“Race or adventure. Why choose?” asks Fara as it launches its fourth-generation gravel bike, the Gr4. According to the Norwegian brand, the new platform blends the speed and responsiveness of a race bike with the comfort and capability essential for long-range adventure. It is, Fara says, “engineered to deliver race-ready speed and long-distance capability in one lightweight platform.”
According to Fara, the industry has been obsessed with bringing the stiffness and aero gains from road racing to gravel – an approach it believes “misses the bigger picture.” Instead, Fara claims that the new Gr4 prioritises “capability, confidence and comfort on real-world terrain.”
With only a small minority pinning on a race number – one of these is 2024 Gravel Earth Series winner Simen Nordahl Svendsen, who has already been racing the Gr4 this year – the brand says it sought out the best features of gravel and ultra racing that were valuable for the everyday rider and, after tens of thousands of kilometres of in-house development and elite athlete testing, found the answer.
The Gr4 is, says Fara, a “Goldilocks bike” that takes the best features from across the gravel spectrum – race geometry, bikepacking capability, long-distance comfort – and distils them down into one machine.
“We didn’t want to force riders to choose between a bike that’s built for racing and one that’s built for exploration,” says Jeff Webb, Fara’s founder. “With the Gr4, we worked with our athletes and designers to create something that excels at both.”
But is it really possible to excel at both? Are we seeing the equivalent of the aero-all rounder for gravel? The big players, such as Specialized and Canyon, have very separate and very different platforms for racing and adventure. For Specialized it’s the Crux and Diverge STR respectively while Canyon offers the Grail for speed and the Grizl for the gnarlier stuff. Cannondale has the SuperX and the Topstone; Cervélo and Factor focus more exclusively on speed with the Aspero and the Ostro Gravel. Here's how the Fara Gr4 strives to be all things to all gravel riders...
Fara claims a frame weight of 970g for the Gr4 in a size medium thanks to a completely new carbon layup using high modulus Torayca T1000 and M40X fibres. The brand says this is over 200g less than the outgoing F/Gravel model, and nearly 500g lighter as a full system including the updated fork, seatpost and cockpit. Comparing that with Specialized’s gravel bikes, the S-Works Crux weighs a claimed 725g while the Diverge STR weighs 1,100g – so, as advertised, the Fara sits in between in the case of this metric.
Meanwhile, it has “huge” clearance for 2.2in (57mm) tyres, which is at the upper end of gravel bike rubber, 3mm more than that of the Canyon Grizl and 10mm more than that of the Diverge STR with 700C wheels. The idea, Fara says, is to provide “the fastest, most comfortable modern tyre and rim combinations” without compromising speed or responsiveness.
The Gr4’s geometry is designed to strike a balance between agility and stability. Short chainstays make the bike feel “responsive” and “nimble,” while a longer front centre helps with descending confidence and stability under load. The Fara Modular Cockpit, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Cervélo S5’s original V-stem, comes standard with all builds and framesets and is key to the Gr4’s adaptability. Customers can choose from multiple bar widths (360-440mm) and three adjustable stem lengths (80-90mm, 100-110mm and 120-130mm) at the time of purchase. Fara says this modularity means the bike can be set up for an “aggressive racing position” or a “more relaxed ultra distance fit,” depending on rider preference.
Additionally, says Fara, the cockpit’s ergonomic design, with backsweep and drop from the stem, neutrally aligns the wrists, elbows and shoulders. The flare angle increases with bar width, going from eight up to 12 degrees for the widest, adventure-orientated size. The stem length adjustability comes via the flat bar-stem interface that allows 10mm of fore-aft reach adjustment, and the bolt mounts on top double as attachment points for accessories like aerobars, which Fara sells separately. It looks impressively innovative.
Like the outgoing F/Gravel, the Gr4 includes integrated down tube storage for tools, tubes, CO2 cartridges, gels and so on – the now-ubiquitous ‘stash hatch’ that Fara says it pioneered for gravel-specific bikes. It also has full cargo and hidden fender/mudguard mounts, and is compatible with Fara’s Integrated Bikepacking System, which uses Fidlock magnets to attach bags, eliminating the need for straps. There are bosses for a third bottle cage under the down tube.
According to Fara, the Gr4 builds on the success of the 2021 F/Gravel, which the brand claims was one of the first gravel-specific bikes to offer 50mm tyre clearance and integrated storage. That bike was also race-capable, ridden to elite-level podiums by Simen Nordahl Svendsen. The latest bike improves on not only weight and tyre clearance but also now has inboard T47 BB threads for reliability and longevity, and it’s UDH compatible.
The pricing is premium but still competitive: Fara is offering the Gr4 in three complete builds and one frameset-only option, each of which includes the Modular Cockpit and CeramicSpeed bottom bracket and SLT headset bearings. There are four colour ways – Translucent Black, Shade, Strand and Sunrise Fade. The top SRAM Red build is a replica of that used by Nordahl Svendsen and weighs a claimed 7.8kg.
As well as bar width and stem length, customers can choose their crank length as part of the ordering process, potentially giving the Gr4 a much more bespoke fit than bigger brands can offer with stock builds.
Builds
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Gr4 Red XPLR – €9900/$10,500/£8,600
SRAM Red XPLR AXS, Zipp 303 SW XPLR, Schwalbe Thunder Burt 2.1" -
Gr4 Force XPLR – €8000/$8500/£7,000
SRAM Force XPLR AXS, Zipp 303 S XPLR, same tires -
Gr4 Rival XPLR – €6200/$6500/£5,400
SRAM Rival XPLR AXS, Fulcrum RapidRed300 -
Gr4 Frameset – €5200/$5200/£TBC
Includes cockpit, seatpost, and CeramicSpeed bearings
In summary, Fara isn’t saying the Gr4 is the lightest, fastest or most aero gravel bike, and it isn’t chasing suspension innovations or extreme geometry either. Inevitably there are compromises to be made if you want to do everything. Rather than choosing a lane, Fara is going after versatility which, in a gravel market that’s splintering into multiple niches, could prove to be pretty innovative in itself. We aim to get one in for review so watch this space.
All the details and specs at Fara’s website
