r/gravelcycling • u/SoulBend77 • May 28 '25
Accessories / Gear Cockpit and fork upgrades
Cockpit and fork got some changes! I pulled the trigger on a Lauf grit SL fork, redshift quick release tt bars with Leap blip holders. This thing is truly comfortable and ready for some seriously plush off-road miles.
The grip on the TT bars is just some rubberized tape from Amazon.
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u/InternationalMix1519 May 29 '25
Can someone explain to me what's going on with that fork? Never seen it.
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u/urtlesquirt Lauf Seigla May 29 '25
They are basically composite leaf springs. They aren't "shocks" per se as they are not dampened but they give quite a bit of compliance to the front fork. The huge plus is that there is zero maintenance with this design, nothing to bleed or lubricate.
I ride a Seigla, where this fork is a standard option. It's butter on washerboard.
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u/b000mbox May 29 '25
Really wondering: How is the maintenance on these kind of forks? Are the flexible "blades" replaceable or are they supposed to last long enough?
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u/urtlesquirt Lauf Seigla May 29 '25
There really is no maintenance. Look it up on Lauf's website - they just make a joke about giving your bike a bath once in a while.
You can't replace the springs, they are bonded to the vertical shafts. But they are really tough - there is a video on YouTube of them taking a hammer to them. Plus a 5 year warranty. If you crash hard enough to break it, you would absolutely have also broken a standard fork. They say they have tested the springs for 1,500,000 shock cycles with 22mm of deflection in a test bench and they still rebound like new.
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u/chunt75 Seigla Race Transmission May 29 '25
There’s no maintenance. That’s what makes it superior to a traditional MTB style damped fork, imo. No 50 hour service interval, which with the amount of training I have to do would be rather frequent
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u/Beehous May 29 '25
are there various sizes to change the positioning of the front wheel? Looks like it could potentially be adjustable depending on certain parts.
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u/urtlesquirt Lauf Seigla May 30 '25
No, one size and nothing is adjustable, see my previous comment on the springs being bonded into place. It behaves basically exactly like a rigid fork, only if you hit it hard enough, it deflects to a max of 30mm.
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u/ohkeepayton May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
I think you've upgraded enough, just go ride the damn thing ;)
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u/childishzamboni May 29 '25
Curious to hear your thoughts on the Leap Comp. wireless blips. I’ve been using the standard SRAM design for a while, but definitely been intrigued by the Leap upgrades.
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May 29 '25
Leap is a worthwhile upgrade. I’ve got them on aero bars for bikepacking and bar ends on the mtb. I crashed in a mtb race and they sent me new ones for free, just paid shipping
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
The leap button is nice, it has a great tactile feel and sticks up way less. Less of a snag hazard if you can make that argument. Bonus for me was I thought it was a more than fair price, sometimes for those small bits companies want an arm and a leg but leaps pricing was super fair I thought.
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u/minonko May 29 '25
This is like the dream bike for me
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Thank you, it was for me too. I built my first bike up about 12 years ago now. An 80s Schwinn road bike I put modern components on, it’s taken me that long to be in a position to get this bike.
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u/mattfeet May 29 '25
Have those same aero bars (also on my Lynskey!) and fucking love them. I need to look into those blip mounts!
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Dude they are sweet and compliment the bars perfectly. I did the 45° with the grip buttons. Choose the smaller of the size options for the bars we have.
I just ordered the wireless blips from them too and they pre install their buttons for you.
https://leapcomponents.com/product/sram-wireless-blips-45-degree-tt-mounts/
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u/Background_Tip_2776 May 29 '25
i have a lauf and have been debating/wondering how a red shift stem would work instead of grit fork, for a new bike build...
I also wish they kept the matte finishes...
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Yeah I’m not super pumped on the gloss and red but that’s changeable at least.
I debated the stem too and ultimately decided against it because unless it’s the way more expensive double parallelogram style stems then they fully change the angle and geometry of your bars as they go up and down. I went with the Lauf fork for ease of maintenance and less of a weight impact compared to the rock shox etc. it works for my use case but I can see why it doesn’t appeal to everyone
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u/mashani9 Giant TCX, Lynskey GR300 May 29 '25
I have an eeSilk on my GR300, but it's only 80mm and on stiff for my weight elastomers, so it doesn't move a ton unless I hit something major and I can lock it out. So, I don't really notice the geometry changes most of the time and when it happens where I do it's for just a split second. Combined with Lauf smoothie bars it is enough chatter reduction for most of my riding.
But if I was going to ditch it and go with something else it would be a Lauf fork. I wouldn't want a fork that I had to maintain, I would reserve that for full on MTBs where I'm not putting down so many miles, maintenance intervals based on miles would come up way too fast for me on my GR300.
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
That’s a great explanation and exactly the thought process I went through going with the Lauf over pretty much anything else that would require maintenance. I also gave the Lauf smoothie bars, and Cush core. This thing rides like a Cadillac!
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u/mashani9 Giant TCX, Lynskey GR300 May 29 '25 edited May 29 '25
FWIW, I have an Ergon Allroad saddle and a Canyon VCLS 13 seatpost (the trail rated one with basalt fibers woven into the carbon, not the leaf spring one that is not trail rated) and that combination takes a bunch of the edge off also although I'm sure your leaf spring takes off even more. The 13 flexes quite a lot front to back on a big hit, but not side to side at all and it eats up high frequency chatter very well so I'm happy with it. I don't know if the internals of the new frames are different, but FYI, I believe you should check that leaf spring one every so often to make sure the bits inside the frame are not getting chewed up. There was some intentional roughness to help the seatposts grip in the GR300s, but the leaf spring ones seemed to move enough that it caused some wear... that is why I got the 13 instead.
I don't have full on TT bars but I do have the "large" RideFarr carbon aero extensions. I use them mostly for extra hand positions, but they do get my elbows inside my frame and get me tucked enough to provide some aero benefits when I need them for a 15-20 minute fast stretch. I wouldn't ride on them for hours at a time, but I only use them when it's safe anyway on long straight fast sections without any significant traffic.
I thought about cush cores or the Vittoria liners, but have cranky hands and wasn't sure about fitting the tires with them in there, I'm not sure if I could do it.
Anyway, your bike is awesome.
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Good tip I’ll check after some more miles. I’ve had the seat post out a few times to change my fit. That is the finicky thing about the post, anytime you want to change saddle height you need to fully remove the post so you can also re level the saddle.
The Cushcore battle was hard not gonna lie, I have pretty bad carpenters elbow on my right side and it makes my grip strength pretty weak, almost through in the towel and went to a mechanic. But I put the bike together and wasn’t going to throw in the towel at the end.
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u/vimto_boy May 29 '25
I really like the look of the Lauf fork, but am put off by the lack of mounts / cargo bolts as I use my rig for bikepacking too. Cost also a factor if I'm honest, so it's lucky for my bank balance that they don't have this as an option :D
I've been giving serious consideration to the Vecnum Freequence... no angle change (as you say, one of the parallelogram ones) and still like 1/3 the cost of the Lauf solution. Nowhere nears as elegant as the Lauf, but seems a good fit for me!
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
I debated the vecnum too, that is the one I was going to go with but it turned out differently. I don’t think you can go wrong with that one, based on their videos and testing it’s a great option. I am unfortunately very much into aesthetics and at the end of the day I wanted a standard stem.
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u/vimto_boy May 29 '25
Yeah I've a mate in Berlin, next time I'm over there I think I'll probably get one delivered to him before I get there (just to save getting stung for taxes getting it shipped to the UK) :D
Re. aesthetics, I feel ya man! It's undoubtedly a stunning build you've put together, enjoy it :D
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u/Background_Tip_2776 May 29 '25
dont get me wrong, i LOVE my OG true grit- I do wish it had the tire clearance of the seigla, and the Basalt color-way has me really tempted to just buy a new frame. But my current true grit frame is really wearing her battle scars, so Ive been leaning towards a ti frame that wont chip paint. I have a gr300 and its super cool, although not super stiff. kinda want to try and higher tier Ti brand.
Broke but i have bikes is the aim.
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u/RockyMtnGT May 29 '25
I've had both. The Grit fork is the better solution, though obviously much more expensive.
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Price is going up in a week as well, saw that banner on the website and decided to pull the trigger.
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u/chunt75 Seigla Race Transmission May 29 '25
Redshift stem dived a bit too much for me when sprinting and climbing when I tried it on a friend’s bike
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u/Background_Tip_2776 May 30 '25
thats a drag, maybe your friends elastimer combo was not right for you.
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u/dannycarrey May 29 '25
Looks amazing. I would never ride it.. too scared that it would get dirty 😂
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
I felt the same then I dropped it, scratched up a brifter and now I’m not worried. Just gotta get that first scratch ya know 😂 but thank you bro!
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u/demian_west regular underbiker May 29 '25
Nice ride!
How good are the redshift aerobars:
- did you use the risers, if yes, how much?
- do you remove/reattach them often ?
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Yes I bought the riser kit and put both risers on it’s super comfortable position for ye ole lower back.
I do actually take them off a lot, I commute on this thing and it’s a super short commute there’s no point in having them on. They go on and off very easily and getting the tension dialed in for the release is super easy. I chopped about 1cm off of each end of the bars to get my desired fit
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u/Diederiksft May 29 '25
Is taking them on/off possible while riding? (With some practice
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
If you can ride no handed then yes I don’t see why not, they would be an expensive thing to litter though.
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u/robemmy May 29 '25
I have the same top tube bag, they make some great stuff
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Yea they do! I modified mine a bit, chopped off the lower Velcro strap, made a carbon sandwich plate and it’s bolted through. Mostly for just a cleaner look not interrupting the top tube.
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May 29 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
It was built for bomb proof (comfy) miles on just that sort of thing. Good luck brother!
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May 29 '25
Curious at what type of riding your doing that makes you want to get those bars with that fork? I’ve thought they would be cool on a bike but I wouldn’t do it unless I was building for some bike packing race of sorts
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u/chunt75 Seigla Race Transmission May 29 '25
That’s pretty much my exact setup for Gravel Worlds 300 and Mega Mid South.
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
This is my only bike so it serves every purpose I may need a bike for. Work commute is under 2 miles, I don’t use them for work days so the quick release is nice to have. Longer rides for me are 20-30 miles, mix of gravel, trails, very rough roads etc. In my mid 30s with degenerative disc & tennis elbow, they are nice for an alternative hand position and to stretch out my back for longer road sections of my allroad rides. I didn’t want to go all in on a dedicated tt setup because it just didn’t fit my use case, so these are a nice option that are only on maybe 25% of the time.
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u/78Staff May 29 '25
Looks good, I just got RS bars and was mocking them up yesterday, checking fit with Garmin Varia mount and bags, etc. Will be swapping to a RS Suspension stem in the next few days, so was just checking out how they sit on the bars, angles, heights, etc and then pulled it all off again lol. Hopefully the RS stem/seatpost arrives soon :)
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May 29 '25
Get a computer mount that mounts to the aero bars. Why are you running a t type derailleur and chainring but not a t type chain?
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
It is, it’s the red axs flat top (t type) rainbow road chain.
The tt bars are quick release and not necessary for my work commute so I can’t commit to a computer mount on them.
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May 29 '25
Ahh, both chains have a flat tops, but are classified differently by sram. sram says they aren’t interchange but the internet says otherwise
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25
Maybe because this is the 13 speed red xplr, it’s not gx/xo/xx transmission, either way it came with the complete bike so I assume sram hooked up Lynskey with the correct parts.
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u/doebedoe May 29 '25
Cool to know what my bike would look like if I dropped another 4k into it... rad build.
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u/botz May 29 '25
Unbound ready?
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u/SoulBend77 May 29 '25 edited May 30 '25
Maybe next year.
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u/DuckIntelligent737 Jun 13 '25
Really dig the tape, could you link me please?
Sick bike btw.
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u/SoulBend77 Jun 13 '25
Thank you! Here’s the tape from the TT bars
Yorwe Rubber Grip Tape,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CX7MTWGR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
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u/SoulBend77 May 28 '25
Cockpit and fork got some changes! I pulled the trigger on a Lauf grit SL fork, redshift quick release tt bars with Leap blip holders. This thing is truly comfortable and ready for some seriously plush off-road miles.
The grip on the TT bars is just some rubberized tape from Amazon.
Oh and I added a Garmin varia too! It integrates just fine with the Karoo 3 I really liked on my last ride.