FSA’s all-new Gradient components range is designed to boost rider performance by targeting compliance and durability.
From the new i30 carbon wheels to both the carbon and aluminium handlebars, all of Gradient’s premium-level components have been developed in conjunction with the Atherton Continental race team to be as compliant and strong as possible.
The new range encompasses mountain bike wheels, handlebars, stems, and cranks and chainrings, with prices ranging from £99.99 / $99 / €119.99 for the direct-mount stem up to £1,499 / $1,420 / €1,498 for the wheelset.
While the new i30 wheelset – with its striking-looking variable-depth rim – is probably the biggest news here, it’s the carbon and alloy handlebars that piqued my interest the most.
Bars aren’t boring
Handlebars are the most important contact point between you and your bike.
While your pedals, saddle and sometimes frame act as two-way translators between you and the bike, it’s the handlebar you have the most visceral, raw connection with.
Your hands are filled with nerve endings, sending millions of sensory inputs to your brain every millisecond.
Harshness, steering vagueness, feel and comfort are derived – in large part – from the bar.
Getting it right is, therefore, important and FSA thinks it has done just that with the newest Gradient kit.
Offered in two material types – carbon and alloy – and two stem-clamp diameters for each material – 31.8mm and 35mm – the brand has gone to great lengths to emphasise the importance of their feel.
All variants share an 800mm width, eight-degree backsweep and five-degree upsweep. The carbon versions come in 20mm and 30mm rises, and the alloy ones 25mm and 40mm.
Now the important bit; the carbon bar’s layup has been specially formulated to “increase compliance”, and is said to offer “superior vibration-damping qualities” helping “reduce arm fatigue”.
While that may sound like word soup to the less tech-savvy, it basically means the new bar should – although it’s not guaranteed – filter out some of the trail’s buzzy, harsh vibrations that can cause your hands to cramp and seize up.
The alloy bar is claimed to do a similar thing, but FSA acknowledges the two materials are not equal.
Increased compliance is the main focus, however.
Here, the brand says aluminium – at least with how it has been manufactured – is going to “absorb large impacts” and help reduce rider fatigue when the terrain goes from extreme to crazy.
To improve the bar's resonance-damping abilities beyond the alloy’s own properties, FSA has ‘squashed’ or flattened its bends (where it rises) to reduce stiffness.
FSA says the proof is in the pudding, with its sponsored riders choosing the alloy version over the carbon one, because of the smoother feel.
Not missing a trick, though, the brand’s latest, or should I say resurgent, smaller bar-clamp diameter standard is claimed to increase the damping further without feeling – in my words – ‘noodly’.
Cashing in on compliance
FSA isn’t the only brand cashing in on this latest compliance craze, however.
As manufacturing and technology, and therefore bikes, improved quickly throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, every component and frame became stiffer.
As a sum of their parts, we reached a tipping point where bikes were too rigid.
They rode like bucking broncos, with each part transferring every one of the trail’s undulations directly into your hands, wrists and arms.
This resulted in a tiring and uncontrollable ride.
Brands such as OneUp launched the compliance-tuned Carbon Handlebar, and later the alloy alternative, pioneering the ovalised or flattened profile where the bar raises.
We’ve also seen this expertise with compliance used in wheel building – the Crankbrothers Synthesis being a prime example – where the front is tuned for compliance and the rear for stiffness.
Most recently, it has been used in stems. Employing the molecular structure of cast magnesium, Leatt hopes its stems will dampen vibrations.
FSA hopes it's onto something by tapping into this performance-enhancing trend.
FSA’s i30 wheels
The new i30 wheels are also claimed to offer compliance and a smooth ride quality.
That’s thanks, firstly, to a “special carbon layup”, where material is presumably added in some places and removed from others to tune stiffness.
Secondly, and just as importantly, it's because of the striking variable-height rim. Here, the spokes anchor onto a thicker, taller section. There is then a lower, thinner section between each spoke.
Mimicking FSA road-wheel tech – called ‘interspoke milling technology’ – the wheels are said to be light and strong.
This 22mm to 24mm height variation is behind a good chunk of the compliance 'magic'.
FSA claims the lower height “provides increased flexibility”. By implication, a more flexible rim means vibrations and big hits are better absorbed by the wheels.
With a 30mm internal width – hence the name i30 – FSA is saying this metric also plays its part in tuning strength or stiffness and “handling”, which reading between the lines means the wheels’ ability to absorb vibrations.
Details make the difference
In terms of other details, the rims have a 4mm asymmetrical design, where the spokes sit off to one side, helping create an evenly tensioned build.
The rims have a 37mm external width – which is par for the course these days – and a 3.5mm sidewall width, which is claimed to reduce pinch flats.
The hubs have Microspline and SRAM XD freehubs, running on a 72-point ratchet-style engagement system.
According to FSA, the hubs have a tool-free design to speed up and simplify maintenance.
Extensive testing has put each part of the wheels through stringent ride-simulating torture.
Torsional, ISO, impact, fatigue, mud and spoke testing have all been carried out.
Emerging with the highest ASTM5 rating, the i30 wheels look impressive.
In fact, FSA’s so confident in the wheels’ durability, it's offering a lifetime warranty on them.
A pair of 29in wheels are claimed to weigh 1,869g, which is marginally heavier than DT’s EXC 1200, but slightly lighter than the EXC 1501 wheels, both of which set the benchmark in carbon wheel performance.
Hold on, what about the wheel build?
The most important part of a wheel is arguably its build.
No amount of individual component tuning can compensate for a badly built wheel, whether that’s because it’s weak and wobbly, or ultra-stiff and harsh.
And we all know the painstaking approach pro racers and their mechanics take to wheel builds, finely tuning spoke tension to adjust the feel.
It’s a bit of an art; and while FSA may have done all this, it’s a surprise to see it's not shouting about it.
Not mentioning how its wheels are built beyond stating the spokes are evenly tensioned thanks to the rim’s asymmetrical design seems like a bit of an omission.
The only other tidbit of information I could glean is about the spokes and their mounting points.
The brand says it has “[applied] a force of 150kg to the spokes and rim spoke holes” to check durability and strength, but there’s no mention of spoke tension.
Of course, the brand’s engineers aren’t stupid and neither are the pro riders who have used and tested the wheels, so until I try a pair, I’m going to take FSA’s word about these claims.
Rounding out the Gradient range
Although not focused on compliance like the bars and wheels, the new Gradient range also includes stems – both fork crown direct-mount and steerer-bolted – and a 1x aluminium crankset.
The Gradient cranks are made from forged aluminium with CNC machine finishing, where two halves of each crank arm are made from a single block of material and then seamlessly bonded together.
They’re available in 165mm, 170mm and 175mm lengths and have 30t to 36t (in 2t increments) chainring options.
Both the direct-mount and steerer-bolted stems are available to match the 31.8mm and 35mm clamp-diameter Gradient handlebars.
The direct-mount stem comes in 45mm and 50mm lengths, while the steerer-bolted stem has 33mm, 45mm and 50mm lengths.
FSA Gradient range prices
- FSA Gradient i30 wheels: £1,499 / $1,420 / €1,489
- FSA Gradient Alloy Riser handlebar, 31.8mm: £99.99 / $85 / €99.90
- FSA Gradient Alloy Riser handlebar, 35mm: £99.99 / $89 / €105
- FSA Gradient Carbon Riser handlebar, 31.8mm: £184.99 / $149 / €179
- FSA Gradient Alloy Riser handlebar, 35mm: £184.99 / $159 / €199.90
- FSA Gradient stem: £99.99 / $99 / €119
- FSA Gradient Alloy crank (without chainring): £399 / $330 / €379
- FSA Gradient chainring: £134.99 / $114 / €198
