Whether riding road or gravel, we love speed. So everything on the new RaceMax frame is engineered for that. The end result is the first gravel bike that:

• Looks like a road bike
• Rides like a road bike
• Rips through gravel

Best of all, the very same RaceMax frame can be built up with a focus on pure speed (the “RACE” set-up) or as an unstoppable machine with very wide tires (the “MAX” set-up). And with two wheelsets, the rider can switch between RACE & MAX easily. That’s RaceMax.

With this latest frame, the brand set out to make a bike that looks and rides like a road bike, but is at home on gravel. You’ll notice a few obvious changes to the frame. There is now a rear wheel cutout on the seat tube which sits close for aerodynamics, but leaves enough space for mud clearance. The down tube is also noticeably beefier, widening out to 75mm as it progresses from the head tube to the bottom bracket to direct airflow around water bottles. The seat stays and seat post are also aerodynamically shaped, and the downtube closely trails the front tyre for optimal airflow.

Since all tyre and wheels (as well as differences in things like tyre pressure) create slight variations in total wheel-tyre diameter and width, 3T lists its tyre clearance in WAM (width as measured) and RAM (radius as measured). The brand took hundreds of measurements to determine actual tyre sizes then designed the frame from there. And boy does the Exploro RaceMax boast some big clearance, up to 650x61mm. For optimal speed, 3T says run 35mm-42mm WAM tyres. But if you want to go big on volume, the brand claims up to 90 percent of the aerodynamic benefits still apply with a 61mm tyre.

Find out more over on 3T.