Fun? Comfort? Do you even gravel Bro? ( 
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I currently run pirelli Cinturato M 45s which I know are super popular as a good all arounder. While super durable I find they fee sluggish and are a pretty harsh ride.
The slow rolling 50s definitely wouldn’t be the reason I don’t reach the podium. lol
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Good to hear. Ramblers may not be the sexy choice anymore but still seem okay for mere mortals
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Only pain is allowed.
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Beatings will continue till you win
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I believe Keegan was on Rambler 38’s at unbound this year. He did OK with them. I’m not sure that makes them full-on sexy, but they aren’t the ugliest kid at the dance. Ramblers aren’t my favorite for racing these days, but I still have a few pairs that I use as a general “rolling around and training” tire. Slow-ish on the road, but decent off road and very durable.
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Valid points. I wasn’t sure what Keegan ran at Unbound. I have very little road riding needed for gravel although when I am on road my riding friend always comments how loud my pirelli Cinturato Ms are on pavement. lol But tires aren’t my limiting factor for sure.
I’m here to tell yall that you are greatly overthinking a gravel race bike. For the first time in a while, there is a cycling discipline where you can straight run what you brung as long as the tires make sense and be just as fast as someone on a ridiculous rig. Crockett, 40mm tires, di2 not necessary. This is the one bike I could probably live with if I was restricted to one bike.
As long as your routes/races don’t include some serious chunk, you don’t need the ridiculous rigs I’ve seen. Nor do I believe that the aero-gravel stuff makes that much sense (at least not yet). This is all to say, enjoy the scene before the tech catches up and you might have to pay to play. I say this as a most-of-the-time roadie.
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Agreed. I rode grav nationals on a crockett. was in the front group until i had to stop for something else.
Man that paint scheme is an all-time great imho.
I agree with all of this. Gravel, especially the age groupers, even at the pointy end of it, is a ‘run what ya brung’ vibe. Only reason I sold my Focus Mares CX which I used at SBT twice and other gravel events was I couldn’t get 40s or 42s into it. The bike was awesome. If I only had one bike, it would be that.
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On the market for a gravel racing rig, and likely will opt for a Factor OSTRO Gravel.
Is anyone running 1x with a Power2Max? I’m trying to understand if there should be any issue running Rotor aldhu cranks (110 bcd) with a P2M and a single chainring with GRX in the back. Can’t seem to find anything conclusive.
Thanks!
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Sorry, I’m taking the chance to laugh a little that right after I joke about expensive bikes the Ostro is the next one brought up 
Yes this will work fine.
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I ran 38 Gravel King SS+ at unbound and they were fine, but looking back (mud aside) I think I would have been better/faster on wider tires (Domane could only fit 38s).
I did manage to snag an entry in Big Sugar 50 and I am going to run 47 Pathfinder Pros (will install and test this weekend) on my new Crux. I rode 38s in Ark gravel and it was really horrible.
For Big Sugar 50, is it worth running aero bars? The course profile seems to indicate there is a lot of payved road on the course…
While I do agree up to a certain point, having raced plenty on a steel hard tail, as well as mid level road carbon, and later moving to higher end carbon frames in both disciplines - the difference is there, marginal or more, but it’s there (be it due to frame material, geo, aero, etc) if we’re comparing race rigs level.
But that’s my personal opinion, per what I felt.
Worst case - I’ll sell it 
And thanks for confirming!
I have on my Lauf Seigla Power2max NGeco with Rotor Vegast cranks which have same the axle interface as Aldhu cranks I think. I had to buy a offset axle which fits the wider 73 mm BB on Seigla, but on a normal BB no mods should be needed. That spider is for 110 BCD Shimano chainrings, so I put a Wolf Tooth 46T GRX Drop-Stop B chainring on it. It didn’t fit at first because of the profile to fit on GRX cranks, but with some filing (a half mm or so) it fits perfectly and works great with SRAM Transmission at the back on my bike.
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I really like my ostro gravel. I am running a 46x33 red crank no issues. Good luck on your search
I’m a road biker looking at buying my first gravel bike and I live in Colorado. Planning to ride it in events like steamboat and unbound, as well as on some of the usual gravel roads around the mountains here (fire roads, etc). I’m looking at the usual suspects: the Aspero-5, kaius, crux, checkpoint, and potentially the Enve. Does my use case standout for/against any of them in particular? Road manners aren’t super important since I have a road bike for that.
I think the Aspero is the only one that can’t officially clear at least a 44mm tire.
If money is an option I’d take a look at the Giant Revolt…seems like a great bargain compared to the bikes you listed.
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