Felt Un1ted rider Dylan Johnson placed 10th at this year's Unbound gravel race, finishing in a chase group that was 5 minutes behind winner Lachlan Morton.
For the 200-mile event, largely regarded as the most important gravel race in the world, Johnson used an unusually specced Felt Breed, with a 35cm-wide bar, 2.2in mountain bike tyres, deep aero wheels and a Lauf suspension fork.
We were on Kansas soil to photograph the bike and hear the thought process behind it.
Let’s take a closer look.
Long, low and leaf-sprung
Unlike some riders, Johnson has paid a small and aero weight penalty to include a gravel suspension fork on his Felt Breed.
The 850g Lauf Grit SL fork offers 30mm of travel, reducing buzz from the ground below.
Suspension articulation is provided by Lauf’s S2 glass fibre springs. Unlike air springs, they don’t require a damper to control rebound due to the short travel of the fork.
Johnson is rocking a seriously long 140mm ENVE stem, putting him in an incredibly aggressive riding position.
The Felt Un1ted rider uses a 350mm ENVE Aero In-Route bar to reduce his frontal profile. He says that, before the event, he took the bike into a wind tunnel to find the most aero position possible.
Only the drops see any bar tape, with two strips of Cat Tongue tape used on the top of the handlebar to provide grip and vibration damping to the carbon finish.
Wide rubber
We’ve seen gravel tyre widths increasing over the past few years, with many riders using 45 or 50mm tyres. Johnson pushed things even further, running 2.2in Continental Race King mountain bike tyres at Unbound.
This is a lot wider than the 50mm clearance Felt recommends, with the tyres running very close to the seatstays.
The tyres are wrapped around Reynolds Blacklabel 60 Expert wheels. The 21mm-wide (internal) rims are 60mm deep, making for an imposing combination.
Mix ’n’ match drivetrain
Johnson has cherry-picked components from Shimano and SRAM for his drivetrain.
Shimano’s 11-speed GRX Di2 front and rear derailleurs are paired with SRAM Red cranks. A Quarq DFour power meter, which is in turn paired with 52t-36t Shimano Ultegra chainrings, rounds out this mix ’n’ match affair.
Johnson uses CeramicSpeed’s OSPW oversized pulley wheels on his GRX Di2 rear derailleur. These are said to save nearly 3 watts compared to the standard jockey wheels.
There are four bottle cage mounts on Johnson’s bike to help keep him hydrated throughout the 200-mile race.
He also uses an Apidura top tube bag to keep his food and other essentials in.
