There’s something available for everyone’s budget. However, the same geometry and designs trickle down to less-expensive Diverge models.
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While not the most expensive bike in the Diverge stable (that award goes to the top-shelf S-Works model), it’s a hunk of change that prices the Pro out of reach for many. The Diverge Pro Carbon we tested will set you back $7,500. It’s the nuance of ride, feel, and cleanly integrated design that culminates in a truly fantastic bike. It’s not showy, there’s no funky geometry, and the lines are well within the bounds of normal. Looking at the Diverge, all of this greatness is hidden behind its inconspicuous silhouette. It’s a lot of gears to squish inside a single cassette. We did find the range a touch finicky in the middle range. The paddles and levers are easy to control from both the drops and over the hoods. It’s reputedly the lightest of its kind on the market. Power is directed to the bike by Campagnolo’s new 1 x 13 groupset. It’s plenty of traction for most obstacles you’ll encounter. If you want to go beefier, the clearance supports up to 700 x 47c 2.1 inches on 650b x 2.1 inches. Trimmed with Specialized’s own proprietary 700 x 38c tires off the floor, the Diverge is a truly robust gravel tire. While we can’t promise the sugar pantry will be stocked, it’s a great place to stash extra food, your tool kit, a tube, or even a wind jacket. Ours came loaded with gummy worms (which is the quickest way to a gear tester’s heart). Inside the down tube hides the uniquely Specialized SWAT storage port.
It’s well-positioned off the front of the stem and allows you to easily pair with your Garmin, Wahoo, Karoo, etc. Our Diverge came with Specialized’s aftermarket accessory mount kit on the stem and a bag of mount accessories. Specialized has pretaped the high-wear areas where you might lash a bag. You want to bring it on that 400-mile bikepacking race? It can do that. The Diverge is brandished with mounts on the top tube, down tube, fork, and traditional water bottle mounts. The damper is immediately responsive and easy to dial on the fly. Or you can lock it out entirely for stiff handling on the climb. The dial on the headset allows you to unleash the hydraulic damper up to 20 mm of travel in the front. Specialized integrated its latest Future Shock 2.0 inside the head tube.
The bike is stacked with components that elevate the Diverge to the top of our list. While fit is king, the accolades don’t end there. The result is a bike that rips on roads and singletrack but feels most confident on variable terrain. In the saddle, it gives you a clear feeling you are riding inside the bike, rather than on it. The bottom bracket is the lowest of the bunch we tested.īy the numbers, this gives the bike a longer wheelbase. The stem angles up, and the reach is longer. The fork’s offset and trail strike a balance of stability and nimbleness. The wheelbase is long, but the short chainstays put your weight over the rear tire. Specialized clearly put some thought into how fit translates to feel. In a sea of familiar geometry, the Diverge ($7,500) is a standout. The Best Gravel Bikes of 2021 Best Overall Gravel Bike: Specialized Diverge Pro Carbon Scroll through our picks for the best gravel bikes of 2021, or jump to a category below: That’s how we’d do it.Īnd, this past spring, that’s exactly what we did. We’d put them away dusty, take notes, and then grab another next bike and do it all over again. Ideally, we’d grind them up steep climbs and bomb down the backside. Dirt under tires.įor gusto, we’d bring them all to a remote stretch of land, put the rubber on the road, hop on sandy trails, and crush them over rocky double tracks. We’d prefer to wrench our pedals to the cranks, swing a leg over the top tube, and get a sense of that elusive feel of the bike. But that’s not how we like to choose a bike. Making sense of it all can lead to endless midnight doomscrolling. Groupsets can run wide 2x chainrings to more mountain-ish 1x cranksets, capable of matching the abrupt ups and downs of backcountry roads. The handlebars and angles look like a road bike, but there’s more clearance to run fatter tires. Gravel bikes pull speed from the road and fold in stability and handling from the mountain. It’s arguably safer, makes you a better rider, and is undeniably fun.
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As trails become more crowded and phones distract drivers on the road, riders are turning the pedals toward remote stretches of backcountry gravel.
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