{"id":66444,"date":"2025-08-14T13:12:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66444\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T13:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:12:12","slug":"drop-bar-mtbs-refuse-to-go-away-and-this-wild-frankenbuild-proves-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/66444\/","title":{"rendered":"Drop-bar MTBs refuse to go away \u2013 and this wild \u2018Frankenbuild\u2019 proves it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gravel bike evolution shows little sign of slowing \u2013 treading on the toes of mountain bikes with ever-wider tyres \u2013 and, running alongside that, riders continue to conduct their own experiments in the name of off-road speed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Keegan Swenson at Leadville, that resulted in this wild \u2018Frankenbuild\u2019 \u2013 not a gravel bike, but a drop-bar MTB that mashes together the best, as Swenson sees it, of both worlds: a Santa Cruz Blur with RockShox suspension, SRAM Transmission components, Maxxis Aspen 2.25in tyres, road pedals and SRAM Red shifters mounted to a drop handlebar. Oh, and aero fairings on the fork.<\/p>\n

The Leadville 100 has become the unofficial home of the drop-bar mountain bike<\/a>. The 100-mile race in the high mountains of Colorado\u2019s Rocky Mountains was first run in 1994 and has become one of the most important MTB marathon races on the calendar.<\/p>\n

The race starts in the town of Leadville at an altitude of more than 10,000ft and includes more than 12,000ft of elevation gain over the 100-mile route, reaching a peak of 12,600ft in Colorado\u2019s high mountains.<\/p>\n

As far as mountain bike courses go, Leadville\u2019s terrain is at the tamer end of the spectrum, and in recent years, riders have used that as an opportunity to experiment with go-fast setups specifically designed to tackle a 100-mile mountain bike race. <\/p>\n

In Swenson’s case for last weekend’s race, that meant combining comfort and control through the Blur, with the aero advantage and handling characteristics of a drop handlebar.<\/p>\n

More of the latest gravel tech<\/p>\n

\"RockShoxYep, that’s right \u2013 a full-suspension mountain bike frame and a drop handlebar. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

Having ridden a drop-bar-equipped Santa Cruz Highball hardtail to victory last year, this year Swenson opted for the full-suspension Blur<\/a>, the US brand\u2019s lightweight XC platform.<\/p>\n

\"StemThe Blur is Santa Cruz’s lightweight XC platform. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

The size-medium frame was paired with a RockShox SID Ultimate SL fork with 100mm of suspension travel, dialled for the \u201crelatively smooth course\u201d, and a SID shock.<\/p>\n

Both were equipped with RockShox Flight Attendant, a system which automatically adjusts the suspension settings as you ride, launched back in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"KeeganAre fork fairings the future of go-fast off-road racing? Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

Most interesting, though, are the fairings attached to the rear of the fork \u2013 is this the latest development in off-road aero marginal gains? <\/p>\n

The fairings feature RockShox\u2019s Black Box branding \u2013 Black Box is the company\u2019s research and development unit, responsible for prototyping components that often make it into production.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisA 60mm, negative rise stem dials in the front-end. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

In terms of drivetrain components, Swenson\u2019s Frankenbuild featured a 40t SRAM XX chainring, with a OneUP chain guide, paired with a direct-mount SRAM XX Eagle Transmission rear derailleur and 10-52t cassette for the high-altitude race.<\/p>\n

\"DerailleurA 10-52t cassette for the high mountains of Colorado. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

The drivetrain used a chain treated with two Silca SpeedChips, Silca\u2019s race-day wax additive. It\u2019s designed, Silca says, to be used with a hot wax to improve drivetrain efficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cockpit combined an aero-profile drop handlebar with a stubby 60mm, negative rise stem, to position the bar in a lower, aero position. SRAM Red AXS road shifters kept the gears moving for 100 miles. <\/p>\n

\"MaxxisThe wheels combine gravel rims with MTB hubs. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

Before the race, Swenson described the rolling stock as \u201cspecial Leadville-edition wheels\u201d, combining Reserve GR25 rims with DT Swiss 180 mountain bike hubs. \u201cA little lighter, a little faster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Those wheels were wrapped in 170tpi Maxxis Aspen ST 2.25in tyres with Tannus foam inserts to \u201cprovide a little extra protection to run a lower pressure, for good traction,\u201d according to Swenson.<\/p>\n

\"MaxxisThe Aspen ST is Maxxis’ low-profile XC tyre. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

The Aspen ST is an ultra-low-profile XC tyre from Maxxis. The brand says it\u2019s primarily designed for short-track XC racing, but clearly it\u2019s more than capable over 100 miles of racing at Leadville, too.<\/p>\n

\"SRAMRoad pedals for an MTB race? You bet. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

Finishing touches included a set of Look Keo Blade Carbon road pedals \u2013 \u201ca little lighter, a little more aerodynamic,\u201d Swenson said \u2013 and a carbon rigid seatpost, \u201cbecause it\u2019s Leadville and you don\u2019t need a dropper.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was also a Hammerhead Karoo 3 bike computer<\/a> to capture Swenson’s ride data. \u201cI rely pretty heavily on that at Leadville, because the pacing is important,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"HammerheadA Hammerhead Karoo 3 for the all-important ride data. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n

As for Swenson\u2019s closing comments on the bike, pre-race he described it as \u201cready to go fast\u201d and, with one of the biggest names in the US off-road scene aboard, that proved to be the case, with Swenson winning the Leadville 100 for the fifth year in a row.<\/p>\n

\"KeeganSwenson went on to win Leadville for the fifth year running aboard the bike. Santa Cruz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gravel bike evolution shows little sign of slowing \u2013 treading on the toes of mountain bikes with ever-wider…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-66444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}