All the bikes you have short listed look awesome and will be awesome.
I don’t personally buy into the gains of the aero frame in gravel races. Granted plenty of the people winning the big gravel races are sponsored, but it doesn’t appear that aero gravel frames are dominating.
The gravel races I have been in have required the race plate to sit square on the front of the bike, with no bending/cutting allowed.
Sure if it came down to the choice of two bikes aero vs not. I would choose aero, but I wouldn’t let it eliminate other bikes that meet my criteria.
Gg
90% pure aesthetics. I can’t look at a bike with cables outside the same way anymore. Feels almost like what one sees when looking at a top bike of 10 years ago. Love the clean look and the easiness for race plates, bags.
So if the answer is aesthetics, maybe go with a Crux and match it up with a SRAM wireless system and get an integrated HB / Stem that routs the cables under the stem. Then you only have exposed cables along the headtube for a brief bit until the entry ports. Still pretty clean and minimalist.
I have a Lauf Seigla with the Lauf fork and I really like it for gravel. I’m usually on the MTB and have some wrist issues, so I wanted something with a little suspension. The Lauf fork is perfect as it takes the edge off with 20mm of suspension and I can ride a long time with no pain. The fact it is 1x and light is also a big plus. It’s built for simplicity and reliability which I really like.
That’s always a difficult way of going about things. An aero frame DOES WORK. It is more aerodynamically efficient or in other words, faster for the same power. Considering the average speed that especially the pros and top amateurs are going, aero gains will likely be the most important out of aero, rolling resistance and weight.
The gains are however in the 5 to 15 Watt range (just looking at rim/ fork profiles and shielding of bottles is probably closer to 5 watts at 20mph+, and narrow handle bars that make the rider more aero will add the rest.
So if it was say 10 watts between a BMC Kaius and a Specialized Crux, that would hardly mean BMC sponsored riders would automatically dominate every race. Especially since gravel also has a lot of external influences like punctures, chain drops, drive trains getting completely gunked up etc.
I see most people bending it around the handle bar or head tube. Officially not allowed, but usually not enforced either. Dylan Johnson does this now:
If he can get away with it, being a highly scrutinized professional, I as a mid pack rider probably could as well…
I do agree with aero not being the thing that should override every other quality of a bike.
What does a Factor Ostro‘s aero saving help you, if the frame is too harsh for your liking, and you have to stop two more times than you would have on another frame?
What does a BMC Kaius‘ aero handle bar do for you, if you need 45s for your course, and they do not fit into the frame?
But that can be said for every bike.
I think an aero gravel bike CAN be the best choice for Gravel racing, especially with flatter events (I‘d even count Unbound towards these) or very high speed events like the UCI Gravel World Series.
If it’s best for your particular case is obviously a different story.
Looks super nice. Really cool frame and cockpit design. However I didn‘t look into things like geometry, handlebar widths and compatibility with aero bars further because…
… I did not manage to find it being offered as a frameset, which basically counts me out every time.
