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With solely round 150 bikes in existence, you may be forgiven for not having heard of the Catalan bike model, Guava. I will admit that I hadn’t till earlier this yr, when an introduction led to a chance to experience the Guava Spot for a weekend in Girona.
The Spot is Guava’s solely mannequin and is obtainable in a handful of spec ranges, which, as you’d anticipate, come at various worth factors.
Alongside it, the model additionally sells clothes and a choose few elements. It sells through its web site and two shops located in Barcelona and Girona respectively, the latter of which is just some yards from The Church of Santa Maria, or Girona Cathedral, maybe higher often called the filming location of Recreation of Thrones’ Nice Sept of Baelor.
The model is owned and run by simply two males, and in a small-world coincidence, it got here to be after considered one of them attended a frame-building workshop with the sadly-now-closed Bicycle Academy in Frome, England, simply 10 miles from Cyclingnews HQ.
Curiously, the model is funded by footballing legend Andrés Iniesta by means of the Spaniard’s funding agency, By no means Say By no means Ventures.
Because the title of this overview suggests, the Spot is a gravel bike, designed with an affordable quantity of tyre clearance, a reasonably secure geometry, and a spec package deal that appears like glorious worth for cash.
The bike I examined was the Guava Spot GRX Carbon mannequin, priced at €4.299,00 / £3,999.00, with a one-piece cockpit, carbon wheels, and a 12-speed GRX mechanical groupset coupled with a Deore 10-51 cassette. For readability, that ‘carbon’ nomenclature refers back to the wheel spec. All choices include the identical carbon fibre body.
The bottom mannequin with mechanical GRX, a two-piece bar and stem, and alloy wheels is priced at simply €3.699,00 / £2,950.00, whereas the top-tier mannequin with Pressure AXS, carbon wheels and the one-piece cockpit is €5.299,00 / £4,950.00.
I used the bike for the two-day gravel stage race, Santa Vall, and regardless of it being priced at a 3rd of a number of the bikes alongside it, a few of which characteristic in our information to the most effective gravel bikes available on the market, it held its personal extremely effectively, as I will get into under.
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Design and specs
As touched on above, the bike’s design and geometry are pretty secure, however within the areas that matter – at the least for my part – the bike is progressive and forward-thinking sufficient to be attention-grabbing.
One of the best ways I can describe the bike, and certainly the model behind it, is ‘playful’. In a literal sense, the bike is dotted with playful slogans comparable to ‘Let’s Get Misplaced’ and ‘Freedom Machine’. However greater than that, the geometry is designed to create a enjoyable and forgiving bike for giant adventures and singletrack trails.
In my dimension XL body, the 621mm stack and 395mm attain are in step with that of a Specialised Diverge, albeit squarely between a 56 and 58cm body dimension on that bike. One thing racier like a Trek Checkmate is longer and decrease, however as already talked about, that is not the Spot’s main intention.
The body can simply clear 45mm tyres on 700c rims on the rear, wider with 650b, and wider on the entrance too, which is on development with the present transfer towards wider gravel tyres being quicker.
The dropped drive-side chainstay permits this with out limiting the chainring dimension an excessive amount of, and my mannequin cleared a 40-tooth 1x chainring with none hiccups.
I initially winced on the lack of a series information and braze-on mount for a entrance derailleur, however regardless of 200+ kilometres of gravel racing, I did not undergo a single chain drop, so my fears have been misplaced.
There is not a two-by mannequin accessible however should you wished so as to add a entrance mech, the spherical seat tube is suitable with band-on derailleurs, so there isn’t any limitation there both.
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Up entrance, I had Guava’s proprietary one-piece cockpit fitted, and I appreciated the small aero profit this may have introduced, given my aggressive endeavours.
This cockpit transitions from a squared-off stem to a small spherical part on both aspect, which then sweeps up and deepens into barely ovalised tops on both aspect, earlier than curving down right into a compact drop.
One other proprietary characteristic of the Spot is the down tube storage compartment full with a intelligent latch.
Storage within the down tube is hardly distinctive, however the strategy to locking the door is one the place manufacturers have but to choose a standardised resolution.
Guava’s strategy makes use of a magnetic latch from German model Fidlock, which merely pushes into place, locking with a click on that is extra satisfying than an Ikea soft-close kitchen cupboard. A video from the model displaying how simple it’s to make use of may be seen right here.
The instrument roll inside was sufficient to comfortably retailer a tube, a multi-tool, tyre levers and some spare plugs, and will simply have taken extra had I wished.
The door to this storage housed one of many bike’s three bottle cage mounts, which have been complemented by further mounting bolts on the highest tube, in addition to mounts on the entrance and rear for full-length mudguards.
My bike additionally got here specced with a pair of 28mm-deep carbon wheels from Volte, full with a 25mm inside rim mattress. These are often specced on the Pressure AXS mannequin, whereas the Shimano GRX Carbon mannequin is mostly specced with Hunt CGR40 wheels, however they weren’t accessible on the time.
I additionally swapped to 45mm Schwalbe G One RX Professional tyres away from the 45mm WTB Riddler tyres supplied.
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Efficiency
Regardless of its intentions not being aimed toward gravel racing, Guava does sponsor a few gravel racing privateer athletes, together with former Astana-Premier Tech rider, Ben Perry.
Given my weekend in Girona coincided with the two-day professional gravel stage race, Santa Vall, I made a decision to place the bike to the last word check. Full gasoline racing for near 200km, together with quick dusty gravel, steep rocky descents, even steeper climbs, technical singletrack, a few river crossings, and a complete load of every thing else in between.
I had a problem on day one with a slipping seatpost, however a visit to the Guava retailer and a alternative submit later, day two went away with no hitch, and general I got here away from the race actually impressed with the Guava Spot.
It held its personal effectively in opposition to bikes thrice the value, and the one space the place I felt the bike was slower than these round me was on barely uphill street / easy gravel sections, however I put that extra right down to the extra relaxed using place and well-treaded (learn: slower rolling) Schwalbe tyres than something flawed with the bike.
I’d usually make up any misplaced time as soon as the path pointed downhill although.
The bike’s relaxed geometry, paired with the responsive cockpit and large grippy tyres was an amazing mixture for confidence-inspiring dealing with, even regardless of having the brakes arrange euro-style and me getting used to using ‘moto fashion’ UK brakes.
I turned so assured on the descents that I used to be comfortable to let wheels go to save lots of power, figuring out I might make again the place moments later.
On steep climbs, the geometry put me in a reasonably well-planted place. On the actually steep stuff – 15% and extra – I feel the YT Szepter nonetheless units the benchmark with its steep seat tube, however the Spot coped effectively, and traction was a non-issue, albeit aided by the dry situations.
I did not spend a lot time on the tops due to the relentless calls for of racing, however when climbing, that was my pure hand place and the little indentation on both aspect of the stem made for a extremely safe and comfy connection.
With that mentioned, as I sort this on Monday night time having raced Saturday and Sunday, my fingers are nonetheless fairly sore, with small blisters on the base of each index fingers.
If I have been being choosy, I might ask for a barely extra compliant handlebar for the rougher roads, particularly given the bike’s all-day-adventure intentions, however in actuality, I feel most of my points stem from the rubber on the GRX hoods that are notoriously dense and ill-suited to the form of my fingers.
The gear vary supplied by the Shimano GRX 610 groupset is unbelievable although. With the 40T chainring and the 10-51T cassette, no hill was too steep and no descent too quick.
Shimano’s groupsets are recognized for his or her unwavering efficiency and there was no distinction right here. Being mechanical, the shifting is barely much less crisp and premium than extra fashionable digital alternate options, however for the value, you would be hard-pressed to complain.
Equally, there is a small however tangible distinction in experience high quality between a body at this worth level and one thing two- or thrice the value. It did not supply that ‘magic carpet experience’ sort of smoothness, however I definitely did not really feel crushed up.
In addition to the measurable variations comparable to weight, aerodynamics and stiffness, such refined variations solely turn into noticeable when using two bikes again to again anyway.
The enjoyable – and performance – supplied by the Guava Spot continues to be each bit as actual as what you get with opponents.
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Worth
It is onerous to argue with the worth on supply with the Guava Spot. On paper, €4.299,00 / £3,999.00 is a superb worth for a carbon body, carbon wheels and a one-piece cockpit, and though most opponents’ bikes at an analogous pricepoint boast the digital shifting of SRAM Rival, hardly ever do they get carbon wheels.
It’s beatable although. On the time of writing, the Dice C:62 Race is one such instance price trying out at £3,499.00. Though I’ve not ridden it to have the ability to evaluate the 2 bikes’ efficiency.
Verdict
I feel should you’re studying this overview, there is a good probability you are searching for one thing extra distinctive than a Dice, a Specialised or a Trek.
Notably should you’re based mostly in Catalunya, Guava’s attraction goes past the worth for cash, the spec, and the intelligent Fidlock downtube storage door. Maybe even past the bike completely.
All of these are promoting factors in their very own proper, however to my thoughts, Guava’s key USP is that it’s a small – albeit rising – enterprise, so should you decide up the cellphone with a query or a problem, otherwise you go into considered one of its shops, you are more likely to be served by one of many model’s founders.
I will not fake that two days of racing is sufficient for a full, long-term overview, even when the check was fairly a extreme one, but it surely’s greater than sufficient using to get an actual really feel for a way the bike performs, and the Spot is an efficient, enjoyable, do-all-things-well form of bike that meets fashionable developments head-on. When you purchase into the model’s story and order your self a Spot, you will not be disillusioned.
Positive, it is not a crazy-progressive aero racer just like the Ridley Astr RS or the Trek Checkmate SLR. It is not obtained the tyre clearance and vibration-damping fork of the Lauf Seigla. It is not a hyper-lightweight piece of engineering magic just like the S-Works Crux, however crucially, it is lower than half the value of these bikes whereas providing simply as a lot enjoyable.
