Two months out from the Desert Gravel in Fruita, Colorado, my cousins invited me to affix. I’d by no means raced earlier than. I mentioned sure anyway.
That call led to an introduction from BikeRumor’s editor-in-chief, Zach Overholt, to Joey Early and Brandon Wold at DT Swiss. The plan: decide up a customized construct at DT Swiss’s US headquarters in Grand Junction on Friday afternoon, race 50 miles by the Colorado desert Saturday morning.
I’ve been using for a couple of 12 months now, with my traditional setup being a BlackHeart AllRoad AL with a inflexible fork — largely highway, with some gravel over the previous few months. So when Joey walked me by the construct, I used to be one thing significantly extra succesful than what I trip at house.
The Construct
The check bike was a Litespeed Toscano FI in titanium — Litespeed’s devoted gravel platform — sized at 60cm and constructed up with the DT Swiss F132ONE suspension fork, GRC 1100 DICUT 50 carbon wheels, Shimano GRX 827 Di2, Vittoria Terreno T30 tires, and an FSA ACR stem with Ok-Wing AGX carbon bars. Gentle, stiff, quiet — the sort of construct that makes you marvel in case your legs are worthy of pedaling one thing of this caliber.
Earlier than we headed out to the race venue, Joey gave me a tour of DT Swiss’s facility. What stood out was the precision of it: tensioning machines, serialized part logs, meticulous data on each half. The entire group had a relaxed however clearly educated vibe.
The Fork
The F132ONE is DT Swiss’s gravel-specific suspension fork with 40mm journey, 32mm stanchions, and a PushControl lockout on the handlebar. Clear construct, nothing fussy. For somebody who’d by no means ridden a fork with a distant lockout earlier than, it was instantly intuitive.
At the moment, the DT Swiss F132ONE gravel fork is restricted to OEM availability by Litespeed and Obed, which is why we examined on the Toscano FI right here.
Race Day
Desert Gravel’s 50-mile course mixes pavement with roughly 40 miles of gravel: hardpack, free wash, horse tracks, and washboard. It was windy. I pulled a gaggle early, discovered a tough lesson about drafting, and spent a lot of the second half using solo right into a headwind attempting to claw again time.
The fork earned its preserve. On the washboard sections that have been visibly shaking different riders, I tracked by with noticeably much less enter. I handed a number of folks on a tough stretch and will watch them getting knocked round whereas I used to be capable of keep composed.
The lockout (activated by a lever on the bar underneath the left brake lever) turned my experiment mid-race. Curious how a lot distinction it really made, I flipped it closed on a tough part to check it. Virtually instantly, I felt it: getting bounced round, palms taking extra punishment, much less management. I opened it again up inside seconds. On the smoother flats and highway connectors, locked out was the fitting name. It transformed energy cleanly and made an actual distinction on a windy day the place each watt mattered. However on the tough stuff, locking it out was a fast reminder of what the suspension was doing for me.
My arms have been sore after. That’s the trustworthy model of “consolation”… suspension doesn’t make tough floor disappear, it simply takes the sting off the sections that may in any other case depart you wrecked by mile 30.
I completed fifteenth total, first in my age group. First race ever!
Backside Line
I went into this with out a lot gravel racing expertise and 0 expertise with suspension forks. What the F132ONE gave me was management on tough terrain and effectivity on the flat sections, the place I might lock it out. For somebody nonetheless determining what gravel using is, it made a sophisticated course really feel manageable. The Litespeed Toscano FI is an attractive platform for it, mild, responsive, and well-suited to the sort of combined terrain that defines Colorado gravel racing.
The Litespeed Toscano check bike was supplied by DT Swiss and American Bicycle Group for this assessment. Bruce Lin from ABG additionally rode the Toscano at Desert Gravel. Try his piece for a extra skilled rider’s tackle the identical platform.
dtswiss.com
