Location, 5 Shirebridge Business park Easingwold, York Rd, York YO61 3EQ
01347 823963

Rå Valravn Gravel

Rå Valravn Gravel

The Valravn is a modern geometry AllRoad/Gravel bike ready to take on the longest days and the roughest single track. It can also tear up the tarmac as well as any road bike out there.

Description

Rå Valravn:700C/29

The Valravn was born out of the desire for a road bike that had decent handling and a dislike of  riding on the roads. Turns out “Gravel Biking” was already a thing.

It’s my take on the Gravel/AllRoad/MonsterCross bike. I started off with a ‘body geometry’ fit bike and adjusted it to my ideal pedaling position like a custom fit road bike, but that’s where the tarmac influence ends. From the outset I had a dropper post in mind, which meant the bike had to handle well standing and on the drops; so a 40mm stem was the only way to go. This isn’t quite as extreme as you might think when paired with a drop bar with an additional 70mm of reach – in MTB terms this is old fashioned with a 110mm equivalent stem whilst resting on the pods, but move your grip down and back on the drops and the true handling benefits become apparent.

 To make a 40mm stem work though, the 60-100mm of length removed has to go somewhere, and it went into the top tube. With the slackened head angle and 45mm offset fork, there’s a stable trail number of 108mm.

Next up was tyre clearance, 700C-40C or 650B-2.1 seemed to be a thing, but I always favor the bigger wheel, especially for long days on rough ground where the increased roll over and comfort of a larger tyre will outperform all other combos. Gaining tyre clearance on a 29er wheel meant using a 73mm BB and adding a bit of width to the Q-Factor, but for the terrain the Valravn is now capable of taking on, it was worth it.

Comfort is also high on the agenda, so I chose 16mm seat stays and Columbus chain stays without a bridge near the BB to allow for more compliance. When paired with the stiff, over-sized Reynolds 853 front triangle this keeps the directional handling pin sharp.

 A frame is nothing without a decent set of wheels to roll on and complete the package. Extensive testing on my mountain bikes and over 10 years of building personal race wheels has taught me a thing or two about wheel building. 32 spoke/3-cross is still king, and paired with carbon rims for larger wheels makes for the near perfect combination of vertical compliance whilst maintaining directional stability. The 3 cross pattern allows for low spoke tension whilst still resisting braking and drive forces well too.

So is this just a mountain bike with drop bars then?

No – this is a ground up project which combines aspects of both disciplines and will allow you to hang with the Peloton or tackle an XC course, and even mash round a (non UCI) CX circuit on the same bike.

 

ORDERING:

Available in four sizes or a custom fit options. Frame only, frame fork and wheels, or full builds are available. Please get in touch to arrange a fitting or for more information. Frame and fork only prices start from £1100

 

FRAME SPECS:

  • Reynolds 853 butted main tubes

  • Reynolds 525 seat stays and Columbus Zona chain stays

  • Stainless drop out hardware with replaceable Alloy mech hanger

  • 29″/700C X 2.1″/55C

  • DT Swiss RWS skewer or stealth bolt up options

  • 142x12mm X 100x15mm

  • 31.6mm seat tube stealth dropper routing

  • 73mm BSA BB
  • External or Full internal cable routing options

  • 44mm head tube

  • Post mount 160mm standard

  • EPD coated for lifetime rust protection inside and out

  • 4 Standard sizes and Custom fit options available

  • Custom paint and colour matching available

  • Full builds available using SRAM and Rå Composite components.

  • Optional Integrated seat clamp with custom silicone seals

  • ISCG05 tabs for chainring bash guard

  • 1X gearing only up to 50T front chain ring

        

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