"Lauf's True Grit shuns the usual versatility of most gravel bikes for a pin-sharp focus on racing, with their unique leaf-sprung fork taking centre stage on a bike that's quite unlike most others out there. As a complete package for going very quickly on..."
GRITS Racing [FULL]
Lauf's True Grit shuns the usual versatility of most gravel bikes for a pin-sharp focus on racing, with their unique leaf-sprung fork taking centre stage on a bike that's quite unlike most others out there. As a complete package for going very quickly on dirt roads, it's hard to beat.
It would be remiss to start talking about the True Grit without mentioning the elephant in the room, namely, the unique leaf sprung fork. As standalone units, they've become hugely popular with gravel riders and cross-country mountain bikers after low weight without the full brutality of a rigid fork.
It's absolutely night and day when compared to riding a rigid fork over the same rough surfaces, with the Lauf delivering much more grip and comfort, something that your wrists will be eternally grateful for on a long day of riding or racing. In fact, the most noticeable feature of the fork is the fact that you forget it's there most of the time - it's only if you move back to a rigid-equipped bike that you realise just how much work it was doing.
While the True Grit's fork gives it a unique edge compared to most, that's not to say that the rest of the bike is an afterthought - far from it. The frame is full carbon fibre, with geometry that's dedicated to riding and racing gravel, rather than many that position themselves in the category to add excitement to a design that's probably going to see most use on the commute. That means it's pretty long and slack for a drop bar bike, with Lauf's Long 4 Speed geometry pairing a decent length top tube with a shorter than usual stem, from 70-100mm.
It's also good to see a threaded bottom bracket holding the cranks and the internal cable routing is fully sleeved to make replacing cables and hoses much less of a chore. The frame also gets a trio of bottle cage mounts plus a bento box mount up on the top tube. On the small sized bike, the downtube cage mount wasn't a huge amount of use for a bottle as anything put in there would touch the tyre when the fork compressed, but that's not an issue on the larger bikes.
Arman and Legan plan on racing a full UCI cyclocross schedule this season, starting with the Qiansen Trophy that just wrapped up in China. Although the team is just two right now, Legan said they are hoping to grow the program in the future.
The race is designed and planned from two different perspectives. We have one foot in the classic gravel social ride format and the other foot in the common bicycle road race. Our ambition with this gravel race is to show the world how we can combine adventures in gravel riding with competitive gravel road racing. Lets find out how this turns out!
The GRIT Freedom Chair: Spartan was designed with the strongest and most adventurous riders in mind. Originally built for competitive obstacle course racing, this rugged off-road chair is ready for just about anything. With its wider tires, upgraded drivetrain, and reinforced seatpan and fork, the only thing tougher than the GRIT Freedom Chair: Spartan are the riders who love it.
Test yourself. Running races, bike time trials and swim meets are excellent substitutes for a regularly scheduled training session, so try one. Using a race as a training session keeps you in the racing mode, allows you to go harder than you would during training, and helps you boost your fitness and confidence going into your goal race.
All in all the Lauf True Grit suspension system is of high quality and neatly finished. From the cable ports to the bottle cage mount for a third bottle under the down tube, everything looks neat and is beautifully integrated. The 27.2 mm FSA SL-K carbon seatpost with a WTB Volt Pro saddle provide some comfort out-back. Nevertheless, compared with the fork neither of these seems to offer sufficient compliance. A DT Swiss XR1501 wheelset combined with MAXXIS Rambler 40C tires rounds off the package. 2ff7e9595c
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