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Bikes of GBDURO25

6 August, 2025

Rob Weir

Age: 39

Location: Barnoldswick Lancashire

Bike: ORBEA TERRA

Key items of kit: Pro Discovery 15l Saddle Bag Pro Discovery Frame Bag Pro Discovery Top Tube Bag Pro Discovery Handlebar Bag

Hope R4 Front Light Bontrager Ion Pro Front Light Rave man Rear Light

Shimano GRX 400 Groupset 10speed 45mm Panracer Gravel king x1 tyres

Pro Missile Aero Skis

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Aluminium

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 45mm-50mm

Electronic shifting: No

Daniel O’Connor

Age: 31

Location: Alnwick, Northumberland

Bike: Sonder Camino Titanium with SRAM Rival AXS, Bontrager wheels with 47mm Vittoria Terreno tyres

Key items of kit: Mixture of Alpkit and Restrap bags. Alpkit aeronaut tent for sleep, Galibier jacket for wet/cold weather. battery pack for various lighting and Coros Dura for navigation.

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Titanium

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 45-50mm

Electronic shifting: Yes

Daniel Hodsdon

Age: 38

Location: Manchester

Bike: Specialzed Crux Comp -Specialized Pathfinder rear tyre -Goodyear Connector front

Clip on tri bars

Key items of kit: -Roswell rear bag for sleeping kit( mat and alpkit elan bivy) -Restrap bag for waterproof, pump -Decathlon Top Tube for electronics, locks, multitool and bits. -Stem bag for more food -Alpkit dry bag on bars for down jacket and other cloths

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Carbon

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 45-50mm

Electronic shifting: No

Rup Hoyland

Age: 37

Location: Darlington

Bike: I'll be riding a BMC URS gravel bike for the GBDURO.

Groupset is a SRAM RED / X01 AXS mullet setup, with an AbsoluteBlack chainring.

Zipp 303 XPLR Wheels, the front is built onto a SON 28 hub dynamo, rear is build onto a Hope Pro 5 hub, Panaracer Gravelking X1 Plus tyres in 45mm.

Zipp XPLR handlebars, Zipp Vuka aero bars with 50mm risers. Profile Design armpads and a Raceware mount for the Hammerhead GPS.

Exposure Revo / Redeye dynamo lights with Cateye AMPP 500 as backup.

Restrap Aero front bag and Race seatpack, custom made frame pack with Apidura Reservoir.

Altura top tube bag keeps my powerbank, Igaro charger and snacks close at hand.

Garmin InReach Mini tracker.

Key items of kit: Sleep system is in the Restrap Aero front bag, Nordisk Lofoten tent, Rab Mythic 180 sleeping bag, Alpkit Numo mat.

I had the frame pack custom made by a friend, go check out @mrvear on Instagram. It's exactly what I asked for. The lower compartment houses a Apidura reservoir, and the upper has custom Velcro straps to stop tent poles rattling. There's a large compartment on the non drive side, and three mesh pockets for snacks.

Clothes are in the Restrap Race seatpack.

I should hopefully be reasonably self sufficient with power, with a SON 28 hub dynamo.

This will power my Exposure Revo & Redeye lights at night, and charge my powerbank via a Igaro charger during the day.

A lightweight, super packable Rab Cinder Phantom waterproof, and a Albion Visibility Cargo vest for riding into the night and carrying extra food on long sections without resupply finish off the kit list.

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Carbon

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 45-50mm

Electronic shifting: Yes

Paul Wilson

Age: 39

Location: Wiltshire

Bike: NS RAG+ 700x47 dynamo front, 650x2.1 rear with Teravail Rutlands Redshift kitchen sink loop handlebar and suspension stem, Farr arm rests SRAM rival 1x mechanical 11speed with garbaruk oval 34t chainring and 11-42 cassette

Key items of kit: Hydration vest (water, food, valuables) aero front bag (toiletries, towel, food) Loop bag (tubes and repair kit) shiny top tube bag (battery packs, spares, head torch) saddle bag (bivvy, sleeping bag, mat, clothes) stem bags (food, mug, stove) frame bag (poles, trowel, food)

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Aluminium

Wheel size: Other

Tyre width: 45-50mm

Electronic shifting: No

Rich Wilson

Age: 47

Location: Penzance, Cornwall

Bike: Ritchey Ultra. 2x11. 36/26 with 10-42 cassette. USE Vybe Stem.

Key items of kit: Restrap custom frame bag for clothing, tools and water. MYOG seat pack (dropper friendly!) with Restrap dry bag for tent and sleep kit. Alpkit XL feed bags. Restrap top tube bag for electrical. Exposure lighting.

Frame type: Hardtail - Fully Rigid

Frame material: Steel

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 50mm+

Electronic shifting: No

Ross Phoenix

Age: 39

Location: Cornwall

Bike: Bike Frame is a Scott scale hollow tech ceramic bb cane creek headset Magura mt5 pro 4 pot brakes up front SLX 2 pot on rear (the 4 pots wouldn't fit) Hunt trailwide wheelset (absolute heroes sending last minute parts out free of charge!) Rockshox sid fork Gx and x01 mixed Groupset 32t chainring, 10-52 cassette Raceface atlas pedals (flats all the way!) Brooks cambium c17 carved saddle Rethnal carbon bars (for the downhiller in me) Zipp stem Profile design TT bars mounted on a Fred bar and sky high with 70mm risers! Chicken - they are pretty aero, make a great gamble for a camera and offer unrivalled moral support.

Oh yeah and the 8 month long debate has resulted in ditching the race kings and donning some 2.25 mescals front and rear. everyone seems to struggle with punctures on this route and these are the toughest tire i've ridden so happy to take the rolling resistance penalty for tires I trust

Key items of kit: Bags are: Tailfin cargo for sleep kit and dry things my old trusty custom frame bag and feed bag from prickly gorse for water and tools apidura front bag for on the bike layers cheap decathlon side bags if that's what you'd call them modded together with a 2L waterproof top tube bag for electronics up top and snacks on the sides

Have gone for a really swanky sleep kit for this one instead of the usual down jacket and trousers: Zpacks plexamid tent Rab mythic ultra 180 sleeping bag Termarest xlite mat

Outside that there's a 3L water bladder in the frame

No dynamo, so a zendure 10kah power bank and an old anker

navigation is a Garmin solar with a backup old one

lights are exposure torro up front and x2 exposure traceR on the rear Also a petzl actic head torch.

have a Rab microlite jacket and a light long sleeve merino base layer from NZ which may or may not make the cut.

Riding kit is Red white cargo shorts Rapha pro team Jersey Rapha pro team base layer Castelli perfetto Castelli nanoflex arm and leg warmers pedaled gloves and socks 7mesh waterproof shorts Gore trail running waterproof jacket with hood Giro fastlace shoes. Will miss my five tens but they take weeks to dry and weigh 5kg when wet

most importantly two pairs of wired headphones for any night shifts and low points!

Subject to last minute freak-outs and rash decisions I think that's it!

Frame type: Hardtail - Front Suspension

Frame material: Carbon

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 50mm+

Electronic shifting: No

Henry Ingram

Age: 25

Location: Leicestershire, England

Bike: Vitus Venon Evo

Key items of kit: Zipp 303 carbon wheels, Panaracer Gravel King 45mm tyres, SRAM AXS 12speed with Ratio Technology 36T x SRAM 11-44T, Tailfin saddle pack, Podsacs frame bag, Topeak handlebar bag and top tube bag. 2 fork bottle cages, Profile Design aero bars with double wrapped handlebars for extra comfort!

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Carbon

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 45-50mm

Electronic shifting: Yes

Mike Dennison

Age: 59

Location: Aberdeenshire

Bike: Selected for comfort rather than speed! I'll be riding my tried and tested Travers RussTi Titanium Hardtail, with SRAM Eagle drivetrain; 32t up front, 10-52 out back. A mixture of Apidura and Tailfin bags. Front suspension and Ergon grips for comfort, Aero bars to hide from the wind a bit! 2.2" Schwalbe Thunder Burts - a compromise between reducing rolling resistance on the roads, but keeping some comfort and traction for the gravel.

Key items of kit: I'm attempting to complete the race 'plastic free', ie I won't be purchasing anything with single use plastic packaging, so my key items are a pop-up silicon mug, a titanium spoon, a tiny folding tin opener and (hopefully) a sense of humour!

Frame type: Hardtail - Front Suspension

Frame material: Titanium

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 50mm+

Electronic shifting: No

Tom Downes

Age: 47

Location: UK / Frome

Bike: Niner RLT RDO. Light bicycle rims + son28 dynamo Suspension stem 1x Sram/Shimano mix.

Key items of kit: Alpkit bivvy/liner/bag. Exped mat. Hydration vest+water filter to help with long resupply gaps Spreadsheet of every lidl&coop on route 😂

James McIntosh

Age: 42

Location: Penzance

Bike: BMC Team elite

Key items of kit: Bags from cyclite, apidura and restrap. Front bag and frame bag are for water and snacks. Son 28 dynamo with sinewave beacon for lights and charging.

Last minute change to a 2.4 Dubnital on the front (Chat GPT convinced me) plus a slick 2.35 on the back.

Over biked but comfy with 100mm of travel on the front plus rear elastomer.

Frame type: Hardtail - Front Suspension

Frame material: Carbon

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 50mm+

Electronic shifting: Yes

Peter Hannon

Age: 47

Location: Bath

Bike: Ridley Kanzo Adventure frame set running Shimano GRX & Rotor cranks. Wheels are DT Swiss GR531 rims built onto Hope Pro Hub rear & SP Dyno Hub up front rounded off with Panaracer Gravel King X1 50mm tyres. Deda Gera handlebars with Profile Design Aero bars (more for lighting attachment options than anything else!) and lastly an Ergon saddle...

Key items of kit: Frame, saddle, bar and fork bags taken care of by Restrap. Lighting provided by Exposure Lights (Revo up front Redeye in the rear!!) Sinewave Cycles Revolution USB dynamo powered charging device to run off the SP hub through the day to top up the power bank. Clothing is a mix of Assos and Albion. Sleeping arrangements will be a bike tarp by DD Hammocks and bivvy bag, sleeping bag is an ultra 80 from Alpkit

Frame type: Gravel

Frame material: Carbon

Wheel size: 700c (29")

Tyre width: 50mm+

Electronic shifting: No