Isn’t that the promise of bikes like the Exploro? You can turn it into a proper aero road bike by putting on a different set of tires. Admittedly, it’ll be a bit heavier than a road-only bike, but unless you want all-out on-road performance, this use-case seems entirely within its wheelhouse (pun intended).
FWIW - I have a Tarmac (which I still love!) and bought a 3T Exploro two years ago after starting this thread 
I won’t post another pic 
I’m still very happy with my decision two years later.
One of my favorite things about my 3T is having another arrow in my quiver to ride on the road for enjoyment. I truly ride my Tarmac and Exploro frequently on the road depending on the type of ride I have planned.
I have 27.5 and 700 set of wheels.
I went for the 1X and purchased multiple cogs which I swap depending on the type of riding I’m doing.
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Yes I’m in no hurry to buy and will absolutely take the 3T Exploro for a spin. It’s aero optimized down to 32c and I’ve got nice carbon wheels optimized for 26c tires. Only hesitation.
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Dunno about that. I kind of like riding on roads where I know drivers are responsible for their actions and have an interest in not hitting or killing me. How about you just visit? But if you’re coming here claiming you’ll ride the trails, I’ll bet you’ll still spend most of the time on tarmac routes with so many awesome climbs in the immediate vicinity, not to mention iconic climbs within reach by a long ride or short train or even drive. The cobbles of Gotthard Pass is a 70mi ride away, but better to take the train 2hrs and get in more passes without killing oneself. Dolomites are a <5hr drive, Stelvio is about a 3hr drive… 
I think I’ll pass for now, but if you come out here, I’ll show you around. 
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Makes sense. Plus, even if a bike is great on paper, that doesn’t necessarily mean the two of you will mesh well. So if you want to fork out that much money, you will want to test ride it first.
That pink 
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I’d love a gravel bike as an n+1 but I can’t imagine the argument for one as an “only.”
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I see my Jedi house swapping mind tricks are of no use… move along. So which 3T do you have? And have you already posted some details about it? I did some connector dirt/gravel yesterday and longingly looked at the longer trails.
I have a 2018 Exploro Team that I’ve upgraded. I replaced the wheels (DT GRC 1400), stem/bars (went from the metal bar that came with to a carbon 3T stem and carbon 3T superergo bar), and added a power meter (Quarq). Oh, and red lizardskin bar tape Its SRAM but I did not go eTap because I was concerned about battery performance in cold weather, but I’ve subsequently learned that it isn’t as big of a problem as I thought it might be. The wife’s already given me the clearance to upgrade to eTap, which will mean I’ll be able to go with a bigger cassette (I have 10-42 now, a 10-52 would’ve been / will be handy on so many climbs… I have a 42 up front).
What it looks like now (from May last year), mostly. Differences: that rear light died after being subject to 8hrs of often very hard rain at Grinduro Dolomites, so a Knog light is there; front light in the pic, a Bontrager ION, also died then, so now I have a monster from Exposure Lights; and the saddlepack in the pic has a zipper that I found turned into a one-use deal as a result of all the mud/dirt (I went through more than one bag because of failing zippers), as I apparently needed to frequently, if not continually, open and wash the zipper, as if I should be bothered with that chore, so now I have a Silca seatroll.
Before (Feb '19):
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Any issues with the seatpost clamp? I understand there have been some issues, and its the biggest annoyance I have with my Domane. The new Exploro RaceMax has switched to a Ritchey WCS single bolt clamp design. I want to run 2x and for road the only bike with a tall enough gear (stock bike) is the Race Force AXS 2x, which roughly speaking is less than some of the other options I’m looking at. The only other concern is handling warranty issues if something happened. There are no local dealers and I think 3T is also direct-to-consumer.
I had heard the same, that they were isolated problems, and that they were addressable. However, I have not had a single issue with my seatpost clamp. No slippage whatsoever as noted above.
As for local dealers, not as many as say Cannondale or Specialized and I can’t say what the warranty work would be for a non-dealer… I bought mine from a shop in Evanston, IL, on a quick 3day trip there from here (Switzerland… to close out our storage unit cuz when we moved to London from the area in 2013 we thought we’d be back in 2-3yrs). That said, I actually went through the 3T distributor because I had a tight window and an attempt to buy a used 3T fell through and I could not find a shop with a new Exploro. The regional distributor was awesome and got the bike to the shop in time for them to set it up before I needed to pick it up (and then pack into my bike box which I brought over empty). Can’t help you there or with the gearing. I do like the simplicity of the 1x and maybe sometimes I wish I had more than 44x10 but that’s incredibly rare, at least for my riding on this bike.
Thanks. I called ExcelSports.com (hoping for FasCat discount) and the guy emphatically said “go ride it before ordering” which is what I expected him to say. And as authorized dealer they would handle warranty issues. But no advantage buying from them. I didn’t realize 3T is also direct-to-consumer.
Here in flatland with the wind and fast group rides I do a fair bit of riding at 28-32mph, like a week ago coming back into town did the 30-sec ‘official Wed night winter sprint’ averaging about 32mph. And 28-32mph for 5-8 minutes is pretty common on fast Wed night group rides on the spring/summer route.
At the other extreme is climbing at my lowly 2.5-3.0 W/kg.
Need to spend some time with a gear chart because at the fast speeds assuming 90rpm my current 50x11 is ~33mph and SRAM 44x10 is ~32mph (46x10 is 33mph) while Shimano GRX at 46x11 is ~30mph. And I naturally spin at 80-85rpm.
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I really like my aspero and now my kanzo fast.
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I had occasional issues of minor slippage with my Exploro seat post clamp that I heard 3T resolved with the newer models. After my fit was dialed and I tightened the post appropriately, the slippage issue went away.
Reading your question reminded me of the issue because slippage hasn’t happened since my initial few months of getting the bike dialed in.
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Here you go. I’m comparing a setup with a 46-tooth chain ring and SRAM’s 10-36 cassette with a 50-tooth chain ring and a Shimano 11-32 cassette. I set the cadence to 80 rpm, which is why the quoted speeds are lower, but you can play with that yourself. If you are living somewhere really flat and you might even want to consider a 10-33 cassette.
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correction: I accidentally wrote that my front was 44, it was, as noted in the post previous that, my front is 42, so my biggest is 42x10 (not 44x10). But, considering your terrain, maybe a 44 or what about a 46 up front? Go with the eagle in the back (and thus eTap) for a 52 in the rear…
For comparison, I rode an Open and found it a bit of a laggard on the road. That was on a test ride on pavement and trail and later on a Mauna Kea attempt (approach from the west, starting at Waikoloa; I completely forgot to bring my own fuel and hadn’t really trained for it, in the six weeks prior did a 70.3, Zermatt Ultra with 8k’ of climbing, Long Course Weekend Wales - Iron distance), decided to quit 1k’ from the top due to lightheadedness. The Open was, as a wrote, a laggard on the pavement but good on the ash/dirt. The Open is a mountain bike that does road, according to Gerard Vroomen, while the Exploro is a road bike that does mountain. For me, the difference was clear and I picked the Exploro. But that’s just me. I tried others and almost went with a Santa Cruz, but I’m very happy with my Exploro, which works great for me and the terrain I ride.
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Thanks. Flat out my door but the Sierra and coastal mountains are close.
Yes I’m looking for a wider range or a couple cassettes.
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Do you change out chains when swapping cassettes in the rear, or just run the same chain (assuming it’s cut for the largest gear ratio you run)?
For all those riding a Warbird, how does it handle with road tyres on hilly / mountainous tarmac roads? I’m running Zipp 303 FC wheels and planning to put on 30 mm tyres for road riding - any experiences or recommendations? I also normally ride a SL6 tarmac on the road, which I love for mountains, but contemplating a trip that will have both road and gravel racing.
Apologies for dredging up such an old thread, figured this was better and more relevant than starting a new related topic.