Full transcript
0:00Pikes Peak Apex Gravel was a spectacular
0:03place to test the new Ventum GS1 with
0:05the new Shramm Rival Axis Explorer. With
0:09more than 11,000 ft of climbing at
0:11elevation over 135 mi, it was a
0:14challenging and beautiful course. In
0:16this video, I want to share my
0:17experience with both the bike and the
0:19new group set. things I like, including
0:21the feel of the levers, which are
0:23virtually identical to the top end red
0:2613-speed in terms of how they feel in
0:28hand and how the braking feels both on
0:30the tops and in the drops. Talk about
0:33some issues I had like my heel
0:37hitting both the chain stay and then
0:39even the derailer on the short chain
0:42stays. Got new tire clearance of 50 mil.
0:45and I'll tell you what I can about some
0:47other bits like these new Apador bags.
0:50Please take a second to subscribe. That
0:51helps me out. Now, sit back and enjoy
0:53the ride at Pikes Peak Apex Gravel. How
0:57chill is Apex? So chill that there's a
0:59baby bear chilling here at the start.
1:03Even Dave told us chill. And Dave told
1:04us never chill.
1:07[Music]
1:29Quick interjection here. The rest of
1:31this video was filmed back in June on a
1:32pre-production bike from Ventum that had
1:35a slightly out of alignment rear
1:36triangle. Ventum sent me another bike,
1:38another GS1 production bike with the
1:41ShraMM Force Explorer Group. There still
1:45experienced the same issues. Occasional
1:47heel strike on the chain stay when
1:49pedaling and the bottom of the shoe
1:52touching the derailer when coasting with
1:54the cranks flat and my right foot back
1:56when the chain is in the five smallest
1:58cogs. The chain stay strikes are not
2:01that big a deal and I and others have
2:02certainly got that on other bikes like
2:04the Mandreaker Erid or the new Serella
2:06Esparero 5 for instance. The derailer
2:09contact though is more concerning. The
2:11GS1's chain stays are relatively short
2:14at 420 but still within ShraMM's
2:16specified parameters of a 415 minimum
2:19chain stay length. I asked Ram about
2:21this and they said, "Hey, we test with a
2:23size 14 Enduro shoe and when pedaling
2:26with that big mountain bike shoe,
2:28there's no contact with the derailer."
2:30Okay, fine. My heel doesn't hit the
2:32derailer either when pedaling because of
2:34the natural pedal stroke when your heel
2:35comes up. But on rough descents, I often
2:38coast with my cranks horizontal. And in
2:40this configuration, my size 45 shoe can
2:44hit the derailer when the chain is in
2:46the five smallest cogs. And I can't be
2:48the only one. I put this out there as a
2:50humble request for ShraMM to reconsider
2:53its minimum chain length spec of 415 mm.
2:57Just want to clarify all that before we
2:58dive back into the original video which
3:00was filmed back in June after the Apex
3:03in Colorado Springs. Since then, I've
3:06been riding the Force GS1 bike quite a
3:09bit. I'm actually taking that to Gravel
3:10Worlds in Nebraska here this weekend.
3:12So, you can watch for a video on that
3:13bike and that group and some head still
3:16water wheels I have on that. Now, back
3:18to the original review of the Ventum GS1
3:20with the Shramm Rival Explore Axis.
3:24Let's start with the group. Rival
3:27Explore Axis is 13-speed. It's basically
3:30a cheaper, heavier version of the red
3:33Explore Axis that came out last year.
3:35I'll put links to my video on that down
3:38below. I'll also put a link to the video
3:41where we go into detail with both Rival
3:44and Force 13 Speed Explorer. But just
3:47want to give you my riding experience
3:49with this one. Starting up top, I love
3:52how these levers feel. They're they're
3:56plenty of room for all four fingers or
3:58three and one finger in front. The
4:03texture it seems to hit a sweet spot of
4:06having enough grip that riding without
4:08gloves, even in the rain or with sweaty
4:10hands, feels secure, uh but isn't, you
4:13know, like overly shaped. Some people
4:16find the GRX hoods a little bit too
4:19riged, but I like how these things feel
4:22in hand. And that's a big part of
4:24groups, right? There's functionality,
4:26how it breaks and how it shifts, but
4:29most of us spend all of our time with
4:32our hands on the hood. So, how it feels
4:33in hand matters. At Unbound Gravel, I
4:36rode the new TRP classified Vistar Group
4:38and noticed that the hood covers there
4:40were a bit slick on the bottom. not a
4:42big deal, but you know, you don't want
4:44your to feel like your fingers are going
4:46to slide off when you're riding a bike.
4:49Uh, so compared to that, love how these
4:51things feel, but mo mostly it's just
4:53that, you know, the overall shape fits
4:55my hands very nicely. The GRX are a bit
5:00thicker. The Shimano GRX Di2 are a bit
5:02thicker both here and then this space
5:05here. A few of Shimano's female athletes
5:09were running road shifters at Unbound
5:11Gravel, you know, in part because
5:12they've got a a smaller shape here. I
5:15love how these things feel in hand.
5:18Functionality aside, when you look at
5:20functionality, also super positive.
5:22Stram has,
5:25you know, they started off with not
5:27making the best brakes,
5:29especially on on the road side, right?
5:32Um with rim brakes. Coming to disc
5:34brakes adds more power of course. Uh and
5:37this design starting with the red
5:39explorer was a huge leap forward in
5:42terms of power and modulation especially
5:45when riding
5:47on the tops. So the power up here uh is
5:51noticeably better. You know often we'll
5:54see small incremental progress. The
5:57engineers say it's you know an 8%
5:59increase or a 6% increase. like the GS1
6:02is like 8% stiffer head tube or
6:06something like that. I'm like, okay, I I
6:07believe that, but I can't really feel
6:09that. But making a big leap forward, you
6:11can feel that.
6:13Riding in the drops, the single finger
6:16braking at apex where we descended, you
6:19know, 11,000 ft and most of that was in
6:22two big descents, right? One was like
6:255,000 ft down went for a while. Just
6:29being able to use a single finger for
6:33very powerful and easy to modulate
6:35braking was a pleasure. So that I was
6:38happy to see that performance carried
6:40over from the top end and much more
6:43expensive and slightly lighter red
6:46explore axis to this group. I've got
6:50weights here. Uh the
6:54total group and it depends on your chain
6:56rank and other configurations but rival
6:59group is roughly 2900 g. The force group
7:03which is the second tier is 2700 g
7:06roughly and the top end red is 2500 g.
7:11So
7:12as you see often with trickle down
7:14groups you know it's less money and a
7:18little bit more weight. There are a few
7:20functional differences.
7:22Rival does not have the thumb buttons,
7:25which I appreciate on the the Force and
7:28Red groups. I use those to drive the
7:31computer, whether that's a Garmin or a
7:32Wahoo or a Hammerhead, just to toggle
7:34through the screens and I think it's
7:36good when riding gravel and you're
7:39bouncing around to keep your hands on
7:40the levers. So, being able to hit those
7:42buttons uh to control the computer, I
7:44like you can configure those to shift,
7:46but I feel like if I've got my hands
7:48here, I can shift easily with the
7:50shifters, but you don't get those
7:53buttons with the rival levers. Also, you
7:56don't get the pad contact adjust, you
8:00know, which is a a small adjustment. How
8:03close the pads sit to the rotor, you
8:05can't adjust that. You do have the reach
8:07adjust here, which is, you know,
8:12you can bring the levers closer to the
8:14bars. I'm running these wide open, and
8:16with the zip bar, there's I feel like
8:20there's plenty of uh room there, but
8:23reach adjust you still have. And then
8:25lastly, you don't get the easier
8:28higherend uh bleeding edge
8:32setup for the calipers. So the bleed
8:35process for the rival calipers is a
8:38little more old school and slightly more
8:40timeconuming cuz it threads in. At the
8:43cranks you their metal cranks with this
8:45cool little window. You can have a power
8:47meter option. I don't have one here. Uh
8:49the left side spindle which introduced
8:52recently which I found in my testing on
8:54another bike to be very good within
8:55within like one or two watts on average
8:58with these uh fava oamo pedals which I
9:00like quite a bit.
9:02You don't get the spider option like you
9:05do on the first year red. And the metal
9:09of course adds a bit of weight, but
9:12functionally it's still very similar. As
9:15I mentioned, you know, the ergonomics
9:16and the braking, the leverage, the
9:19power, all that are identical up here.
9:22And you just got slightly heavier
9:24configuration in the back, whether
9:25that's the cassette, you know, or the
9:29derailer itself. But a big chunk of the
9:31weight is just the cranks. As with the
9:34other groups, you've got a 13-speed
9:36cassette, 1046. You can have any
9:38cassette you like as long as it's this
9:40one. And then you adjust the gearing
9:43which is right for you with your chain
9:45ring and critically the chain. We'll get
9:47to that.
9:49Let's talk about gearing in the context
9:51of Pikes Peak Apex Gravel, which again
9:54had 11,000 ft of climbing. We climbed up
9:57over 10,000 ft of elevation into the
9:59thin air and then descended down. One by
10:03is a tricky thing. Like it looks good,
10:05right? And it also gives you clearance
10:07for bigger tires, but it's hard to have
10:10both enough gearing on the low end and
10:13the high end and small steps in between.
10:17When Stram rolled out the Explore Access
10:19with Red, I found it was the best yet
10:21for hitting all those things. And with a
10:2410 46, you know, I've got a 42 on here
10:27and I feel that to be pretty good for
10:29both climbing up steep stuff like we
10:31were getting certainly well into the
10:33double digits uh of climbing gradients
10:37at Pikes Peak and then a 4210. You can
10:40certainly spin it out um on, you know,
10:44extended paved descents, but I feel like
10:484210 is reasonable. like a 44 might be a
10:51little bit better. But with 13 speed,
10:54you can still have what feels to me is
10:56nice small steps in between. You can
10:59also run this group like you can any of
11:01the other um Explore Axis groups with an
11:05Eagle, the mountain bike trailer. So,
11:07you can run a 1052. So, that gives you
11:10more range of course, but then bigger
11:11jumps. And that's also a 12speed. Long
11:13story short, I found 1046 with the 42 to
11:16be adequate for a big day of climbing
11:19and descending. Most of the descending
11:21was just coasting though, right? Which
11:24leads to some of the issues back here.
11:27Let's talk about the frame and the group
11:30and the key
11:32uh adjustment of the chain. So, Venom
11:35GS1 is a refinement from the bike that
11:39the brand has had for a while. They did
11:40a couple things. They got rid of the
11:41flip chip up front. used to be able to
11:43change your fork rake. They found that
11:45no one was messing with that. So, they
11:47eliminated that. They stiffened it up
11:49here and here and said they added a bit
11:51of compliance here. So, so the bike
11:53industry's age-old song of laterally
11:56stiff yet vertically compliant. Find
11:58that here. And it is a pretty comfy
12:00bike. I found, you know, the physique
12:02Argo saddle pretty tried and true
12:03option. And then the new 50 mil Goodyear
12:07Explore inter tires, which come with the
12:11Zip 33 Explore S to be nice and comfy. I
12:16ran these at like 24, 26 PSI, something
12:19like this.
12:22In addition to those, Ventum added some
12:24tire clearance. They say it takes a 50
12:26in the rear and a 2.2 up front. The 50
12:30though, I found to be limited. Like,
12:32yes, this is a 50 mil tire. This is the
12:34Goodyear Explore Enter, new in 50 mil on
12:38the Zip 33 Explore S wheels, which have
12:41a super wide 32 mil internal. But when I
12:45was building this up, I was looking at
12:47like that's there's not a lot of room in
12:48there. So, for instance, we've got a
12:522.5 mil
12:55and that
12:59sticks on that side. Right. The
13:03standard, depending on who you ask, like
13:05so many things in the bike industry, is
13:06at least 4 mil of clearance on either
13:09side for road bikes and 6 mil on either
13:12side for mountain bikes. So most brands
13:14will go at least four for gravel. And
13:17then what we got?
13:21So on this side there's
13:24certainly four, maybe even five.
13:30So, it seems that
13:33the wheel is just offset a little or the
13:37frame is a little offset allowing too
13:39little clearance on the right side. I'll
13:41put in another wheel just to see if it's
13:44the frame and and not the wheel. But the
13:47net result for this bike as came out of
13:50the box was that there was not a whole
13:53lot of clearance here. And I was worried
13:54about that rubbing and it was certainly
13:56rubbing in the race on the few bits
13:58where we're going through a little bit
13:59of mud. When I clean this up, we'll see
14:01what sort of scarring we have in there
14:05or not. Also had clearance issues on the
14:08outside. My heel, as you can see here,
14:10was hitting the chain stay.
14:13Had a similar issue on the Mandreaker
14:16Arid as the chain stay sort of kicked
14:19out towards the back.
14:21That's obviously a width thing, but some
14:24of it is a length thing. Ventum is proud
14:27that it's keeping really short 420 chain
14:29stays, which they say provides a a
14:32snappier, more agile feel, but the
14:35tighter the spaces, you know, the
14:37trickier it gets, right? You know,
14:38they've got the dropped stays to allow
14:40for tire clearance and ring clearance,
14:44but back here, I was not having enough
14:46heel clearance. Another disconcerting
14:48thing, in addition to hitting my heel on
14:50the stay, I was hitting the bottom of
14:51the shoe on the derailer
14:55when the chain was down in the tin. That
14:58was not while pedaling, you know, when
15:00pedaling.
15:02There go the things when pedaling, you
15:05know, I'll pull my foot up like that's a
15:08normal pedal stroke, right?
15:10So that was not when I was contacting
15:13the trailer, but because there was so
15:15much descending and much of it rough,
15:16you know, when I'd be putting my weight
15:18back,
15:20that's when I noticed my foot was
15:22hitting the derailer. That was a new
15:24thing. I had not experienced that with
15:25the red axis. So took the bike apart and
15:29eyeballed this versus the red demo bike
15:32I have from Shramm here and found the
15:34angle of the derailer to be different.
15:36But upon closer inspection, the chain
15:39was too short. This is a 116 link, and
15:42Stram very carefully specifies how many
15:45links you should have based on your
15:46chain ring size and your chain stay
15:49length. This is a 116, it should be 118.
15:52Notable for this derailer, there are no
15:55adjustment screws, right? Because it
15:57sits in a fixed position on the frame,
16:00that means you don't have to adjust the
16:02high or low or the B tension. So, that
16:07adjustment is done with the chain, and
16:09that determines the angle of the
16:11derailer. So, now I'm going to clean
16:13this up, take this chain off, put on a
16:15118, and see if that fixes the clearance
16:18issue.
16:19Before I do that, let's talk spec and
16:22pricing. Venom GS1 comes in everything
16:25from the topend red Explore Axis, which
16:27is 8600, to the Force Explorer Axis
16:316600, Shimano GRXDI2 6800. All three of
16:35those have an integrated cockpit. Then
16:38this rival build is a dollar under five
16:40grand. So $49.99
16:43US for this bike. I love the look of
16:48integrated cockpits, but if they don't
16:49fit, it's a pain and it can be
16:51expensive. So just having a simple old
16:54school separate bar and stem allows you
16:57to very easily adjust the height and if
16:59need be, put on a different stem. Ventum
17:02does allow you to specify the
17:05configurations when buying their
17:06consumer direct. So that's that's a
17:08positive, right? But sometimes even my
17:11friends who have been riding bikes for a
17:12long time think they have their numbers,
17:15specify the numbers, get the bike in,
17:17they're like, "Oh, this doesn't fit."
17:18And now I'm stuck if I have an
17:19integrated thing. So
17:23this doesn't look as cool, but it is
17:26quite functional. And just simple things
17:28like being able to adjust the the angle
17:30is just a matter of spinning a few
17:32bolts. Another thing on the wheels, Zip
17:35has two versions of this 303 Explore.
17:37The SW, which is the top end, and the S.
17:42As with the groups, there's a weight
17:44story and a price story. Also, one thing
17:46I noticed is the engagement on this is
17:50slower. And
17:52when riding
17:54on some potholed bombed out roads,
17:58it seemed like the chain would go slack
18:00and then regain
18:02that
18:04noise uh more often uh than a wheel with
18:09quicker engagement. Often engagement for
18:12me on gravel mic, I don't care. I'm not
18:14trying to pick my way through rock
18:15gardens, so it doesn't matter that much.
18:17But that
18:20bumpy pedaling situation at Pikes Peak
18:23Apex was something where I was like, you
18:25know, quicker engagement would probably
18:27allow for less
18:30play uh in the chain. So, small thing,
18:33but a thing. Look at prices here.
18:38These guys are, you know, roughly 1,500
18:42bucks for a set that weighs roughly
18:461,600 gram. And the top end Explorer S
18:49are 2,200 bucks and they weigh just
18:52under 1,500 g.
18:55Apador bags not yet out. Their PR rep
18:59handed me this set at Unbound Gravel. I
19:02like the fact that they are spelt, not
19:04so much for aerodynamics. I'm sure that
19:06can be measured, but just because it
19:07doesn't rub on my legs, at least these
19:10guys. This one up here hit me a bit when
19:13I was kind of flailing around with the
19:15bike. There's not a zipper. It's just
19:20a little clasp uh clamshell style.
19:25And the zipper is firm, but is easy
19:29enough to use one-handed. So now I'm
19:31going to clean this thing up, pop on a
19:34chain of the correct length, and see if
19:35that fixes
19:39that issue.
19:44[Applause]
19:56Got some scratches. You can hear it. If
19:58you can't see it, you can hear it.
20:00This side we're good.
20:03[Music]
20:06That's still part of my Shimano shoe
20:09living on the chain stay.
20:12Okay, now we're cleaned up. Going to put
20:14on a 116 link chain instead of this 118.
20:17See if that helps with clearance.
20:19Briefly, I just want to show you the
20:21difference in angle of the main part of
20:23the derailer. And a random measurement.
20:25This isn't a shramm measurement. This is
20:26a delane one. looking at the far forward
20:29piece of the derailer to the center of
20:31the BB is like less than 34 cm and
20:37that's with a 420 chain stay. So, let's
20:39look at another bike I've got here.
20:43Krux has got a slightly longer chain
20:46stay 425. So, not that much longer but
20:48with the appropriate size chain. You can
20:50see the angle is a bit steeper. And
20:53let's see what this is as far as
20:57this is like
21:0235 and a half or so. So,
21:07we're talking small differences, but
21:11hopefully that's enough to get my size
21:1345 shoe clear of hitting the derailer.
21:16Let's swap chains and see how it looks.
21:18It's always a good idea to do this in
21:20the grass, right? So when you drop a
21:21chain link, you can fill your afternoon
21:24spending time looking for said chain
21:25link.
21:28Seriously though, I do appreciate having
21:31these nice silk wax chains
21:35because they're easy to clean and you
21:37just don't end up with greasy paws.
21:41[Applause]
21:44So off with that guy, we'll put on the
21:45116.
21:51Now we need to adjust this. Hold,
21:53please. To set the Explorer derailer,
21:56you put the chain in the center. There's
21:58a little red indicator as to where to
21:59put the chain. Slightly loosen the wheel
22:02axle. Slightly loosen this big bolt,
22:05which cranks down to 35 Nmters when it's
22:07tight. And then put the adjustment pin
22:11on the adjustment setting down here. And
22:13you've got two settings for this. You've
22:15got the
22:17take the wheel out sitting which is
22:18there and then there's another one which
22:21is
22:23there not all the way closed which is
22:26like that right okay so put that in and
22:29then pull this
22:33until the chain is taut and then we
22:35tighten this sucker down
22:43to 35 five and then
22:47a wheel axle.
22:51Now, let me go get my shoe for the
22:52moment of truth.
22:59Okay, so again, when pedaling, I had no
23:01issue before because, you know, the heel
23:03comes up as part of the natural pedaling
23:05movement, right? But it was just when
23:07coasting, it was just when coasting
23:09downhill, when I was putting my weight
23:11back that I would be hitting that and
23:15here,
23:17still
23:24tapping it a bit. Compare that to a 425
23:29chain stay, you know, just half a
23:31centimeter. And I don't get that with
23:33these same size shoes with the same Q
23:36factor. So my takeaway is that just a
23:38little bit longer of a chain stay would
23:40make for a whole lot more clearance. So
23:42Ventum, this GS1 looks good, but just
23:45back that ass up.
23:48On whole, I like how this bike handles.
23:50I like the previous one. Having 50 mil
23:53clearance and 2.2 up front is a good
23:56thing. That's the way everything's going
23:57for the Stram Rival Access Explore
24:01Group. I'm impressed. I like it. It's a
24:04little heavier. It's a whole lot cheaper
24:06and most of the functionality, including
24:08critically the braking, is pretty darn
24:11identical to the top end red group. So,
24:13that's my take on this bike and this
24:15group. Got any questions? Leave them
24:17below. I'll do my best to answer them.
24:19As always, appreciate you watching. I
24:21appreciate you subscribing. And however
24:23you want to configure your bike, however
24:24much clearance you need or don't need,
24:26just get out there and enjoy the ride.
24:37[Music]
24:46Heat.
24:55Hey, Heat.