Bikes Built to Explore Beyond

From 350 miles of Kansas gravel to Southwest bikepacking adventures to Mississippi River Bluff adventures to the cutty little paths everywhere, these are the GRX-equipped bikes of the Shimano Gravel Alliance purpose-built to Explore Beyond.

I really love the ISO FLEX technology on the frame. It allows for a lot of comfort during long adventure rides, but it still feels fast and snappy. The bike has everything I need and love.

I'm obsessed with the hood shape on the GRX Di2! The first time I saw them, I was thrown off by the off look, but they are a game-changer when it comes to comfort on gravel. As someone who has dealt with hand and wrist issues, they really help.

I would say the Unbound XL around Emporia, Kansas. Riding 350+ miles self-supported through the Flint Hills was a really incredible experience. It was so much fun seeing all the nightlife come out, so many armadillos and opossums! That ride is something I will never forget.

I am regularly creating new routes to explore on the remote roads of our new home in Northwest Arkansas. My favorite thing to do on the bike is create and explore new routes, and our recent move allows me to do this daily.

I love to ride with a frame bag on a regular basis. I can load that thing up full of goodies for an all-day adventure ride with no need to stop. There's something special about packing a lunch (plus a ton of other snacks) on the bike and just heading out for a self-supported ride, knowing I've got everything I need for a great day.

The COLOR! She's a head-turner and gets compliments every time she's out!

Hands down, it has to be the GRX Di2. The shifting is quick, easy, and accurate.

Cleaning the mud off my Cervélo and racing it for the first time in a crit, and winning the State Championship at the very same race, has been my coolest ride to date. Since then, it has been the only bike I use for road AND gravel!

When I'm not training and racing crits in and around the streets of LA, I'm on the hunt for more gritty gravel escapes in the nearby canyons.

It is stable, which is comforting and instills confidence on the terrain where I enjoy riding bikes.

The GRX cockpit. The shape of the brake hoods gives me multiple comfortable positions for my hands, which makes using the silky-smooth shifters effortless.

Riding on the Behind the Reef and North Temple Wash in the San Rafael Swell, Utah.

I ride it everywhere. I love that I can take it on mixed surfaces, which puts a grin on my face.

The accuracy and smoothness of the drivetrain support my desire to explore variable terrain with less effort.

It’s purposely designed to fit a smaller rider like myself. Thoughtful geometry for shorter stature is normally not prioritized in the bike industry, and I appreciate that Niner pays special attention to this. Also, the fact that it fits up to a 50mm tire is a great feature.

The Dura-Ace Power Meter crankset. It’s incredible to have Shimano’s top-of-the-line road crankset also measuring watts, and it’s extremely valuable data to have on the bike. In addition to the obvious reason of monitoring power output, a power meter also allows me to track kilojoule expenditure, which is useful for these eating competitions… I mean, endurance events.

Unbound XL. It's also the most challenging ride I've ever done and, therefore, the coolest accomplishment. As a seasoned Kansas rider, doing XL was such a unique experience, and my bike allowed me to have a nearly flawless ride.

You can normally find my bike in the dirt and gravel around Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, California, and in the bike lanes and trails of Orange County, California. The bike frequents everything from pavement to gravel to single track and anything in between.

The E-TUBE integration makes my setup efficient, and the Shimano E-TUBE app lets me make changes on my mobile device and with the D-Fly module installed.

This bike is so compliant, nimble, and fun to ride!

The entire GRX Di2 electronic shifting groupset.

Leading my first bike packing trip for Nomadic Adventure Co. from Fruita, Colorado, to Moab, Utah was EPIC!

Gravel and secondary roads anywhere that I can find them. We live in the Midwest but spend over half the year in the West riding and exploring.

The combination of the GRX wheelset and the GRX Di2 system is such a great pair, as is!

The GRX wheelset is exceptionally quiet, which really creates an even greater feeling of connection to the world around me on a ride. The bearings are silky smooth and roll effortlessly.

Coolest race was Unbound Gravel 200 Mile in 2021, but the coolest ride was with my wife when we plotted a route, site unseen, around Red and White Mountain outside of Vail, Colorado. Partway through the ride, we came across a flock of sheep that were watched over by these amazing Great Pyrenees dogs that, as their duty, made sure we did not disturb the flock. The ride had the feeling of being in a far-off land, but in reality, we were only a few miles east of I-70. It was a great example of seeking adventure on two wheels, and it doesn’t have to be an exhaustive journey to do so.

Country roads and single track around Boulder County.

I recently added a PRO Stealth Team saddle. It has the responsiveness expected with a race-centric fit but the comfort to ride all day. I can't really explain it, but the slightly shorter nose of the saddle is just so incredibly comfortable.