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The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions
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The new 3T Exploro arrived several weeks ago and I have since ridden it everywhere: smooth suburban pavement; pot-hole riddled city streets; tight, technical singletrack; and steep, rocky fire roads. I've ridden it quite hard -- going over the bars twice with a badly bent brifter and a two inch gash in my knee to show for it. Broadly speaking, I have challenged this bicycle and myself through all manner of mud and dirt and in nearly every condition one is likely to face while riding it.


(The 3T Exploro in its natural habitat)

A few of you have PM'd me asking for my opinion on this bike, which I've only mentioned recently only in passing. Those thoughts are presented here in a deliberate effort from me to bring something to the forum besides hate.

For those who want the headlines: while this bike has minor flaws consistent with a first generation product, its killer strength is its versatility. This really is the world's first n-1 bike; my road, cyclocross, gravel, (squ)aero, and buff trail-going mountain bike; my all surfaces, all seasons, all-in-one, all around the world bike; my 'don't need shit in life except this gravel bike' gravel bike; my 'go slow faster', real fast, mildly oxymoronic bike. This bike tries to do it all and does it all quite well.

Background
I believe this genre of equipment -- road geometry bikes with drop bars and 2.1 inch clearances -- is about to explode. Riders now want more versatility out of their bicycles. We want to take on all types of terrain, often in a single ride. We want to get off the roads and away from deadly traffic and densely populated routes as the number of white bikes on the roadside grows and the tales of neglect and malice among smartphone-addicted or murderous motorists continue to stagger and horrify our communities.

These bikes solve problems. They open up new road and provide new experiences. They allow us to proactively combat becoming a headline by taking us to the hills and the gravel, to the dirt, to the remote or forgotten paths with every aspect of natural beauty and little of our malignant civilization. They get us off the Kickr -- out of the basement and into the fresh air.

I knew I needed such a bike last winter when I was unable to complete my planned route because the dirt and rock and frozen slush were too much for my Felt AR. I decided on the 3T Exploro because the stack and reach matched my AR down to a couple millimeters -- which I ride un-aggressively with a more relaxed fit -- and because the marketing around aerodynamics warmed the cockles of my triathlete heart. I also have my eye on endurance gravel racing in the near future, and there is likely no better tool for the job than the 3T Exploro.

The Build
This was a challenging process. Decisions on group, gearing, power meter/crank, wheels, and tires were not made lightly, easily, or, as it turns out, correctly. Because of what I need this bike to do for me -- everything! -- I required and will require multiple options for each.



-For the group, I went with an XTR/hydro road di2 bastard 1x setup. I considered 2x, but you cannot mix XTR and Ui2 derailleurs, and the XTR FD does not work with this frame. A clutch derailleur and a long cage (ability to go up to 46T sprocket) is also a plus.

-Gearing for 1x is tough here. I initially chose a 46T up front and 11-36, thinking I would ride primarily on the roads. I was totally overgeared on the trails. I've since moved to 40T front and 11-40 in back. This is better still, but on pure road rides I wish for tighter ranges. Ultimately I may go back to a Ui2 FD and RD if I decide I can't hang with the 1x setup...or maybe I'll keep both and change depending on the season/use case.

-For the meter, I originally bought a power2max, which was the only reputable crank-based option compatible with BB386EVO when I ordered. I returned it when the DZero line of Quarqs was announced in favor of same. There is no reason that I can think of to choose p2m over Quarq.

-For wheels, I chose the Enve 4.5 AR disc wheelset for road and hard-packed gravel, and this was the right call. I further built up a set of Nextie 650B XC hoops (27mm width) around DT Swiss hubs I already had. I wish I'd gone wider (the 32mm width). The old days of 21mm internal widths are gone. Wider is mostly better. I also believe the days of single wheelsets are over -- at least for this type of bicycle and for tubeless use -- insofar as this bike replaces other bikes in your arsenal and you switch back and forth between the terrain on which you ride it.

-Tire choices have been a bit of a disaster. For the Enve's, I blew out the sidewall of a Schwalbe Pro One, then struggled for two days to get a pair of Clement X'Plor MSO 32mm tires set up tubeless, only to discover they are impossible to set up tubeless. I am now running the 36mm version, which are tubeless compatible and which I set up easily enough. On the 650Bs, I went with the WTB Horizon 47mm gumwall slicks, which is the tire du jour among the 3T insiders. I like them. I further configured 650B wheels from my proper mountain bike to work with the Exploro. I'm running a 2.25 Racing Ralph on the front and a 2.1 in the rear -- and yes, it fits.


(Triathlete idiot tries tubeless.)

The tires and the wheels and the gearing are all a work in progress. There's no silver bullet.

Performance
I rode this bike home from the shop late one Friday night in the city, and my first impression was that it rolls comfortably and smoothly and with exceptional compliance. My daily commuter is an aluminum piece of garbage, and these same roads routinely jar me into an alloy-hating frenzy. But the Exploro just floats, absorbing bumps without bruising; when struck soundly, the thing recoils like a well-designed spring. It's hard to divvy up the comfort and compliance credit between the Enve's (and low pressures) and the Exploro itself, but my gut says that both are outstanding.

The Exploro suffers on rocky and steeply rocky terrain. Even with the 650b XC wheelset, it's just too rigid. I am a very poor offroad rider in general, but descending steep and rocky terrain on the Exploro is frightening because of the aggressive geometry and the drop bar braking. One of the times I went OTB was because I was jerked into grabbing too much front brake as I tried to control my speed with both. The bike is just too stiff for this kind of thing, and not even the compliance of well-crafted carbon wheels saves the ride. I'm a shit offroad rider, so that is likely part of the problem. I can't pick a line to save my life.

Notwithstanding the above, I believe the Lauf Grit fork is the right remedy here. The Lauf Carbonara was the solution to a similar problem on my fat bike and the Grit should be the solution here too. Notably, the the guys at Lauf are pushing through a special order for a black glossy version (as opposed to matte) to match the Exploro frame. Really great to see innovative companies step up and deliver custom product for the most anal retentive of us who simply cannot and will not tolerate mismatched kit.

I don't know if this bike is fast. It feels fast and responsive. On very smooth roads with Enve's and road slicks, the ride feels identical to my Felt AR w/ 404s, but on anything less than pristine cement it floats with greater comfort and with better compliance. The Enve's feel and look as aero as anything I've ever had, even with the hub-disc brakes. I suspect the bike a good deal slower than the AR, for what it's worth, mainly as a result of the hub-disc braking. But the exceptional power and modulation of that braking is worth its cost and of course this bike would not be possible without it.

I also believe this bike is slow because of the super duper fork. 'Narrower' (i.e. <50mm) rim/tire setups leave massively open sections between the fork blades, which chicanery would likely say routes air flow directly into your shins, costing precious watts (as he says about Dimond). Maybe there is room for an aerodynamic fork with significantly less clearance as a remedy for these use cases.


(Needs moar clearance)

Anyways, if I don't sell my AR first, perhaps I'll aero test the two bikes against each other to quantify the differences. Even though such a comparison would not be apples to apples, the head to head would be instructive and entertaining for the nerd community here.

Criticisms
Some of these are petty, but they still deserve mention.

First, the six week delay. What is so hard about being honest with your customers about a product delivery date? If there's a good chance you're going to miss the window, give a bigger window. But especially don't take the money and continue to move the goalposts. That is really poor form.

Second, the seatpost clamp under the top tube is just the worst aspect of this bike. This is so incredibly idiotic I can't understand the logic except that someone at 3T must be the biggest weight weenie on earth, because there is no way a regular side address seat post clamp is impacting aerodynamics. This bolt is so deeply embedded into the area where the seat tube meats the top tube that no multi tool can access it. So when you go out for a ride and the seat post slips -- which it will if you apply less than the 9Nm of torque, which of you always do because it's impossible to gain enough leverage to torque that invisible bolt to such a spec -- you are completely hosed. Better nail the seat position right off the bat, or sit on the trainer, because twenty miles of a dropped seatpost left my knees screaming for two days.

A few other things that suck. The squared off post means tail lights are basically impossible to properly secure. I personally dislike the diff lock saddle rail clamp; I dislike it on my AR and I dislike it on this bike. I pretty much hate the fact that I have to carry a multi tool in case of a rear flat, and there is no integrated Silca key anywhere. It's amazing that I can even get through the day with such travesties.

Finally and most importantly, what is with the price? I mean what in the actual fuck. This bike is so expensive. I sold two bikes to buy this bike, and the way things are going with ancillary equipment, I might need to sell one more. That's the only thing that makes the price point on this bike make sense really -- it's replacement ability. But everything else about the price is really and truly obnoxious. Maybe Vroomen spent too much time at Cervelo. Or perhaps the drive to shed weight from this frameset is driving up the cost, which is of course insane on a bike that will never be light as a total unit. I would love to see this bike and its derivatives become accessible to non dentists, but at this cost it won't happen.

Feel free to ask me anything about this bike. I'm very new to this area of cycling, but I'll do my best to field questions. I would also appreciate advice from the wise and experienced among you in getting the most out of my ride.
Last edited by: PubliusValerius: Nov 14, 16 15:22
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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The only way I can see this bike being better is if it wasn't (it is, isn't it?) a proprietary aero seatpost and you could run a mild dropper. That would make it massively easier to deal with on most trails as it would get that pesky saddle out of the way, which can cause issues even on my XC race bike when it comes to more technical descending.

Great review and report, I really like this bike but don't want to sell any of my current rides to buy a properly set up exploro.

ETA - looking at that Lauf fork, how does braking affect the suspension? I don't know very much (anything) about physics, but the brake caliper being placed on the suspended portion seems odd. I honestly don't really get how the Lauf forks work (their mtb forks have received very mixed reviews last time I looked, which was a couple of years ago).
Last edited by: James Haycraft: Nov 14, 16 15:41
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Your reviews suck.

Stick to the inflammatory, hate riddled posts.

Also, I might need an Exploro based on this review.

"One Line Robert"
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Really cool bike. I could definitely see replacing my hard tail mountain bike (that I almost never use) and my endurance road bike with something like this. But that price... when the cheap model is $3k for the frameset there's just no way. If 3T came out with a 'Pro' level at maybe $1500 I would be much more interested. It would also be nice to get some rack/fender mounts.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Have lusted after the U.P. and now this but am now instead pursuing a surly straggler mostly because of cost but also pannier-ability for bike packing.

Good take on it.

36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the write up and pics. I've thought about selling the road bike and picking up this (or saving up and splurging on a Moots Routt). As you mentioned the cost can slowly start to sneak up as you'll want multiple sets of tires to get the most out of the bike (and to make it something that does replace multiple bikes). Then you can talk yourself into extra wheelset a so you can save time and just leave tires on and make a faster swap do you can spend more time riding. At least it's cheaper than the Open U.P.

I agree with James, the ability to run a dropper post would be nice. Steep downhills are terrifying on road-type bikes since it's harder to get behind the seat while steering and having hands on the brakes.

Matt
Last edited by: Pun_Times: Nov 14, 16 16:15
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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PubliusValerius wrote:
I would love to see this bike and its derivatives become accessible to non dentists, but at this cost it won't happen.

i've seen a couple of these around. owned by dentists.



---------------------------------------
Fruit snacks are for winners
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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James Haycraft wrote:
ETA - looking at that Lauf fork, how does braking affect the suspension? I don't know very much (anything) about physics, but the brake caliper being placed on the suspended portion seems odd. I honestly don't really get how the Lauf forks work (their mtb forks have received very mixed reviews last time I looked, which was a couple of years ago).


Yeah, this was pretty unclear. I guess what I meant is that when I'm descending something steep and technical on my mountain bike, heading down a rocky drop, for instance, the suspension soaks up the impact and I am better able to slow my roll with a lot of back brake and a little front brake. So far with the Exploro I have an issue with touching the front brake on such terrain, because my arms and hands effectively are the suspension. So properly modulating is more difficult, especially because you're up on the hoods.

Regarding the engineering behind the Lauf, there was a good discussion on the LAMBLAS group on the face gag when I posted my Lauf lean photo:



I personally have no idea what these guys are talking about. But they seem educated, which means nothing on the internet of course.


What I know from my fat bike is how the Lauf rides. It rides stiffly when JRA and provides moderate additional absorption when required. It's really hard to describe how it's different from a solo air fork, but it is. It's relatively light and it requires no maintenance, and the 'effective' travel is really nice to have for bikes where nearly adequate suspension is built into the tires.

I agree that the the caliper being mounted to the suspended portion of the fork seems odd, but consider that the RS-1 is similar in that respect.

Anyways, I'm not an expert on it but I like what they're doing and I like how it rides. Definitely see if you can borrow one to take a spin. If I were building up a pure XC racing 29er hard tail I would likely consider it there too, especially if I lived and raced somewhere other than the rocky northeast.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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It'd be interesting to ride the Exploro + Lauf and then compare that ride to the Slate.

I've only tooled around on rigid fat bikes a couple of times, but the thing I noticed most was how suspended the bike felt due to the huge tires + low psi. I noticed equally how there was zero dampening of that suspension as well. Compression and rebound were basically equal. I see those guys discussing dampening with regard to the Lauf fork...but I don't know enough about CF to know whether dampening is something that can be designed into composites. I guess it can, since frames made from composites... i dunno. Regardless, slick bike.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for this. I'm talking with the LBS about ordering the TEAM version soon.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the review. I've been contemplating an Exploro myself but that price... is hard to justify. Maybe I'll get around that before the year is out. If I had any good gravel or fire roads near me I'd jump on it.

How badly would tire clearance be compromised if you ran 2x up front? IIRC with the Ui2 long cage RD you can run 11-32 so with something like a 50-34 you'd have very versatile gearing.

How much did your build end up weighing with your Enve ARs mounted? What size frame?
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [wsrobert] [ In reply to ]
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Agreed. Not enough hate in this post. Instructions unclear - Penis stuck in toaster. Please advise.

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Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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"First, the six week delay. What is so hard about being honest with your customers about a product delivery date? If there's a good chance you're going to miss the window, give a bigger window."

Sound a LOT like Cervelo with the arrival of the P5X doesn't it?
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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PubliusValerius wrote:
But they seem educated, which means nothing on the internet of course.

More of the latter, less of the former.

Plates in torsion? Yikes...
Members at an eccentric distance from a torsion axis are loaded axially (or bending, depending on boundary conditions). Look, I can use big words too!! Like they indicated it's intro to structures, some of us are just less wrong than others.

To their credit, however, composite materials have natural damping properties compared to metals. Except the way they wrote it was casually correct - in that you would have to use all those same words, in a different order thereby changing the meaning, to explain the phenomena. Composites are, by definition, linear to failure along their fiber axis. When unloaded, however, their stress/strain (elastic) curve has positive concavity [rather than a linear track back along the elastic loading curve] meaning the stress is dropping faster than the strain - the material is absorbing energy. They're no damper like in a spring/dashpot system, but they're a damn sight better than a metal beam doing the same job.

I typically do not cruise Facebook for technical advice, FWIW...
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Saw one of these at the LBS done up with Ui2.
Was really impressed at all the cool little features and I love the geometry.
Shocked at the size of the downtube IRL.
I didn't look closely but I wondered about the seat clamp myself.

Sweet machine, but I think prefer a CX and MTB.
My CX rig can fit 40mm tires, good enough for some pretty tough gravel terrain.
Anything tougher, and I prefer full suspension and flat bars of a MTB.
I tore my hands up trying to keep up to my MTB buddies on a CX bike once.
Riding on the hoods sucks when it gets really rooted and rocky.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
Finally and most importantly, what is with the price? I mean what in the actual fuck.

Yeah, that guy is silly pricey. I think I built my UP for less than just the LTD frames costs.


Great write up!

My YouTubes

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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [Rocky M] [ In reply to ]
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Rocky M wrote:
"First, the six week delay. What is so hard about being honest with your customers about a product delivery date? If there's a good chance you're going to miss the window, give a bigger window."

Sound a LOT like Cervelo with the arrival of the P5X doesn't it?

No, but it does sound like the P5.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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I'm just curious why you got the more expensive model? I like the black paint job better, but not $1,200 better. I agree that both framesets are priced crazy high.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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PubliusValerius wrote:

Finally and most importantly, what is with the price? I mean what in the actual fuck. This bike is so expensive. I sold two bikes to buy this bike, and the way things are going with ancillary equipment, I might need to sell one more. That's the only thing that makes the price point on this bike make sense really -- it's replacement ability. But everything else about the price is really and truly obnoxious. Maybe Vroomen spent too much time at Cervelo. Or perhaps the drive to shed weight from this frameset is driving up the cost, which is of course insane on a bike that will never be light as a total unit. I would love to see this bike and its derivatives become accessible to non dentists, but at this cost it won't happen.

I want this bike, or an Open UP, for a lot of reasons, but the economics of it just don't make sense for me. I love the idea that it could be my 'do-it-all' bike, except that it can't. It would allow me to go more places, but never replace my full-sus 29er for serious trail riding in the summer. In the winter, it would allow me to get out on roads and paved trails more, but I have a fatbike that can do those same things and much more. For everything else including fair weather gravel, I've been doing OK on my R3 with 28mm tires.

Given infinite resources, I think I could whittle myself down to 2 bikes by going with something like the UP or Exploro for road/gravel and either a Farley EX or an Otso Voytek for everything off road depending on how much suspension I needed. Problem is until these bikes get more affordable, it's still cheaper for me to just have 3 or 4 dedicated bikes than it is to have 2 high end versatile bikes and multiple aftermarket wheelsets.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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I love this kind of bike- But I feel like the need for giant tires is over-rated.
If you get a bike that will take a 38-40mm tire, that is wide enough.
Also- as you mentioned the Explore and UP have limitations in terms of chainrings sizes and whatnot.

There are lots of good ones out there but tough to beat
Parlee Chebacco
Santa Cruz Stigmata
Specialized Crux
Scott Addict CX or CX gravel
Trek Boone is also nice though it does not have a thru axle rear-

I think the Santa Cruz might be the best value of all-
Last edited by: bootsie_cat: Nov 15, 16 9:01
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [tgarson] [ In reply to ]
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I'm in a very similar position. If the Exploro and Voytek were $2000 each I'd be able to justify it. At that point I'd have three bikes (tri, aero road/cross/gravel, and XC/trail/fat) and six wheelsets to cover seven subcategories of cycling pretty well. So that would be $6,000 worth of frames, $5,000 worth of wheels, $2,000 worth of crank bases power meters, $300 worth of pedals... let's just round up to $15,000 to be able to ride seven subcategories with top notch equipment or $2,150 per virtual bike.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]
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bootsie_cat wrote:
I love this kind of bike- But I feel like the need for giant tires is over-rated.
If you get a bike that will take a 38-40mm tire, that is wide enough.
Also- as you mentioned the Explore and UP have limitations in terms of chainrings sizes and whatnot.

There are lots of good ones out there but tough to beat
Parlee Chebacco
Santa Cruz Stigmata
Specialized Crux
Scott Addict CX or CX gravel
Trek Boone is also nice though it does not have a thru axle rear-

I think the Santa Cruz might be the best value of all-

That Santa Cruz looks pretty slick; a complete bike with that kind of spec for just over 3000 is pretty great.
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [bootsie_cat] [ In reply to ]
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Stigmata is at the top of my N+1 list. Without any direct experience riding tires that large (currently running 35mm Clement Xplor USH on my commuter), the general feedback I have seen is that when you want more than 40mm, you probably also want suspension.

I would really love to give those 47mm WTB gumwalls or some of the Compass fatties a shot though before making a final judgement though. Seems like fat, supple slicks would be pretty versatile if you play with the pressure.

/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [tgarson] [ In reply to ]
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I was teaching a Guru bike fit course to the staff at Island Tri and Bike in Honolulu and one of the young dudes came to work on this Open UP (Unbeaten Path.....would have cool if they named it the Open Frost: "two roads diverge in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference").

He had several set ups and this was his 650b fat tired version.



Ian Murray
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I like the pursuit of mastery
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Re: The 3T Exploro -- First Ride Impressions [PubliusValerius] [ In reply to ]
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What did you think of your Nextie hoops ?

Interested in your thoughts and comparisons to other kit you may have ...

Cheers,

WD :-)
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