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Czech bikemaker Superior tease an all-new aero XR GR evolution of their versatile gravel bike. Superior is set to be one of three main sponsors of the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championship this October in Flanders – together with Skoda & Lotto – and that’s where the new gravel bike will see its official launch. So, details remain a bit at the moment on this model year 2025 bike. But we’ve got a pretty good close-up look at it in both gravel and road builds, and know the key upgrades over its predecessor…
2025 Superior XR GR lightweight aero carbon gravel bike
“The fastest and lightest gravel ever by Superior”
Superior is pretty excited about their new XR gravel & all-road bike. It’s not a major departure from their current X-Road model – first introduced back in 2016 – now sharing a simply tweaked name.
But the new bike takes a big leap forward in performance and versatility.
And at a claimed 827g for the new hi-mod carbon frame, it certainly falls now into the lightweight gravel frame category. And with that comes an apparent boost in both stiffness for power transfer and refined handling.
What’s new?
At first glance, the big changes focus on aerodynamic optimizations – more integrated fork crown-to-downtube shaping, deeper truncated airfoil tube shapes, a bigger rear wheel cutout, more aero fork blades & dropouts, and dropped seatstays, for example. And of course, completely integrated fully internal cable routing through the headset.
But the most important change was really a shift to bigger tire clearance. Now, it officially sports clearance for up to 45mm tires. That means the new Superior XR GR can be built up with popular 40mm tires for fast-paced racing, but bigger knobby 45mm tires give it more versatility and comfort for recreational gravel riding, as well.
Tech details
Other key features include new integrated rubber downtube & chainstay protection, a SRAM UDH, and a sleek Litemove LED taillight that is neatly attached to the back of the aero seatpost.
Plus, there are plenty of carry-over tech details like the 12mm thru-axles, flat mount brakes, PressFit bottom bracket, removable front derailleur hanger for 1x or 2x builds, electronic or mechanical shift compatibility, and an internal wedge-style clamp for the proprietary aero seatpost.
On both road & gravel builds, Superior’s own aerodynamic 1-piece carbon One ICR integrated carbon co*ckpit with 10° forward sweep to the tops and gentle 4° flare in the drops.
Superior says the new XR road and gravel bike is UCI-approved, although we haven’t seen it in the official list yet. And this UCI sticker listing the bike as Superior-001, does not follow the current UCI frame code standard (which would likely be SIP-XR-GR)? So, perhaps this is just a placeholder for the time being.
The flagship gravel bike build will be this 2025 Superior XR 9.8 GT that will sell for 5000€ with a Shimano GRX Di2 1x groupset, 1-piece carbon co*ckpit, and carbon DT Swiss GRC 1600 gravel wheels wrapped in 40mm Schwalbe G-One Allround tires.
XR GF gran fondo all-road version, too
Just like the X-Road before it, Superior offers this new XR evolution in more traditional road builds, too.
It again adds a gran fondo name, as the XR GF will feature bigger road tires for more comfort and more all-road versatility. Plus, it’s still the same 2-in-1 frameset, so the XR GF is still gravel-ready for buyers who want to mix it up between road and gravel.
As for specs on the road, the builds will lean towards traditional 2x road groupsets, although mostly with compact or mid-compact gearing. The flagship road build for 2025 will be this Superior XR 9.8 GF, selling for 6000€ with an Ultegra Di2 2x build, 1-piece carbon co*ckpit, and carbon DT Swiss ERC 1400 endurance road wheels wrapped in 32mm Schwalbe Pro One tires.
Superior XR GR gravel bike – Gravel World Championships & availability
Superior says they will officially launch the new XR GR gravel bike at 2024 Gravel World Championships in Halle-Leuven, Belgium this coming October 5-6th. So we’ll have to wait until then for more concrete details on what’s new – like updated geometry, additional spec options, and a full pricing breakdown. Officially, it is a model year 2025 bike, so we expect availability of the new models no earlier than the end of 2024, with some models likely only arriving in the start of next year.
