#gravel-cycling-shoes

#gravel-cycling-shoes

"Our heritage is rooted in building gear for people who live and thrive in the mountains, and that includes our own team. Many of us ride; our athletes ride. Mountain biking is part of our culture," Ashley Anson, VP Design at Arc'teryx, said.

Transition has increased the rear travel to 211mm, which translates to more traction and control when charging downhill. This straightforward approach enhances the riding experience significantly.

Race Face's Turbine stem has been a popular choice for years, with several lengths and a range of anodized colors to choose from. The new 'standard' Turbine follows in the SL's aesthetic footsteps, with a similar, squared-off, and more angular design.

The Ari Nebo Peak has the capability to handle all-mountain descending, efficient climbing, and a long-lasting battery, making it a versatile choice for e-mountain biking.

Mass dampers help with vibration damping by using a weight suspended between two springs, which absorbs vibrations and reduces the transfer to the rider.

Why Cycling Gloves Wear Out So Fast The palm of your glove absorbs: Constant road vibration Brake pressure and grip force Sweat and salt Friction against bar tape Impact in the event of a fall That contact area gets worked every single mile. Helmets last years. Shoes last seasons. Bib shorts rotate. Gloves? If you ride consistently, one year is normal.

The Roval Terra CLX III weighs just 1,079g for the set, making it the lightest, most compliant gravel race wheels ever made, including tubeless rim tape and valve stems.

The special build also included a custom Bike Ahead cockpit and the latest Shimano groupset offerings, showcasing the innovative approach to gravel bike design.

The core idea here isn't gimmickry. It's composure. Specifically, the idea that a calmer, more composed ride creates speed, and that a platform intentionally designed around 32-inch wheels can deliver that in a way a scaled-up 29er simply can't.

The biggest upgrade to this new model is a full Vibram Megagrip outsole with Traction Lugs. The new rubber underfoot significantly improves traction on slippery surfaces, and the 4-millimeter lugs, although slightly shorter than those on the previous version, provide grip both while climbing and descending. The other notable change to the shoe comes from four extra millimeters of midsole foam underfoot, increasing the stack height to 32 millimeters under the heel and 28 millimeters under the forefoot, creating a 4-millimeter drop.

The Era SL is Race Face's lighter, more XC-oriented version of the standard Era crankset, available for eMTB and gravity use, but it's heavier. To create the Era SL, Race Face has shaved weight through an integrated spindle design and stripped-down hardware. The result is a claimed 422 grams with a 32T chainring installed. That's a 78-gram reduction over the already-respectable standard Era.

Otso really wanted the Warakin to be a true "all-road" bike, meaning it is ready and adaptable for all surfaces. This means tire clearance up to 50mm and a frame that is super adjustable. The Warakin comes standard with a rigid carbon fork with an axle-to-crown of 420mm.

Race Face uses the same rim for its Era eMTB wheelset as it does for its standard Era wheels. These rims have a distinct profile, front and rear, which delivers the blend of compliance and strength they are looking for. On the standard Era wheels, the front rim is 18.6mm deep, while the rear rim is 22.6mm. Both rims share a 30mm internal width, paired with a 37.2mm external width.

Pinion Smart-Shift is an electronic shifting system that draws power from the e-bike battery and reduces additional wiring. The Smart-Shift integration enables automatic shifting features, too, like the pre-select and start-select modes. These two modes can automatically shift to your preferred gear when stopping. You can't use this system on Viral's non-electric models due to the absence of speed sensors.

Italian component brand Deda is leaning hard into versatility, but for a single wheel. It seems that 2026 is already the year of the "do-it-all-road-wheel," and with that, Deda launches an all-new Allroad Carbon wheelset. The wheelset is a modernly wide, tubeless-ready carbon option designed to hop the sidewalk between road and gravel riding. Rather than splitting its carbon lineup into narrowly focused categories, Deda positions the Allroad Carbon as a catch-all wheelset.

While much of the discussion surrounding the 32" wheel size has centered around cross-country bikes and XCO World Cup racing, gravel bikes seem like one of the best and most obvious applications. But as far as we can tell, 32" gravel tires are even more rare, with most of the big-wheeled gravel bikes we've seen relying on the aforementioned mountain bike models.

The new NOBL FAR Series rims are the widest, strongest, and lightest they've ever made, and they come with lots of build options to turn them into complete wheels. Designed to optimize aerodynamics with wide tires, they're also exceptionally lightweight while claiming toughness inspired by the brand's mountain bike rims. An impressive trio of features, so let's see how they do it...

Drop bars on mountain bikes aren't exactly new. People have been experimenting with curly bars on mountain bikes since the 1980s, but in 2025, they saw a major resurgence in popularity. With high-profile racers like Keegan Swenson - among many others - modifying XC race bikes with drop bars for events like Leadville, the drop-bar MTB became a much-hyped and frequently discussed topic for the first time in many years.

That's right, you read it correctly. Minnesota's Surly Bicycles wants you to up your daily fiber as they join the masses, and spec some carbon bits on the new 700c Black Cherry Fizz Midnight Special. Don't worry, if you prefer your Midnight Special with a steel fork and trusty aluminum hoops, come this Spring you can get that if you want. But, more on that at a later date.