New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro"

Jun 11, 16 10:11

Post #1 of 80 (9071 views)

http://exploro.3tcycling.com/

Quote:

GO SLOW FASTER:the best gravel rides are long and grueling, so saving a few Watts is very welcome. Enter our Sqaero shapes, squared-off aero shapes that are structurally efficient and fast. Sqaero shapes offer RealFast™ aerodynamics; they are faster not only under perfect conditions but also in the real world. Even when co vered by mud and muck.

THAT'S RIGHT our Sqaero shapes are designed to be as fast dirty as they are clean. The Exploro uses Sqaero 50/25, with a 50mm wide downtube perfect to pick up the airflow coming off a wider cross or mtb front tire and lead it on to the water bottles. The seattube is 25mm wide to make it aerodynamically disappear in-between the bottles and the rear tire. The headtube, seatstays and custom seatpost also use Sqaero shapes.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 10:46

Post #2 of 80 (9026 views)

I've been looking for a cross!! Maybe this will work, but I see it'll be another complete build as it's just the frame setup.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 11:03

Post #3 of 80 (9009 views)

I was looking at this today. I like it! It ticks a lot of boxes for me.

The geo is interesting in my size, slack HTA with an appropriate fork take of 50mm, but short CS at 415mm. The short stays and slack HTA should make a great handling bike with the 70mm BB drop. I'd like to try one out.

_______________________________________________

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 11:14

Post #4 of 80 (9000 views)

I'll be honest, this bike has my attention :)

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 12:22

Post #5 of 80 (8958 views)

This is interesting with Vroomen and Wiertz having acquired the company. Vroomen's other brand, Open Cycles just finally got their Unbeaten Path (UP) gravel bike out to customers.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 13:16

Post #6 of 80 (8913 views)

I've been looking at the Open Cycle UP. Lots of similarities between Gerard's two bikes.

Suffer Well.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 16:12

Post #7 of 80 (8803 views)

I have to say, I just don't get it. I've never ridden a bike anywhere where this bike would make sense. To me it's like a slow road bike, or a lousy MTN bike. I guess maybe I need to find some gravel to ride on?

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 17:03

Post #8 of 80 (8760 views)

nickwhite wrote:

I have to say, I just don't get it. I've never ridden a bike anywhere where this bike would make sense. To me it's like a slow road bike, or a lousy MTN bike. I guess maybe I need to find some gravel to ride on?

You don't ride gravel and you don't "get" gravel bikes?

Well thanks for blessing us with that doozy of a well-informed opinion!

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [dhr] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 18:14

Post #9 of 80 (8710 views)

dhr wrote:

nickwhite wrote:

I have to say, I just don't get it. I've never ridden a bike anywhere where this bike would make sense. To me it's like a slow road bike, or a lousy MTN bike. I guess maybe I need to find some gravel to ride on?

You don't ride gravel and you don't "get" gravel bikes?

Well thanks for blessing us with that doozy of a well-informed opinion!

Are there miles of gravel roads where people ride these bikes? My point is, I'd need to look pretty hard to find a place that makes sense to ride this bike.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 11, 16 18:17

Post #10 of 80 (8700 views)

nickwhite wrote:

dhr wrote:

nickwhite wrote:

I have to say, I just don't get it. I've never ridden a bike anywhere where this bike would make sense. To me it's like a slow road bike, or a lousy MTN bike. I guess maybe I need to find some gravel to ride on?

You don't ride gravel and you don't "get" gravel bikes?

Well thanks for blessing us with that doozy of a well-informed opinion!

Are there miles of gravel roads where people ride these bikes? My point is, I'd need to look pretty hard to find a place that makes sense to ride this bike.

Well, Michigan is full of gravel roads, which is where I typically ride mine.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 4:37

Post #11 of 80 (8558 views)

You should consider that some people live in areas where there are more gravel/dirt roads than paved roads. In addition, some people have access to a lot of double cross type trails which are perfect for a bike like this.

If you don't have the terrain for this type of bike, then you likely don't have a use for it.

_______________________________________________

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 6:05

Post #12 of 80 (8520 views)

I don't have many gravel roads around me but if you ride in the city of Toronto, the roads are so terrible this bike would rock!
I saw a guy riding the Open UP bike on a 100k charity ride a couple weeks ago. It looked like it road fantastic. When I asked him about it he seemed annoyed, and a little snobbish ... So I dropped him and moved on. I have a Giant Defy with disc brakes and I am running 28mm Conti 4000II 's on it. I love the plush ride . I wonder how nice 32's would ride on something like the 3T?

Jeff

You can't fix stupid ..

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 7:35

Post #13 of 80 (8470 views)

nickwhite wrote:

I have to say, I just don't get it. I've never ridden a bike anywhere where this bike would make sense. To me it's like a slow road bike, or a lousy MTN bike. I guess maybe I need to find some gravel to ride on?

Would you be surprised that this bike would be faster than a Synapse, Roubaix, Domane or other "adventure" bike while offering the option of 650B MTB tires?

It's a fast road bike, not a slow road bike. For the competition minded, the bike has performance attributes everyone else ignores. For the mixed terrain set, the bike has performance capability everyone else (but Open and a handful of one-off builders) ignores.

I've put about 500km on the bike thus far and plan to enter a road race with it next weekend. I'll use the same tires I used on my tt bike and conventional road bike as the race is all on smooth pavement.

https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [Mister944] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 7:40

Post #14 of 80 (8465 views)

Mister944 wrote:

I don't have many gravel roads around me but if you ride in the city of Toronto, the roads are so terrible this bike would rock!
I saw a guy riding the Open UP bike on a 100k charity ride a couple weeks ago. It looked like it road fantastic. When I asked him about it he seemed annoyed, and a little snobbish ... So I dropped him and moved on. I have a Giant Defy with disc brakes and I am running 28mm Conti 4000II 's on it. I love the plush ride . I wonder how nice 32's would ride on something like the 3T?

Jeff

Skip right past 32mm and try the 47mm WTB tires. This fall there will be a host of new 650B high volume tires which offer exceptionally low rolling resistance (Schwalbe's 2.3" MTB tires have lower Crr than their Pro ONE 23mm road tires for example) and more grip than you could possibly find on a conventional road tire. The difference between 28mm and 32mm is small from my experience and most premium 700c road tires are capped at 30mm sections. When you get to 32mm you'll often get lower tpi, added sidewall protection, thicker tread with higher durometer and deep tread grooves and texture.

-SD

https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [SuperDave] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 7:45

Post #15 of 80 (8454 views)

What's the head angle on the Exploro and does it have top tube bosses?

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [GreenPlease] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 7:47

Post #16 of 80 (8453 views)

GreenPlease wrote:

What's the head angle on the Exploro and does it have top tube bosses?

It depends on the size but ~72.5 on most sizes, slacker on the small.
It does have top tube bosses as well as two positions for the downtube boss and one on the seat tube.

Have a look:
exploro.3Tcycling.com

-SD

https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [Bonesbrigade] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 7:59

Post #17 of 80 (8445 views)

I would say that the geometry is a bit of a mess.
Too slack of a seat angle, too low of stack.
And why would you want such a huge and stiff downtime for offroad?

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [nickwhite] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 8:09

Post #18 of 80 (8439 views)

As a Leadville and endurance xc junkie I said the same thing until I took my road bike on the dirt. You have to try it, totally different experience than anything you have done on two wheels.

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 8:44

Post #19 of 80 (8426 views)

bootsie_cat wrote:

I would say that the geometry is a bit of a mess.
Too slack of a seat angle, too low of stack.
And why would you want such a huge and stiff downtime for offroad?

Too slack of STA - move your saddle foreword. The stack for my size looks perfect, but we're all different.

From my experience, a large down tube hasn't always equaled stiff, but I have no idea with this bike. I personally think it looks great on paper - it would take a test ride to really find out though.

_______________________________________________

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [SuperDave] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 9:24

Post #20 of 80 (8405 views)

SuperDave wrote:

Mister944 wrote:

I don't have many gravel roads around me but if you ride in the city of Toronto, the roads are so terrible this bike would rock!
I saw a guy riding the Open UP bike on a 100k charity ride a couple weeks ago. It looked like it road fantastic. When I asked him about it he seemed annoyed, and a little snobbish ... So I dropped him and moved on. I have a Giant Defy with disc brakes and I am running 28mm Conti 4000II 's on it. I love the plush ride . I wonder how nice 32's would ride on something like the 3T?

Jeff

Skip right past 32mm and try the 47mm WTB tires. This fall there will be a host of new 650B high volume tires which offer exceptionally low rolling resistance (Schwalbe's 2.3" MTB tires have lower Crr than their Pro ONE 23mm road tires for example) and more grip than you could possibly find on a conventional road tire. The difference between 28mm and 32mm is small from my experience and most premium 700c road tires are capped at 30mm sections. When you get to 32mm you'll often get lower tpi, added sidewall protection, thicker tread with higher durometer and deep tread grooves and texture.

-SD

What's the largest off-road tire on a 26" rim you can fit in that thing? Just curious... :-)

http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [GreenPlease] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 10:00

Post #21 of 80 (8390 views)

GreenPlease wrote:

What's the head angle on the Exploro and does it have top tube bosses?

Look like it does.
And we're gonna have something very soon for bikes just like this.
(Our existing tri-focused Speedpacks fit great on the OPEN and the exploro, but some gravel riders need something a bit more tailored to their specific long ride needs ... )

Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook
--

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [Tom A.] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 10:18

Post #22 of 80 (8374 views)

Probably 2.25" in back and 2.35 in front. You'll need 165mm cranks tho with the 7cm BB drop

https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 10:22

Post #23 of 80 (8365 views)

The seat angle provides the saddle position needed when combined with the post.

The downtube is designed to aid aerodynamics.

If you want the bike plusher than a bean bag use the RoadPlus 47mm tires.

https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [SuperDave] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 10:41

Post #24 of 80 (8355 views)

SuperDave wrote:

nickwhite wrote:

I have to say, I just don't get it. I've never ridden a bike anywhere where this bike would make sense. To me it's like a slow road bike, or a lousy MTN bike. I guess maybe I need to find some gravel to ride on?

Would you be surprised that this bike would be faster than a Synapse, Roubaix, Domane or other "adventure" bike while offering the option of 650B MTB tires?

It's a fast road bike, not a slow road bike. For the competition minded, the bike has performance attributes everyone else ignores. For the mixed terrain set, the bike has performance capability everyone else (but Open and a handful of one-off builders) ignores.

I've put about 500km on the bike thus far and plan to enter a road race with it next weekend. I'll use the same tires I used on my tt bike and conventional road bike as the race is all on smooth pavement.

SuperDave,

Not challenging you, just curious what the "performance capability" for the mixed terrain set you are referring too. Saw that Ted King won the DK200 last week on a Cannondale Slate (which had me eyeing that for a potential gravel grinder) so am curious how these would compare (including in price point). Thanks for any input!

Re: New 3T Aero Gravel Bike Frame "Exploro" [SuperDave] [ In reply to ]

Jun 12, 16 11:43

Post #25 of 80 (8324 views)

SuperDave wrote:

GreenPlease wrote:

What's the head angle on the Exploro and does it have top tube bosses?

It depends on the size but ~72.5 on most sizes, slacker on the small.
It does have top tube bosses as well as two positions for the downtube boss and one on the seat tube.

Have a look:
exploro.3Tcycling.com

-SD

That video gave me a woody! Wish I had such a bike to ride home from work today so I could hit the canals and some trails along the way.

<We all know that light travels faster than sound. That's why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak>

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