3t Exploro

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ozboz

Guru
Location
Richmond ,Surrey
hiya, anyone riding one of these, all reviews are positive yet one con reported is the price ,
Other than that I was wondering if any owners came a across any other issues
 
I've been running an Exploro Team (the white one) for a few months, and despite a shaky start I quite like it.

Currently it's used almost exclusively on-road, so rolling on 700c wheels (Fulcrum Quattro) with 28mm Conti GP5000s and SRAM Force 1X (44 / 11-36).

First impressions were that it was heavy (compared to my old, 7kg whippet), that 1X meant I was almost always in the wrong gear and the original tyres (30mm Schwalbe One) we're sucky. The whole thing was costing me ~1km/h average speed loss on a 50km ride according to Strava. So far, so disappointing.

Once I'd acclimatised to the gears (took a month or so) and swapped the tyres it started to make a lot more sense as a road bike. Now it's as fast as my old bike, considerably more comfortable and much better suited to the utterly dreadful roads we have around here.

One thing to watch out for is the frame sizing. They're designed to work with no layback for the saddle, so the TT length looks longer than you might expect. At 1.73m tall I'm on a medium frame with 550mm TT, which sounds ridiculously long, but actually works okay.

Overall, it's expensive but beautifully made and a brilliant all-round bike as long as you're not a serious racer. The frame is very solid, so if you want to avoid battleship-like all-up weight you really need to go for decent components. I'd love to try one with properly light wheels and Di2 Ultegra or similar.

f
 
OP
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ozboz

ozboz

Guru
Location
Richmond ,Surrey
I've been running an Exploro Team (the white one) for a few months, and despite a shaky start I quite like it.

Currently it's used almost exclusively on-road, so rolling on 700c wheels (Fulcrum Quattro) with 28mm Conti GP5000s and SRAM Force 1X (44 / 11-36).

First impressions were that it was heavy (compared to my old, 7kg whippet), that 1X meant I was almost always in the wrong gear and the original tyres (30mm Schwalbe One) we're sucky. The whole thing was costing me ~1km/h average speed loss on a 50km ride according to Strava. So far, so disappointing.

Once I'd acclimatised to the gears (took a month or so) and swapped the tyres it started to make a lot more sense as a road bike. Now it's as fast as my old bike, considerably more comfortable and much better suited to the utterly dreadful roads we have around here.

One thing to watch out for is the frame sizing. They're designed to work with no layback for the saddle, so the TT length looks longer than you might expect. At 1.73m tall I'm on a medium frame with 550mm TT, which sounds ridiculously long, but actually works okay.

Overall, it's expensive but beautifully made and a brilliant all-round bike as long as you're not a serious racer. The frame is very solid, so if you want to avoid battleship-like all-up weight you really need to go for decent components. I'd love to try one with properly light wheels and Di2 Ultegra or similar.

f

It was the white one I was looking at , as they are 2018 models the price has been dropped by some retailers , the best deal was with Merlin but they have sold out now , The GCN network vids were very complimentary about them , I am still on the fence about getting one , I feel the black ones are a bit to heavy price wise though ,
I have only seen the road bike the Strada in the flesh so to speak , and I have to agree , expensive but really well made , that also had the 1x set up
 
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If that's the 1X bike, why bother? Finding a solutiont a problem that didn't exist.

I'm not sure it's trying to solve a "problem", just offering an alternative approach.

I like the (relative) simplicity of fewer gears and less mechanical stuff. If nothing else it compensates for the additional weight of disc brakes.

f
 
I have only seen the road bike the Strada in the flesh so to speak , and I have to agree , expensive but really well made , that also had the 1x set up

The Strada Due is a hell of a lot lighter than the Exploro and set up for 2X. That's the version I would get if I was interested in racing (or the sunday morning pissing contest).

f
 
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ozboz

ozboz

Guru
Location
Richmond ,Surrey
I have seen a white Exploro at a discounted price ,not as good as the price of the others though , the only difference I can see from the 19’ model is this 1 one has post mount brakes , I’m hoping the discounts are around in a month or so ,
Other than that I’ve been checking out a few Ti gravel frames and may build one up ,
 
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