In the first part of this BOTM series I explained you why we build that super light kind of gravel/road/offroad U.P.P.E.R for the Gran Fondo Magazine. I know, it was a strange project, and I know it is also kind of strange if a gravel bike with 6.4 kilograms is lighter than all the road bikes in the test. Yes, there were some cheaper ones also but there were some with a similar price tag. What we just wanted to show actually is the versatility of the U.P.P.E.R (and U.P.). Both of them are kind of a Swiss Army Pocket knife....many many options.



When we build frames/forks they are light but we would never do a compromise for comfort and riding pleasure.

A good example for that is our U-Turn fork that we use both on the U.P.P.E.R and U.P. The goal was not only to make one of the lightest gravel forks out there but also a fork that is compliant and has good side stiffness.  Here is a pretty impressive test from gravel bike.cc on that fork.

I get often the question if I would put a suspension fork on a gravel bike. There are good gravel suspension forks (actually MTB forks with reduced travel) out there but they are just too heavy with weights around 1.4kg. They kill the character of a gravel bike and only bring joy on very technical downhills. There are other forks out there that are better in weight but have only suspension and no dampening. If you want more suspension you can just move to a bigger tyre (you also get around 2-4cm of travel). Thats basically the same: suspension without a lot of dampening for a fraction of the weight.

I came somehow off the path, actually this last blog should be about detail specifications here they are:

size	L
frame	U.P.P.E.R.
headset	Cane Creek AER series
fork	OPEN U-Turn
stem	THM Tibia 100mm
handlebar	THM Ulna 44cm, Natural Carbon
handlebar grip	Fabric
seatpost	THM Mandibula 400mm
saddle	MCFK
brakes	SRAM RED ETAP AXS D1, Rotor 160f/140r
shifters	SRAM RED ETAP AXS D1
crank	THM Clavicula SE, 175mm
BB	SRAM DUB BB 386
chainrings	CARBON TI
front and rear derailleur	SRAM RED ETAP AXS D1
cassette	SRAM XG 1290 D1, 10-33
chain	SRAM RED D1
wheel	MCFK Gravel 700
tire	Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass 700 x 35mm Extralight
weight	6.4kg