Take a look at what the staff at Merlin are riding!
In our first Blog, we take a look at my newly built Kinesis GX Race gravel bike.
As one of the Purchasing Team at Merlin, I get to look at all of the new and shiny bits of kit that get launched every year by the brands we stock, deciding what we should range and maybe more importantly what we shouldn’t! I’ve been riding for just over 20 years now, and although I started of on mountain bikes, most of my bikes now have some sort of dropped handlebar! Read on to find out more about my freshly built Kinesis GX Race bike – perhaps see you at Dirty Reiver!
Frameset
Gravel has definitely become my go-to riding style. Bored of riding on the roads all the time with drivers that do not see you, I’ve enjoyed heading off the beaten path and exploring the quieter lanes and bridleways. My first gravel bike was a beautiful steel one but always had the weight penalty that the material gives. With the plan of riding some gravel events in 2025, and not wanting to go carbon, I chose the light GX Race from UK Based Kinesis. An alloy frame with all the expected modern features of 45mm tyre clearance, Di2 compatability, tapered headtube and most importantly for UK riding, a threaded bottom bracket! Matched up with a full carbon fork from the experts at Columbus with mounting points on the legs, it is a great base for any fast gravel bike.
Groupset
I’ve always used Shimano, and to allow me to switch wheels with another bike easily, I’ve stayed with 11 speed Shimano GRX. It’s not the most up to date version of the brands gravel specific groupsets, but I’ve always been impressed with its robustness, predictable gear change and powerful braking. I used to run a 42T chainring but dropped this to a 40T which is much better suited for the hilly Lancashire Moors that make up my usual riding. I always use an XT level cassette rather than those from the lower groupsets as I find the shifting is much smoother. To go with the groupset, and because I’m a data nerd, I have a 4iiii powermeter fitted.
Wheels and Tyres
One of the best places to spend money on a bike is definitely the wheels and I’ve been using the Zipp 303 Firecrests for a few years now. Lightweight, smooth rolling and a wide internal rim width they are perfect for gravel riding with wider tyres. And decent wheels are pointless without good tyres, and I’ve been a huge fan of the handmade options from Challenge for a good few years. Offering a smoother ride, lower rolling resistance and excellent grip levels over ‘normal’ vulcanized tyres, once you have ridden on handmade tyres you won’t go back.
Finishing Kit
Coming from a mountain bike background, I’ve used Thomson for years. They are known for reliability, clean looks and robustness. I decided to not use the normal flared gravel bar however, opting for the more traditional road bars. This is just incase I decide to enter any cyclocross races, but also because it’s not very often that I ride on the drops anyway. The new G2 Stem also looks fantastic and finishes the cockpit off nicely.
Full Build List
- Frame – Kinesis GX Race 6069 Alloy Frame – Columbus Futura Plus Carbon Fork
- Groupset – Shimano GRX 812 11-Speed Mechanical – 40T Chainring – 11/42 Cassette
- Wheels – Zipp 303 Firecrest – Front & Rear
- Tyres – Challenge Getaway H-TLR 700x45mm
- Handlebars – Thomson Aero Alloy Road Bars – 42c
- Stem – Thomson G2 – 90mm
- Seatpost – Thomson Masterpiece Carbon – 27.2mm
- Bar Tape – Lizard Skins DSP 3.2mm – Black
- Saddle – Fizik Antares R3
- Extra – 4iiii GRX Left Hand Powermeter, Peatys Tubeless Valves
