My 2026 set up, whether I am on the road or racing gravel is an absolute dream. I was really eager to get these built up once I had all the parts, so a big thanks to Geoff from MyRide Launceston for his shared excitement. So, let’s take a closer look at what I will be riding for this season.

My Gravel Bike

Frames

I will be set up with two gravel bikes. Thanks to my main sponsor Factor, I am on some of the best innovation in the industry, I cannot wait to see what these can do in my racing.

Bike 1 - Ostro Gravel - the flagship gravel bike of the Factor range (for now). I have started the season on this bike in RADL GRVL and Santa Vall but watch this space for what is coming next…

The Ostro Gravel is built for speed and embraces many of the characteristics of its road partner the Ostro VAM. It’s aero, its lightweight, it’s fast and it’s built to perform.

Bike 2 - Coming soon ;)….

There are more in their gravel and off-road racing range. I recently was able to ride the Lando MTB which I really enjoyed, though not my primary discipline. While the Aluto gravel bike meets the demands of more of an all-rounder off-road bike. Lighter, lower entry price point, and a good option if you want to put your road wheels in for a spin.

Groupset

Incase you missed it, Italian company Campagnolo released their newest innovation recently, the SuperRecord 13. And I am here for it. Built on over 90-years of cycling history, innovation and dreaming bigger, Campagnolo bring this groups for the newest era in cycling.

SuperRecord 13 X - I will be riding a 1x groupset, optimised for gravel racing and performance. Still encompassing the SuperRecord platform but engineered to withstand the toughest terrains of gravel.

A 1x setup also reduces weight, while the customisation of the platform allows you to choose from L/R or R only shifting, as well as satellite shifters as an additional option (I didn’t opt for these). Allowing you to truely control your own experience.

My current set up is R only, 44 front ring will be my go-to but with options from 38 to 48, as well as 9-42 and 10-48 in the rear I have lots of range depending on what the course demands. For my recent races I have opted for 10-48.

Because I am training and data driven I also have the built in power meter to my groupset.

There isn’t much more to say on this except that it rides very well, and looks the part.

Wheels

This was a partner I was really excited to formally work with. After years of being on a team, the guys at FFWD have continued to follow my journey, stay in touch, and show an ongoing interest in my cycling career, and me personally. This, brings a really nice feeling, plus, they make very nice wheels.

Drift Pace - The wheel to match the terrain, the Drift Pace is built to be fast, embrace varied surface and support tyre choice. Built with improved impact resistance the Drift Pace is made for off-road, allowing you to put full trust in your wheels. The Drift Pace has a wide internal rim width, 28mm, (36mm external) and compatible with tyres 38-60mm. Worth noting if your bike doesn’t have large clearance.

For me I like this, with my Factor allowing for the tyre clearance and increasing my 45mm continental tyres to 47mm once fitted.

The Drift Pace will be my go-to wheel choice for the season.

Raw 44 - I first road these wheels in 2024 when I started gravel and I knew I wanted to ride them again. Lightweight, while still being aerodynamic, fast and reliable, these full carbon rims are a wheel set I want in my choice of options.

Tyres

German engineered, with 150 years of reliability, safety and sustainability. Continental Tyres were a stand out choice for my 2026 build.

With gravel racing continuing to evolve and grow in professionlism, this is one of the fastest changing areas when it comes to innovation and design work and an area where I can learn a lot.

My current choice of tyre has been the Terra Speed 45mm, measuring 47mm on my FFWD Drift Pace wheelset. But with many different terrains to come this season we have more tyre choices, as well as new innovations to test throughout the season.

Wolf-tooth

I wanted some light-weight pedals for my gravel bike, and Wolf Tooth deliver that with their DEL single-sided gravel pedal option. Not only that just they have a lower stack height and a user-adjustable Q-factor which I have discovered seems to be a feature quite of interest to many.

But when the weather conditions call for it, I will opt for the more traditional ALT XC pedal, with duel sided clip-in option, for quick re-mount ability in tricky conditions.

I have used both these pedals recently DEL in RADL GRVL and ALT for Santa Vall which required running and muddier terrain.

Wolf tooth offer a lot of small part solutions as well, also providing me a chain guide solution and while we all hope not to have dropped chain scenarios, this is for piece of mind when bumping over rough terrain. So far this easy solution has had zero complications.

I am looking forward to making changes throughout the season as I need to, but I am sure I will fall back to a ‘go-to’ set up I feel really comfortable on as well.

My 2026 Gravel Build