Sweet tech from Big Sugar

Big Sugar Classic marks the last event of the year in the Lifetime Grand Prix series of events. Taking place in Bentonville, Arkansas, Big Sugar is one of the premier gravel events that sits amongst Unbound and SBT events attracting pros and budding amateurs alike.

Alex Paton has been lucky enough to head out to the event, and as ever he has his eagle eye out looking for some of the hottest tech he can find.

• Read more: Big Sugar Classic Preview: Niewiadoma and Swenson headline final major gravel race of 2023

Not only is Big Sugar a gravel race, it is also home to its own bike expo, showcasing the best, newest and weirdest tech that you can get your hands on. Here we take a look at some of the sweetest tech the show had to offer.

Hed Jet 180 gravel wheels

These wheels seemingly go against everything the spirit of gravel stands for. However although look like something fresh out of a triathlon they are actually based on the Emporia gravel wheels. This means that they have a 25mm internal rim width and will accept wide gravel tyres.

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These wheels are in fact for gravel riding even if they do look more suited to a triathlon

Obviously the most eye-catching feature of these wheels are just how deep the rim profile extends. This clearly shows that the intention of these wheels is speed, ideally suited to faster less technical gravel races where speeds are higher and efficiency really matters.

What is really interesting about these wheels is that even with the additional carbon, they weigh in at a little bit less than the road version. This is due to the full carbon construction of these wheels, whereas the road version is manufactured with an aluminium rim. Does this mark the start of a new wave of aero gravel tech?

Coloured tyres

Panaracer are certainly not afraid of splitting opinion with their new range of coloured gravel tyres. The brand releases two different coloured tyres every year with this year being blue and orange. Although not a trend that is likely to see a resurgence on the road, coloured tyres within the gravel community are more widely adopted.

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Would you be brave enough to fit a pair of these to your bike?

It certainly makes Panaracer tyres stick out from the crowd even at an event like Big Sugar, an event that is typically regarded as tough on tyres. Would you be brave enough to run a set of coloured tyres on your gravel bike?

Moots e-bike

We covered the news of the Moots Express when it first launched earlier in the year, as it marked not only Moots first foray into e-bikes but also its separation from titanium, with the frame being made exclusively from carbon fibre.

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Moots have broken away from the USP of titanium frames for this, the Express e-gravel bike

Moots claim that due to the nature of an e-bike, using titanium was simply not the right material for the task at hand. Carbon fibre is far more mouldable and can be manufactured in profiles that titanium cannot. When you look closely at the intricacies of an e-bike it makes sense, with the motor and battery interface requiring complex shapes for the mounting hardware.

• Read more: No titanium here: Moots launches gravel e-bike with a carbon fibre frame

OBED GVR

American brand OBED are not that well known, especially across the pond. However, the direct to consumer brand have created the GVR gravel bike aimed at gravel racing.

Not only is the bike claimed to be fast, with tailored compliance, but it is also customisable as the direct to consumer model allows for the customer to configure each component to their exact specifications.

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How stunning is the paint job on this bike!

On top of all of that, they offer the bike in this stunning ‘prism’ colourway that will certainly have heads turning.

Litespeed Toscano Fi

The brand states that this bike is their flagship, high performance gravel bike constructed out of titanium. The construction method used is an interesting one as typically titanium bikes are made using preformed tubes that are then welded together.

For the Tuscano Fi, Litespeed have flipped the script and have formed the top tube out of a sheet of titanium that has then been welded along the length of the seam. This has allowed the brand to create an uncharacteristic profile for a titanium tube.

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The Toscano ventures away from typical titanium manufacturing techniques

The reason behind this extends beyond aesthetics with the brand stating that this process allows a thinner wall thickness to be used, as well as allowing the width of the tube to be wider at the junction with the seat post. This extra width at the seat post allows the seat stays to join directly with the top tube giving the rear triangle even more tyre clearance.

Fabric spokes

Berd were displaying their fabric spokes at the expo which Alex managed to get a closer look at. The spokes are incredibly light and offer a great alternative to traditional lightweight spokes when building custom wheels. Not only are the spokes light, they are also reported to add a dampening quality that traditional spokes cannot. This helps to eliminate both road buzz and hand fatigue experienced by the rider.

A testament to the light weight properties of the spokes, Alex compared the weights of a pack of 64 metal spokes with 64 fabric spokes. The result was 516 grams for the metal ones and 170 grams for the fabric ones.

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Berd make these fabric spokes that are three times lighter than a traditional metal spoke

BMC gravel bike

Rounding off the tech that Alex got his hands on is the new URS or ‘Unrestricted’ bike from BMC. The URS is the more aggressive gravel offering from the brand with the Kaius sitting as their more race focused bike.

• Read more: Larry Warbasse’s BMC Kaius 01

For more aggressive gravel riding, compliance, comfort and dampening are all attributes that will make for a faster bike. One way that BMC have approached these design needs is to incorporate 20mm of suspension in between the fork and the head tube.

The unit has the ability for three different weight springs to be fitted in order to customise the ride characteristics depending on your weight and course conditions.

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A 20mm suspension unit in the steerer offers compliance and added grip on more aggressive gravel

At the back of the bike there is a softail design similar to what we have seen in the past with the two stroke cross country bike. This allows for up to 10mm of rear wheel travel through the use of a thermo-neutral elastomer that retains the same performance characteristics regardless of temperature.

Until now, this had always been the downfall of using elastomers to offer dampening as they world firm up in the cold and go really soft in the heat.

Let us know what your favourite piece of hot tech is in the comments below along with any that you think aren't that hot at all.

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