Traka is Europe’s largest gravel race, often spoken of in the same breath as Unbound. The event offers racing from 100 km up to the mammoth 560 km event, with the 360 km taking centre stage as the marquee event. That race is around 25 miles (40 km) longer than Unbound 200.
This year, Canyon invited Escape along to try out some products. I can’t yet tell you all the juicy details about what was shown, which will come in the coming months. Instead, all I can share for now is what everyone else at the event could see – a new gravel fork.
This isn’t the first time this fork has been spotted in the wild, with Canyon athlete Freddy Ovett teasing the fork for the last few months on his Instagram page. This is, however, the first time I have got up close and personal with the fork. I can tell you that it isn’t the only interesting thing on this bike.
Both Canyon and DT Swiss had branding clearly positioned on the lower stanchions of the new suspension fork. To take a closer look, I got my hands on Rad Pack athlete Mate Nagy's bike after the Traka 200.
Is suspension coming to gravel racing?
This will be the question on the lips of everyone who looks at this bike.
Although Fox, RockShox and Cane Creek have long offered gravel-specific suspension forks, this corner of the market has been slow to gain speed. Suspension-equipped gravel bikes remain rare, typically seen at the adventure end of the spectrum. Although Cannondale has tried with the Topstone Lefty and Canyon with the Grizl Trail, neither bike got the masses excited about gravel suspension, and its appearance on race bikes remains as rare as rocking horse droppings.
With the unreleased fork being used at Traka and mounted to the Grail, all things point to Canyon and DT Swiss believing the next frontier of gravel performance lies in suspension.
While wider tyres and lower pressures improve comfort and traction, a suspension fork can offer performance benefits far beyond what rubber alone can achieve. Adding a damped active suspension provides more controlled travel, which can help in technical sections with line choice as well as reducing cumulative race fatigue.
There have always been two concerns with suspension forks in gravel racing. Firstly, there’s an unavoidable truth: a suspension fork is significantly heavier than a rigid carbon one.
RockShox's Rudy Ultimate XPLR weighs in at a claimed 1,250 grams, meaning you're adding almost a kilogram over a standard carbon fork. Racers are naturally hesitant to this one. The exact weight of this fork cannot be disclosed yet, but it is fair to assume it is in the same ballpark as the RockShox offering.
The other thorn in the gravel suspension fork's side is aerodynamics. No matter how you try and spin it, a round-tubed suspension fork is always going to come at an aero penalty compared to a conventional bladed carbon fork.
As races are being won at ever-increasing speeds, the aerodynamic impact of a suspension fork is seemingly too great for most athletes to use in gravel races. What this fork does have is a slender bottom section that appears longer than that found on the Rudy or the Fox 32 Taper Cast. It’ll still impact aero, but the fork’s chassis design looks to be an attempt to minimise the penalty.
What do we know, or more to the point, what can we say?
The suspension fork has a concealed inflation valve that sits under a hatch on the right-hand side of the crown (when looking at it from a rider's perspective). On the left side of the fork, something far more interesting is going on.
Like what you're reading? There's more below, but you'll have to be a member to read it. Escape Collective is 100% membership-funded, with no advertising and no affiliate links in our product coverage. Our work is only possible through your support. Need another reason to join? Our Member Purchase program offers discounts of 20% or more from participating brands like Velocio, Ritchey, Hunt Wheels and more (we get no revenue from your purchases; this is purely a member benefit).
Did we do a good job with this story?
