![]() ![]() Gravel bike sales are soaring and there are a multitude of possible reasons. Road bikes between rebirth, friends with benefits and plenty of gravel Because for us it’s much less about “race” than it is “bike”. For everyone else, and of course the open-minded lactate disciples who want to do more than just hunt down KOMs on Strava, we want to open up new horizons with this group test and to celebrate freedom and spontaneity on the bike. Do you earn your rent by riding a bike, are you looking for maximum performance or do you simply love what the pros ride? Then you’ve chosen the perfect hobby because you can buy or build 99% of a pro bike. The pros and their bikes are, without doubt, outliers and in turn, they don’t represent a sensible guide or inspiration for impending buying decisions for most of us. Presumably, both Anna and Thomas marvel like we do at the performance of the pros in the peloton and the watts produced by Mathieu van der Poel during his brilliant win in this year’s Strade Bianche. At all road bike individualists and at Anna and Thomas, who, according to our GRAN FONDO reader survey 2020 ( you can find the most important results here) with over 8,000 participants, ride 5,336 km per year and are the most frequently occurring names amongst our readers. As such, this group test is aimed at you. “Which bike fits me and my requirements?” “Where can I get the best package for me?” “What is the best bike?” That’s the common refrain sung by many enthusiastic newbies and bike fans looking for a new bike, to whom you most likely belong – after all, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading these words. The masses searching for a bike are still trying to answer the fundamental questions. If you already have a bike during these competitive times you should count yourself lucky. The fascination for drop bars is casting a spell over everyone from acrobatic athletes to laid-back laggards and is causing demand for bikes to soar. At the same time, our family of bike fans is growing faster than ever before. For us bikers, that’s resulted in almost endless waiting times for the hotly anticipated dream bike we want to get our hands on amidst ever-rising prices. For small bike builders and indie bike brands, it’s often resulted in the total collapse of any options. For established multi-national companies that means disruption to supply chains, delivery issues, development and production delays. Fast forward to today and we find that the bike boom has turned the bike cosmos on its head. We found that it was still too soon, yet, at the same time, manufacturers were finding it harder and harder to differentiate their models and justify marginal differences to their customers. Saddle up and shift into the big ring, because we’re proud to present the last road bike group test you’ll ever need to read.Ī quick look back: it was the middle of the 2020 season and the central question of our road bike group test was whether, technologically, we’re moving towards the ONE ultimate road bike. We laid the foundations in Tuscany and what follows is a heady mix of true crit and dolce vita. Will this be the moment of glory for all those who don’t want to commit or the moment for those who know exactly what they want – that being maximum versatility. ![]() We envisage a new road bike horizon that can make do without skin-tight Lycra and, on occasion, lets the wind blow through a loose shirt. On top of that, we wanted to redefine what road bikes are about and while doing so, set the foundation for a new understanding of road riding even while following in the footsteps of the modern classic Strade Bianche race. ![]() More than 300,000(!) enthusiastic road bikers around the world read last year’s group test, making us keenly aware of our responsibility to you and giving us a clear mission: we wanted to find the answers to these questions and leave you with the requisite knowledge to be able to make the best buying decision for yourselves. What’s the best road bike of 2021? Is there even a best bike? With 15 road bikes and these questions in tow, we made our way to Tuscany. ![]()
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