tires will fit on a Cervelo Soloist or S2, once the dirt stuck on your tires grinds enough paint off the inside of your fork crown) and explored every unpaved route I could find.

I even took 700g prototype road frames on mountain bike trails during the Canadian winters for lovely outings with names like “To Hell and Back”. Eventually, with the help of Steve Hed, I found a way to put 32mm cross tires on Thor Hushovd’s Paris-Roubaix bike from 2009.

That reduced the problem I was having (28mm tires flat a lot more than those kid’s tires I used to ride) but it also made me realize that if bigger was better, even bigger would be even better. At the same time, I didn’t want to give up speed, meaning I wanted to keep my road position, not a “straight up into the wind” mountain bike position. Because although I love the off-road, I spend plenty of time on-road to get to the off-road.

What most people don’t realize: an Exploro with road wheels is NOT a gravel bike with road wheels; it’s a ROAD BIKE. Full stop.

After the first designs, eventually I also started to think that to really be competitive on-road, such a bike should be optimized aerodynamically. And I don’t mean aero with skinny tires, but aero with big tires. That became the Exploro, a bike more aero with 40mm knobby tires than a round tubed-bike with 28mm road tires.

We introduced the Exploro, many people laughed, many other people got one, rode it and then laughed. And they haven’t stopped laughing since, because what the naysayers failed to see is that the Exploro is simply fun. It’s why the Exploro, recently upgraded to V2, keeps growing and growing.

My favorite set-up for the Exploro is with 2.1″ mountain bike tires. The confidence and control that setup offers is just so nice, and with the right tires, you really don’t give up as much on-road as most people think.

But for where I usually ride, such tires are overkill. And so I have two wheel sets, the second set being a road wheel set with road tires.

Take 30mm road tires (plenty of clearance so why not), an aero wheelset, and the Exploro is really flying. And it STILL can go offroad on moderate sections if you cannot suppress the urge. We hear from more and more of our customers they do exactly that, have two wheel sets and use the Exploro as a full-blown road bike for group rides and moderate off-road and then have a monster wheelset for the crazy stuff.

 

And the funny part is, the feedback is always the same, that the Exploro is 100% a road bike when you put the road wheels on, not some sort of compromise. It’s not really a surprise to me, as that is the whole principle behind it: Make a road bike with road geometry and road features, and just let the tires take care of anything you find in your way.

Read part 2 about how the bike industry has changed since the introduction of the Exploro.

 

 

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22 responses to “The bike of the future (1/2)”

  1. C

    Carlovill says:

    20 November 2018

    great write up pretty much feeling the same way about my Exploro V1 I’ve logged 12,000 plus Kms on it mixed gravel and road..Its my go to bike even on harsh weather.. the strada however is a totally different beast , It eats up the road quite well Its my favorite when I do club rides.

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      20 November 2018

      Hi Carlo, thanks for the note. Glad you like the bike, that’s all we want to achieve!

      Reply
      1. C

        Carlovil says:

        21 November 2018

        Thanks Sir..!:) i love it so much I have 3🤣 want to experiment on my strada pro and use it for local time trial events..

        Reply
  2. W

    Wa says:

    16 November 2018

    Considering purchase of an Exploro, and wonder whether you will launch new verisons (complete builds) of the Exploro for 2019? If “yes” when will there be more information about this?

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      20 November 2018

      Hi Wa, we don’t really have model years, we introduce models when they are ready. So there is no real “2019” bike, but the closest we have to that would be the new Exploro Team Green (https://blog.3t.bike/2018/10/4052/new-exploro-team-force/) that we introduced a few weeks ago. That is now available at our retailers worldwide and online.

      Reply
  3. J

    Jean francois says:

    13 November 2018

    Bonjour à tous
    Je viens de prendre possession de mon exploro team
    Une machine vraiment agréable à conduire
    Montée avec des pneus en 45 un régal sur les sentiers je me pose la question sur une deuxième paire de roue avec une bande de roulements moins large en 35 par exemple pour pouvoir faire des secteurs route plus important tout en conservant le choix de prendre quelques sentiers car la solution de pneumatique route exclusivement réduit le champ d’action de cette machine
    cordialement

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      13 November 2018

      Une deuxième paire de roue est une bonne idee. Pour cette utilisation, les pneus WTB Exposure 34c et les Schwalbe G-One Allroad et Speed fonctionnent biens.

      Reply
    2. j

      jmv says:

      13 November 2018

      I have an exploro and I was planing to have two wheel set.But at the present time I put the compass switchback hill 48 mm on my wheels, and this tires are so good and fast that I am wondering if it’s worth to have a second wheelset with smaller tires … perhaps just the weight will be a lot better and the aero wheel but wondering if’s not marginal gain …

      Bonjour Jean-François, essaie de prendre les compasstires switchback hill 48 mm, ils sont si doux et rapide sur le goudron que de mon côté, je n’ai pas réussi jusque ici à me convaincre d’acheter le deuxième set de roues que je prévoyais pour la route …

      Reply
  4. Colin says:

    09 November 2018

    Just took delivery of my Exploro here in Toronto. So excited about this machine, I have been looking forward to this since I read the very first reviews. Just waiting for some slightly warmer weather, at least above freezing, to go for a spin. I suspect my Cervélo will see significantly fewer kilometres in 2019.

    Reply
  5. T

    Tony West says:

    09 November 2018

    Thats what Aqua Blue thought, that didnt last long

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      09 November 2018

      It sometimes helps to first read the post you’re responding to.

      Reply
  6. Neil S says:

    09 November 2018

    I agree wholeheartedly with this blog post: whilst not as road-optimised as the Exploro, i’ve been riding my ‘cross bike with road slicks over winter and for summer holiday jaunts away, and it can be every bit as capable on the road with a switch to a road/wheel tyre combo with very little detriment (I did my first every climb of Ventoux on it last summer – I doubt a dedicated road bike would’ve made that much difference to me that day, it would have hurt as much either way!).

    The comment above that particularly resonates with me is that “the Exploro is NOT a gravel bike with road wheels, it’s a ROAD bike. Full stop”. I’m no great fan of the terms gravel/adventure/all-road/whatever to describe bikes these days – yes, I appreciate the subtle differences in geometry but for many ‘everyday’ riders these won’t matter too much and so prefer the idea of a road bike that with a wheel/tyre combo can switch to be an off-road or even ‘cross-capable racer, that truly appeals to me but there are very few out there sold as such, even though many could do so.

    That said of course, as a new 3T ambassador, I adore my Strada Pro and goes like a rocket in a way that my ‘cross bike with aero/road wheels never will!

    I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with next, Gerard, in the evolution of gravel/cross/aero/adventure/road/whatever-label-you-want bikes – my personal dream would be taking the aero of the Exploro even further to some Strada/Exploro monster hybrid that’s as good in the pro peloton as it is in nipping down the off-road path to the shops for the morning baguettes…”The Stradoro” 🙂

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      09 November 2018

      Stradoro, sounds a bit like an Italian chocolate or some frozen dessert. I like it!

      Reply
    2. W

      Wa says:

      14 March 2019

      Question about wheel sets: You seems to have no wheels in 650b size. Will there be new models coming soon? I am particular interested in 650b carbon wheels.

      Reply
      1. Gerard Vroomen says:

        14 March 2019

        Yes, very soon 🙂

        Reply
  7. M

    Marcus says:

    08 November 2018

    It really is a nice bike. We’ve used it here at Hexlox for some photo shoots already, but mostly we’ve been riding it ;-)!

    Reply
  8. C

    Chris Grigsby says:

    08 November 2018

    As a proud owner of an Exploro FM, I couldn’t agree more about how much the character of the bike changes between an aero road wheel/tire setup and a gravel wheel/tire setup! However, this begs the question, if the Exploro is truly a race bike with race wheels and tires, then why do I need a Strada? As a new 3T Ambassador, I’m shocked at how much quicker the Strada “feels” as compared to my Exploro running the same wheel/tire, but without a power meter or any actual data I’m genuinely curious to know what the actual aero advantage is between the two bikes.

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      09 November 2018

      Maybe that’s a question for part 2/2, I need more space and time than I have here 🙂

      Reply
  9. O

    Olli says:

    06 November 2018

    Gerard, I liked your description of your dream. Just recently got my Exploro FM Team, after Nadja offered to meet me during her travels with test bikes and give it a go. Great service of 3t and hers BTW. So first 100km are under my belt from track to road and I absolutely feel you accomplished your goal to make a fun, enjoyable do all bike. I am looking forward to putting it through its paces next year and try to dabble a bit in bikepacking.
    Please go on the visionary work, crazy is good!

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      07 November 2018

      Hey Olli, glad you like it. Keep the rubber side down!

      Reply
  10. R

    Rasmus says:

    06 November 2018

    I noticed that another Italian bike manufacturer has just proven that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery by launching their own Exploro rip off. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Gerard Vroomen says:

      07 November 2018

      Hm, right, I only saw one that had been in a frontal collision. Or maybe that was the intended design, not sure!

      Reply
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