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ENVE just dropped its new G SES gravel wheel lineup, and the headline spec is going to make a lot of people do a double-take: a 35mm internal rim width on the flagship 6.7 Pro. That’s wider than most mountain bike wheels from five years ago, on a gravel race wheelset. It’s a bold statement, and ENVE is clearly not interested in incremental. The range has three wheels: the G SES 4.5, the G SES 4.5 Pro, and the G SES 6.7 Pro. Here’s what separates them. ...

When Zipp launched the 303 XPLR SW in 2024 with a 32mm internal width, it felt like a line in the sand. Nobody had pushed a production gravel wheel that wide before, and the message was clear: the era of putting 45mm tires on 25mm rims was over. Now ENVE has responded with the G SES lineup — and specifically the 6.7 Pro at 35mm internal — and the aero gravel wheel market looks meaningfully different than it did twelve months ago. ...

The ENVE Melee came out four years ago and it’s still one of the most talked-about premium framesets on the market. In this video we unbox the Damascus colorway, go through what’s included, and put both the frame and fork on the scale to see how they stack up against claimed weights. Unboxing ...

When XDS launched X-Lab globally last month and started showing up in WorldTour press coverage, a familiar complaint surfaced in cycling forums: isn’t it unfair for a contract manufacturer to start selling its own bikes? Doesn’t XDS benefit from years of R&D feedback, tooling knowledge, and production secrets developed in partnership with the Western brands it built bikes for? It’s a reasonable question. It’s also one the cycling industry answered about forty years ago, when a Taiwanese company called Giant did exactly the same thing — and in doing so, built the largest bicycle manufacturer on earth while helping drive its most famous client into bankruptcy. ...

There’s a phrase cycling fans have heard for decades: “Made in China.” What’s newer — and more interesting — is “designed, developed, and racing under a Chinese brand name at the highest level of professional cycling.” That’s what XDS is doing with X-Lab in 2026, and the global launch that dropped in April makes it relevant to anyone shopping for a high-performance road bike. This isn’t a feel-good story about underdog brands or geopolitical cycling drama. It’s a product question: are these bikes actually good, and what do they cost? ...

Update: it launched. Canyon released the third-generation Grail in September 2026 with 57mm tire clearance and a 1x-only design. Here’s what actually changed, and how its clearance compares in the 2026 gravel bike tire clearance chart. If you’ve been paying attention to Canyon’s releases over the past year, there’s a pattern worth noting. The Aeroad CFR established the template — deep aero tubes, integrated cockpit, dropped seatstays, built purely for speed. Then last month the Endurace CFR showed up and took that same design language, added a little more tire clearance, and called it an endurance road bike. We actually covered that one here on Mizubikes. Now at The Traka in Girona this week, Canyon’s new team — the Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing squad — showed up to race on what appears to be an unreleased Grail CFR, and it’s exactly what you’d expect if you’ve been following the thread: Aeroad DNA, pushed all the way into gravel. ...

The Specialized Epic 9 dropped today, and if you’re already riding an Epic 8, you’re probably asking the same question: is this actually a significant enough jump to justify the upgrade? The short answer is that the Epic 9 is a genuinely better race bike in almost every measurable way. Whether that matters for how you ride is a different question. Here’s everything that changed. Epic 8 vs Epic 9 at a Glance Epic 8 Epic 9 Frame weight (M, with shock and hardware) about 1,768 g 1,589 g Travel (front/rear) 120/120 mm 120/120 mm, 130 mm fork compatible Suspension friction Baseline About 11% lower (claimed) In-frame SWAT storage Yes No, external bolt-on box instead Cable routing Frame ports Through the headset Drivetrain Mechanical or wireless Wireless only Trail-oriented Evo version Yes (Epic 8 Evo) None announced as of November 2026 Starting price Discounted as stock clears $7,499.99 (Expert) If you race, every row on the right is an upgrade. If you ride trail, use your SWAT storage, or run a cable-actuated dropper, the last few rows are where the Epic 8 still makes the case for itself. ...

The Epic 9 dropped today. It’s lighter, it’s faster, and Specialized will tell you it’s the best XC race bike ever made. They’re probably right. I’m still not buying one. I’ve been riding my Epic 8 Evo for a while now and it’s genuinely one of my favorite bikes I’ve owned. Around 26 lbs with my setup — Fox Float SL fork, Fox Float rear shock, OneUp V3 dropper, and tires with enough meat on them to actually handle trail riding. It’s not a race build. It’s not trying to be. It’s a lightweight XC platform that I’ve set up to ride real terrain, and it does that really well. ...

SRAM just quietly dropped something big. As of today, the entire old Eagle mechanical and AXS lineup — SX, NX, GX, X01, XX1, and all four AXS variants — is officially dead. In their place: three new groupsets called the Eagle S-Series. S100, S200, and S500. That’s it. This is a massive SKU consolidation, and honestly, it’s probably the right call. What Is the Eagle S-Series? The S-Series is SRAM’s new simplified MTB drivetrain lineup for bikes running a traditional threaded derailleur hanger — not UDH. If you want UDH compatibility, you’re still shopping in the Transmission range. The S-Series is explicitly for legacy hangers, older frames, and OEM builds where UDH isn’t in play. ...

Every few weeks there’s another article about some pro going to shorter cranks. Vingegaard on 150mm. Pogačar on 165mm. Van Aert experimenting with shorter lengths. The narrative is simple: short cranks are taking over. But when you actually look at the data across the whole peloton, the story is more specific than that — and more useful. GC / climber Classics TT specialist Sprinter The old rule For decades, crank length followed a simple formula: taller rider, longer crank. The accepted standard for an average-height male was 172.5mm, with bigger riders going to 175mm and climbers occasionally running 170mm. The logic was mechanical — longer lever arm, more torque. Indurain was famously on 180mm for TTs. Pantani reportedly used 180mm in the mountains. ...