Lauf Úthald Race Wireless review | Endurance Bike of the Year contender

The Lauf Úthald sports a fresh take on endurance bike geometry.

A notably relaxed head angle and extended fork trail combine to create a very stable-handling ride. 

A sensible ride position, with a short reach and tall stack, and a good value spec list also play to the Úthald’s strengths as a comfortable long-distance bike.

Fettlers will appreciate the lack of an integrated cockpit, which makes servicing a little easier, while components can be swapped out with little trouble.

All in, the Lauf Úthald combines decent speed with a relaxed, comfortable ride quality and excellent value for money – all things right at the top of most people’s endurance bike quality wish list.

Lauf Úthald Race Wireless frameset details

Lauif says the Úthald uses what the Icelanding brand calls ICE (Integrated Compliance Engineering).

Debuted on the gravel-focussed Seigla, this is claimed to provide around 15mm of vertical flex through the 'impact resistant modulus' carbon frame.

The frame’s tube shapes and junctions are neat, but comfort is clearly the focus.

The slim junction between the seat and top tube, dropped skinny seatstays and the offset, curved seat tube are aimed at providing compliance.

The sloping top tube enables the bike to run with plenty of exposed seatpost, which improves comfort.

The layout also enables Lauf to keep the rear end short with 405mm long chainstays – that's the shortest you can specify with a 2x drivetrain from SRAM and about as short as a race bike.

Unlike most modern endurance bikes, the Úthald forgoes cockpit integration and full-internal routing in favour of a standard stem and external routing at the cockpit.

The hoses enter at the fork crown and the downtube.

This means fettlers can spec their cockpit aftermarket.

The frame and fork provide generous tyre clearances for up to 35mm tyres, but Lauf says the bike was designed around an optimum size of 32mm.

I’d like to have seen the inclusion of mudguard mounts for more practical winter riding but Lauf isn’t alone in that omission.

The Úthald uses a threaded BSA bottom bracket.

Lauf Úthald Race Wireless geometry

The Úthald’s geometry is close to the accepted norms the best endurance bikes, with a slightly elevated stack height of 623mm for this 58cm-equivalent size XL bike. Fork trail sots at 68mm.

Compared to the 2024 Giant Defy, the Lauf is 27mm taller and the trail is 9.4mm longer in an equivalent size. The Lauf is 18.1mm longer at the wheelbase, too.

The Úthald has a ride position which is a little more stretched out, but the steering geometry is designed to make the bike more relaxed in its responses.

The 71.5-degree head angle and 72.5-degree seat angle make the bike much more relaxed than most.

They’re numbers that wouldn’t be out of place on a gravel bike, but the Úthald has a much shorter rear end.

All of this creates a ride position that’s comfortable, but it takes a little adjustment to get used to.

Lauf Úthald Race Wireless specification

The Lauf Úthald Race Wireless presents excellent value for money.

Even the keenest priced direct-to-market competition from Canyon and Ribble don't get close to this Úthald offering.

A full SRAM Force AXS power meter-equipped groupset, Zipp 303S wheels, carbon bar, post, and quality Maxxis tyres are supplied for less than £4,500. That price includes shipping from the US. Impressive stuff.

For comparison, Canyon’s excellent Endurace CF SLX 8 Di2 gets Force-equivalent Ultegra Di2 and a single-sided 4iiii power meter, plus carbon components and wheels, for £4,999.

An equivalent specification Specialized Roubaix SL8 Pro is priced at £8,000, while Trek’s similarly-equipped Domane SLR 7 AXS is £9,725.

Lauf is taking the value fight to the biggest brands impressively well.

Zipp’s 303S wheelset brings that brand's latest design and construction techniques, packing a lightweight rim, broad internal hookless design and a complete weight of just 1,558g.

Lauf uses its own ‘Road Smoothie’ bar design. This is made from its own specification glass-fibre and carbon mix. Its shape combines a short 75mm reach and a compact 125mm drop in my size XL test bike build.

This adds up to an overall weight of just over 8kg.

Lauf Úthald Race Wireless ride impressions

The Úthald's handling is unique. The slackened head angle would suggest a slow-handling bike but at normal road speeds it feels planted and responsive enough.

It’s better suited to long sweeping turns rather than tight switchbacks because it understeers a little.

But, once I adjusted to its responses, it was a rewarding and very stable bike to ride at speed.

At slow (near-walking) speed, the front subtly flops when steering tight turns, but nothing that would cause much alarm.

When climbing the Úthald is most rewarding when you stay seated and grip the hoods or the flattened and ovalized tops of the Smoothie handlebar.

Strangely, it reminds me of my early 1960s Falcon 531 competition road bike.

This pairs a 73-degree seat angle with a sub-70-degree head angle and a fork with a big (85mm) offset. That has a similar seated behind-the-cranks ride position and a floaty-smooth front end.

The bike's position encourages you to stay seated, feeling best when in the saddle and climbing. This enables you to get into your power reserves and maintain a strong, smooth tempo.

The Úthald is impressively comfortable. The frame swallows up road buzz effectively – the front end is amongst the smoothest I’ve tried this side of a suspension.

This smoothness is aided by the supple sticky rubber of Maxxis' big volume 32mm High Road tyres..

Maxxis is best known for its gravel and mountain bike tyres, but it's clearly a brand to watch on the road too.

The High Road’s don’t feel quite as rapid as Continental GP5000 S TRs, but they cope with terrible road surfaces well.

I was immensely impressed by the handlebar – to the extent that I’ve emerged from this test happy to buy it and fit it to one of my own bikes.

The shape is very comfortable and it isolates buzz very well.

The back end combines FSA’s carbon SL-K seatpost topped with the classic swoopy shape of Fizik’s Aliante saddle.

Saddles are very subjective, and getting contact points right on any bike is important, but Lauf has a great starting point here.

Overall, the great bars, saddle, and quality bar tape all add to the smooth ride of the Úthald.

SRAM’s latest generation Force AXS never put a foot wrong.

The gearing is well-suited to endurance riding with a good spread that’s not overly wide or over-spaced. The braking is also excellent and loaded with power and feel.

Including a well-regarded dual-sided power meter is unheard of at this price – this could well be a deal maker for serious distance riders.

The Zipp 303S wheels are a good match for the 32mm tyres, with fast pickup from the freehub combined with a rim that’s fast, light, and impressively stable in crosswinds.

In all, they cap off a very impressive debut on the road from Lauf.

Lauf Úthald Race Wireless bottom line

Initially, I almost dismissed the Úthald as a gravel bike running road tyres, but i most certainly isn’t that

The geometry challenges accepted norms and the ride position is different, but not to the detriment of the bike's considerable charms.

The steering is smooth and stable, especially at speed, and the bike tracks beautifully over poor road surfaces.

It isn’t especially ‘exciting’ – it’s not rapid and taught-feeling like Canyon’s Endurace, nor does it combine fast reactive handling with smoothness like Giant’s Defy.

I like the simplicity of the design – there’s no complex internal routing and a simple seat clamp, rather than an integrated wedge, is a welcome site.

Overall, the Úthald is fast, very forgiving and easy to live with, so it might just be your perfect all-day riding companion.