I’m not going to dwell here on the phenomenon of gravel, but there is a certain and obvious fascination in being able to roll on roads and similar without destroying a road bike or being conditioned to MTB speeds and positions. No cars, in the middle of the field. Closer to cyclo-cross than anything. Yep, yes.
Although this experience attracted me, this is not the time for another bike and I was looking for solutions that didn’t require major changes and could fit into my current situation – recovering from an operation and on the way to Basajaun. Firstly because I had never done a multi-day off-road event (except Madrid-Lisbon 2017, this one in a relay of 3) and it certainly offers a lot more fight and is done autonomy. Afterwards, above all, because the shoulder was miserable, still with a very greenish recovery as I saw 15 days earlier at Ironman Vitoria.
Most of the solutions I found had a drop bar, yes ma’am, but they required you to buy new brake and gear controls. Hmmm… what else is there?
And it was precisely by escaping the mainstream that I found Surly Corner Bar.
The Egg of Columbo is precisely in the positioning of the bar segments, which end up leaving 22.2 mm “horns” that are a universal measurement for MTB controls. In other words, they allow you to reuse commands, in this case, with some compromises that we will see in a moment.
It’s well thought out, comes in 3 sizes (widths): 46, 50 and 54 cm and effortlessly accommodates a handlebar bag – making it ideal for bikepacking. Heavy, in CrMo, and has a drop of 95.2 mm and a flare of 41.4º.
I watched the videos, read the reviews, and started to imagine the terrible thing I could be doing to my beautiful Lux. The shoulder told me to forget about it and play on.
Innovation led to what ended up being this authentic UFO and also dictated that it was sold out everywhere. And “everywhere” also means in the USA.
After calling more than 10 stores/distributors (the LBS websites are what they are), I ended up persisting and finding Topanga Creek Outpost, near LA.
I called and when I asked them to send it to Portugal or to an address in the USA, they told me that if they were willing to do so, they had already sold 100 and I would certainly not be the first on the list. I massacred them to reserve the one they had, there was going to be a special event and the logistics were set up there with the precious help of my friend Nelson Gama who lives in the vicinity and did the enormous favor of going to the store in person.
As soon as he came in and said he was from Portugal, they told him “your friend must really want this” 🙂
Setting up the bar was pretty straightforward:
However, the rear brake had to be fitted with a longer hose and the existing one was really at the length limit. Due to time pressure and a indescribeable episode while switching the breaks (it involves a pool of brake oil on the floor) I got very very maneuvering time for the ensuing art. I’d leave for Spain the next morning! No pressure.
Still, after all, it wasn’t so bad looking at all.
The base hand position is, in my personal taste, fantastic. Grip at ~45º, more comfortable than both the hoods position on the road and the flat bar position. Being able to combine stability when descending on more aggressive terrain with a lot of rocks, grip options with very different angles and the ability to get into a tuck position and roll with all your might at every moment… wow!
It changed the life of my Lux, who became, as João Manuel Pinto called her, my Monster Gravel 🙂
You can read more about this in Basajaun’s report, but I can say that I’m a fan of full suspension (with lock) for this very different type of race.
Questions or more information? Reach out!
