Issue’s authentic Ostro Gravel was fairly pioneering, insofar because it was one of many first aero gravel bikes on the scene, together with the 3T Exploro, earlier than aero gravel bikes had been actually a factor. Gravel racing has come on a great distance since 2023, and whereas the Ostro Gravel nonetheless is a aggressive machine, it’s beginning to appear a little bit lengthy within the tooth.
Within the lead-up to Unbound, very like the flurry of recent bikes that arrive earlier than the Tour de France, we get some new gravelly machines to pore over earlier than their precise releases. Issue has posted a few movies on its official Instagram web page following the Santa Vall gravel race that present Romain Bardet and Norwegian gravel champion, Magnus Bak Klaris, aboard what seems to be an overhauled Ostro Gravel mannequin. Whether or not it’s ‘hiding in plain sight’ or ‘deliberate leak to generate media curiosity’, we’ll depart as much as you, however regardless of the tactic, the top outcome is identical.
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Greater forks, greater tyres
The previous Ostro Gravel, or OG because the previous one turned recognized colloquially, had wheels aero optimised and marketed round a 32mm tyre (on the time of writing), although it shipped with a 43mm, and has a max clearance of 45mm. This, given present developments in the direction of large, MTB-size tyres in gravel, is just a bit too slim.
I noticed professional riders cramming extra into their frames at The Traka final yr, however the previous OG isn’t going to problem the likes of the brand new Specialised Diverge, or the Lauf Seigla within the tyre division. Personally, I additionally discovered the previous OG fairly uncomfortable. The body is extraordinarily stiff, and wider tyres would have been of nice profit.
The brand new model appears to have a far wider fork, and each Bardet and Klaris look to be utilizing a tyre round 50mm extensive. From the facet, it appears like there can be loads of room for extra rubber, however a extra front-on view of Bardet’s machine reveals sloping shoulders that probably kind the pinch level for the entrance finish.
Rear-end clearance is usually the more durable factor to attain, and the brand new model appears to have dropped the chainstays so as to add extra room. Even so, the rear tyre is perilously near the seatpost on the measurement they’re operating, so even when front-end clearance goes up bigger, it might be unlikely that it’ll on the rear finish. From the facet view within the lead picture of the article there does look like barely extra room nevertheless.
The fork legs themselves, in addition to being wider set, are additionally deeper in profile, with a flatter high tube and maybe a barely deeper downtube so as to add to the aero package deal. The pinnacle tube is clearly completely different, with a really pronounced hourglass determine to it, which is a trademark of contemporary aero machines.
Whereas we are able to’t make certain from the pictures, it appears probably that the bike will probably be a 1x-only machine. Issue’s new do-it-all Aluto stays 2x appropriate, however entrance derailleurs influence tyre clearance fairly severely, in addition to being much less aero, so we wouldn’t be stunned to see Issue ditching the internal ring utterly right here.
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Greater wheels
The previous OG shipped with 34mm deep all-rounder wheels, the identical that the Aluto comes with, however each Bardet and Klaris are using on a lot deeper, seemingly unbadged wheels. It’s probably, provided that gravel is getting extra aero by the month, that these would be the manufacturing wheels that include the machine, which does symbolize a reasonably drastic shift as they’re butting up towards the UCI’s most depth for highway wheels (no such difficulty on gravel, it should be mentioned). However they may be one thing unbadged upon which to check the frameset. They’re additionally operating completely different cockpits to one another, however I think it is because of match causes, and it appears unlikely that the brand new OG will ship with something aside from an built-in entrance finish.
As for additional particulars, nicely, we must see what comes out within the wash. Cyclingnews has reached out to Issue for remark.
