Alex's SuperSomething Steel Gravel Bike
We just finished up another XL SuperSomething here at our San Francisco workshop, and this one deserves a proper write-up. Alex came to us looking for a steel gravel bike that could actually handle a tall rider's proportions. Lucky for him (and us), the XL SuperSomething fit the bill.
Sizing the XL for a Tall Rider
Alex is 6'3" with a saddle height of 800mm, which puts him solidly in XL territory. One of the things I hear constantly from taller riders is that most "XL" gravel bikes are not truly extra-large. The SuperSomething XL is built around a 616mm effective top tube and a 660mm stack; this is truly an XL bike.
Alex is running a 90mm stem, which keeps the handling in a nice balance of nimble and stable for when things get rough.
If you ever have fit questions, please drop us a line or scroll down the product page and use the sizing calculator. Getting people on the right-sized bike is genuinely one of our favorite things to do.
The Build: SRAM Force/GX Mullet
Alex's bike is rolling with our Force/GX Mullet build kit, which continues to be the one we put on our own bikes when we want the best bang for the buck. The idea is simple: you get the really lovely Force shifters, brakes, and crankset up front, paired with the GX mountain bike transmission in the back. The result is a gravel groupset that gives you proper road-bike shifting with a 10-52T cassette handles steep climbs or loaded touring with ease.
Built for the Bay
Alex lives in the Bay Area, which in our opinion is one of the best places to own a do-everything gravel bike. The riding out here is so varied – from fast, open fire roads in the Marin Headlands to loose rocky stuff up on Mount Tam and then rolling pavement through the coastal hills. A bike that can handle all of those is exactly what the SuperSomething was designed to be.
The Atmospheric River colorway suits this one well. It's a color named after the weather systems that roll off the Pacific and soak Northern California every winter, turning everything green this time of year. Seems right for a bike that's going to spend a lot of time out in that landscape.
Why Steel
The SuperSomething is built from double-butted heat-treated chromoly steel, and that matters more than it might sound on paper. Steel has a natural compliance that takes the edge off rough roads and chattery gravel without making the bike feel slow or vague. It's the material that made road bikes feel great for a century, and it translates beautifully to a steel gravel bike that you're riding all day on variable surfaces. We believe strongly that a well-designed steel bike with the very best tubing makes for the best ride quality without any weight penalty.
Wheels are Astral Outbacks with Maxxis Rambler 700x50mm tires – these have been our favorites lately. Fast enough on pavement, grippy enough on dirt, and they fit the XL frame with plenty of room to breathe. The Sklar Titanium Seatpost works in tandem with the steel frame to soak up additional road chatter. It's one of those parts where the difference is subtle but cumulative over the course of a long ride in the hills.
A Gravel Bike for the Long Game
One of the things we worked hard to get right with the SuperSomething is making a gravel bike that doesn't feel like a compromise in any direction. It's not a fat road bike and it's not a mountain bike – it's right in the middle of the spectrum, where most people actually ride. Full external cable routing, loads of mounts for racks and bags, clearance for up to 52mm tires, and geometry refined through years of building custom frames before we ever went to production.
Alex's bike came out beautifully, as these tend to do. Can't wait to hear how it goes out there.
Learn more about the SuperSomething steel gravel bike here, and as always, get in touch if you have any questions about sizing, build kits, or anything else.
