Recently, there’s been a significant shift in what is considered a “fast” gravel bike. I think that 10 years from now, we’ll look back on 2024 as a year that we made a big leap forward in gravel tech. The biggest by far has been in tires (pun intended). It’s gotten to the point that some of the fastest racers are starting to choose mountain bike tires for gravel racing. There are many reasons for this, but the main one that most racers care about is that they’re just plain faster for many gravel courses. Yes, we’ve tested it… a lot. Those who can’t fit them are scrambling to find the widest tire their frame will allow. Frame manufacturers are going to have to make a shift. If your “gravel race bike” can only fit 42s then I got news for ya, that ain’t a gravel race bike. We’ve also seen more riders experiment with suspension than ever before. Mountain bikers found this out years ago, when riding off road lighter and stiffer does not always mean faster. XC race bikes have only gotten...