Bikes

Haul Ass, Not Cargo In 2019, Áspero took the gravel world by storm, heralding a “new era of speed in gravel.” Fun, but flat out. The new Áspero remains true to its original brief, but with some improvements: a threaded BB shell, neater cable routing, and a UDH-compatible derailleur hanger for those who want to use SRAM’s Transmission drivetrains. And it’s more aero, of course. In the case of Áspero, aerodynamic performance is less about pure speed as a result of drag reduction, and more about conservation of energy. After a big day in a headwind, the three watts saved over the previous Aspero might add up to one less energy gel your stomach has to digest—WORTH IT. In addition to the drag reduction, we also dropped the seat stays to give a bit more compliance out back, and reduced front-end stiffness slightly to make the last hours of a long race less painful. Between those dropped seat stays, we added in a bit more clearance for mud, too, taking what we learned from R5-CX (and the Unbound mudfest in 2023). It’s a lot of seemingly small improvements, but they add up to a lot. The result is a bike that feels a lot like the original Áspero, but is faster, more comfortable, and more versatile.

HAUL ASS, NOT CARGO In 2019, Áspero took the gravel world by storm, heralding a “new era of speed in gravel.” Fun, but flat out. The new Áspero remains true to its original brief, but with some improvements: a threaded BB shell, neater cable routing, and a UDH-compatible derailleur hanger for those who want to use SRAM’s Transmission drivetrains. And it’s more aero, of course. In the case of Áspero, aerodynamic performance is less about pure speed as a result of drag reduction, and more about conservation of energy. After a big day in a headwind, the three watts saved over the previous Aspero might add up to one less energy gel your stomach has to digest—WORTH IT. In addition to the drag reduction, we also dropped the seat stays to give a bit more compliance out back, and reduced front-end stiffness slightly to make the last hours of a long race less painful. Between those dropped seat stays, we added in a bit more clearance for mud, too, taking what we learned from R5-CX (and the Unbound mudfest in 2023). It’s a lot of seemingly small improvements, but they add up to a lot. The result is a bike that feels a lot like the original Áspero, but is faster, more comfortable, and more versatile. THREADED BOTTOM BRACKET Aspero uses the asymmetrical T47a threaded bottom bracket we pioneered on R5-CX. It’s a simple, rider-serviceable interface that allows us to deliver the benefits of BBRight in a more user-friendly form. UNIVERSAL DERAILLEUR HANGAR We used SRAM’s Universal Derailleur Hanger (UDH) standard on the new Aspero. It’s ideal if you want to live your best ‘business in the front, party in the back’ life with one of SRAM’s Transmission drivetrains today, and ensures compatibility for future drivetrain developments. INTERNAL CABLE ROUTING Aspero shares the same bearing dimensions as R5, Soloist, R5-CX, and Caledonia, which means you can use any combination of bearing caps and stems. Want a super-racy, fully-internal look? Grab the ST31 and HB13 from R5.

Haul Ass, Not Cargo In 2019, Áspero took the gravel world by storm, heralding a “new era of speed in gravel.” Fun, but flat out. The new Áspero remains true to its original brief, but with some improvements: a threaded BB shell, neater cable routing, and a UDH-compatible derailleur hanger for those who want to use SRAM’s Transmission drivetrains. And it’s more aero, of course. In the case of Áspero, aerodynamic performance is less about pure speed as a result of drag reduction, and more about conservation of energy. After a big day in a headwind, the three watts saved over the previous Aspero might add up to one less energy gel your stomach has to digest—WORTH IT. In addition to the drag reduction, we also dropped the seat stays to give a bit more compliance out back, and reduced front-end stiffness slightly to make the last hours of a long race less painful. Between those dropped seat stays, we added in a bit more clearance for mud, too, taking what we learned from R5-CX (and the Unbound mudfest in 2023). It’s a lot of seemingly small improvements, but they add up to a lot. The result is a bike that feels a lot like the original Áspero, but is faster, more comfortable, and more versatile.

A NEW BIKE FOR CLASSIC RIDES We don't see road bikes as delicate machines meant only for putting watts into and receiving speed from. They're an extension of our soul, of the way we want to see our worlds, and the lives we want to live. Sometimes that means cutting across park grass, and sometimes it's seeing where that dirt road off to the left leads you. The Caledonia-5 is a bike for the modern road rider. The Caledonia is the bike we keep reaching for when we know the odometer's going well past the triple-digit mark. Long rides invariably have some smooth tarmac, some junk pavement over backroads, a cutty singletrack connector, and maybe even your own local Strade Bianche sector. So we built a bike that could take on all of them, do it well, and fit fenders in case the ominous clouds turn into a downpour 130km into your day. We developed the Caledonia-5 in collaboration with our World Tour riders to satisfy the need for a dedicated cobbles bike. Faster handling isn't necessarily better-we engineered the handling based on the specific use-case. In this case, it's Roubaix. Roubaix is harder on bikes than any other race on the calendar, and there's zero margin for error. We increased the rear center, lowered the BB, and increased the trail. The handling is still fast, but we've added stability. Modern road riders are looking for bikes to handle long-distance, high pace, no limits, and offer maximum fun. By placing lower modulus carbon in key areas to mitigate the brittleness of hi-mod fiber-the Caledonia delivers performance, comfort, and speed. Oh, and you can fit a 34mm tire in there. Or 31mm with fenders.

HAUL ASS, NOT CARGO 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 hard, to go all out, 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 race them. For these athletes, we engineered Aspero for pure, unapologetic speed, ready to take down finish lines, KOMs, PRs, and FKTs. A bike built without limits, for the riders looking to test them. It's stiff, Classics-racing stiff, and performs like you'd want a road bike to perform off-road. We think that makes sense, and it's what we were trying to do when we were stuffing bigger tires into our existing frames and swapping in aftermarket forks to get a 40mm tire up front. The flip-chip in the fork-we call it the Trail Mixer-keeps the trail measurement consistent whether you choose 700c or 650b tires. This maintains the bike's personality and handling characteristics when you switch from mid-fats to full-fat. There are as many different ways to do gravel as there are gravel bikes these days, but if you're toeing the start line, looking to stay with the lead group, and contend for the victory, Aspero is the bike to get you there.