Pun_Times wrote:
Why’d you switch from the Exploro? How does the Factor compare so far?
A few reasons. To be fully transparent, the 3T and the Factor are both the result of team sponsorship. The Exploro excited us for a bunch of reasons. Lots of tire clearance. A focus on aero (which we knew was going to be a big deal in gravel). An option to run huge 650b tires.
The Exploro does lots of things well, but we felt like as pure gravel racers, the ViSTA was the best gravel racing bike. The truth is, we didn't need something that could kind of do double duty as a mountain bike. I never once mounted 650bs. I also had frequent chain drops on the Exploro, and the chain would get wedged deep between the crank bolts and BB. Based on the courses i race, I'm not willing to go 1x, so this was a big deal.
With the Factor, it takes the things we love about the exploro and adds an additional layer of polish to them. The Exploro was aero, but the Factor refined that aero idea even more. We knew how much tire clearance we needed, and we have it with the Factor, but without the dropped chain stay (which causes chain suck in muddy conditions) and without bb386 (which I believe was what limited the space between chainring bolts and the frame which caused our chains to get stuck when they dropped).
Some on our team felt the Exploro was too harsh. Personally, I didn’t notice it. With the right size tire and the right tire pressure, the Exploro felt smooth to me. The narrow stays on the Factor do seem to absorb some vibration, almost like a leaf spring.
The Factor is the most stable bike I’ve ridden. It tracks very straight. I’ve never ridden a bike that is easier to ride with no hands. In the race this weekend, I took off my vest in a crosswind while I was riding on the chunky gravel shoulder. It wasn’t an issue at all. On the 3T, those conditions would have made me a bit more nervous. The 3T to me felt a little nervous in corners. Something about the front end just didn't feel right. The Factor carves through turns like a road bike.
When you remove the rear wheel of the Factor, your rear derailleur doesn't fall off. Cables are completely hidden, unlike the behind-the-stem routing the 3T has. The seatpost clamp of the Factor seems to be a more finished version of the 3T clamp. If you are short, the smaller sized Exploros don't have much room inside the triangle for large bottles. Even the smallest sized Factor has plenty of room for 1L bottles in standard cages (the 3T needed side loading cages).
I'm not sponsored by 3T anymore, but i still won't say anything bad about that bike. It's a good bike, and does a lot of things well. However, for a pure gravel racing bike, the Factor is a better option.
If I'm being picky and honest, here are some downsides to the Factor. There are no top tube bosses for a bento box, but that is easily fixed by using a velcro bag from Darkspeedworks (i'm not sponsored by them, but i do like their packs and will buy one shortly). The current bar/stem doesn't allow for clip-on aerobars, but I believe they are designing a solution for this right now. With the way gravel racing is going, aerobars are a huge advantage, and most races do allow them. Hopefully by Dk200 i will have this part figured out.