The Tour de Braai is a five-day gravel ride starting in George and ending in Swellendam. The brainchild of Jan Braai, the Tour takes riders through some of the Western Cape’s most beautiful passes. With the growth of gravel riding comes an onslaught of new and interesting bikes and in this regard, the Tour de Braai did not disappoint.
Erik Kleinhans’s Canyon Exceed CF SLX
Erik Kleinhans arrived with what must be one of the cleanest monster cross builds we’ve seen. Erik has fitted drop bars to his Canyon Exceed 29er carbon hardtail mountain bike. The drivetrain is also a mix and match with a SRAM XX1 Eagle crankset with a Force derailleur and brakeset. Erik retained the RockShoc RS-1 fork but custom fitted the remote lockout to the drop bars. The wheels are DT Swiss XMC 1200 Spline with Maxxis Icon 2.2 front and Aspen 2.1 rear.
Jan Braai’s Santa Cruz Stigmata CC
Jan Braai, the imagination behind the race, rocked up in style with this Santa Cruz Stigmata. As is customary with a Santa Cruz, the wheels are from Enve fitted and wrapped 38c Vitorria Adventure Trail tyres. The Zipp handelbars, stem, and seatpost polish off a well-rounded bike.
Rob Gilmour’s Lynskey Cooper CX
The supple, shock-absorbing ride that titanium provides makes it an ideal material for endurance gravel bikes. Even the most ardent steel or titanium rider will concede that carbon forks are the way to go on a rigid setup, and on this bike Rob has elected Lynsky’s Pro Carbon CX. The SRAM Force1 drivetrain powers American Classic Race wheels with challenge Gravel Grinder 38c tyres.
Leonardo van Onselen’s 3T Explorer
Leonardo’s white carbon 3T Explorer certainly stands out in a crowd. 3T say this purpose built gravel bike boasts aerodynamic frame tubing that benefits the rider on fast tar sections and headwinds. This particular build is fitted with Easton EC90 carbon wheels along with a SRAM Force1 groupset with a Rotor 3D crankset.
David Moseley’s Trek Crockett 5
The Trek Crockett 5 represents a more attainable option for the everyday rider, but is just as capable as the exotic bikes above. The bike arrives from the factory with a Shimano 105 drivetrain with FSA crankset while braking is taken care of by a set of Hayes CX 5 mechanical disc brakes. Bontrager cockpit components and wheels complete the bike. The one change on this bike are the Vittoria Adventure Trail 38c tubeless tyres.
