Bikes Of Sneak Peaks 2024

Tom Fandrich

Age: 54

Cap number: 55

Location: Munich

Bike: I’ll be riding the Sneak Peak classic on a Specialized S-Works HT Ultralight. The bike features a new pair of Conti Race King 2.25″ tires, a SRAM AXS 1×12 drivetrain with a 32T chainring.

Key items of kit: Specialized Front and Backlight. Bivy will serve as my shelter along with my light Yeti sleeping bag. I’ll also be carrying a Garmin 1040 for navigation. BAGS: The centerpiece of my bag setup is an Apidura Frame bag, Apidura Tank top tube bag, and Apidura Saddle Bag. 1L bottle and a 2L bladder in my Evoc hip pack.

Mauro Saltalamacchia (Spinning the Wheel)

Age: 45

Location: Rome (Italy)

Bike: I'll ride my reliable CUBE Reaction GTC 2016 (custom built) with Niner rigid fork, 2×10 drivetrain with a 38/26T chainring and 11/42 cassette. Wheels XR-1501 Spline with 240S Hubs from DT-Swiss. For my comfort I chose Fabric Scoop Elite Shallow saddle and Ergon GS1 grips.

Key items of kit: I'm running Blackburn Outpost Seat Pack and Frame Bag, handlebar bag Alpkit Airlok Dual 20L stuffed to my Profile Design aerobars (unuseful on the long and steepy uphills!), Rusjan Top Tube Bag. A lightweight Ferrino Rider Pro bivy will cover my Carinthia G 90 sleeping bag and a cheap but reliable air mat. I’ll be carrying an eTrex 30x for navigation and a Led Lenser MH10 headlamp to roll at night.

Dennis Stegemann

Age: 36

Location: Berlin

Bike: KOCMO Tiger Custom Hardtail Beast Dropbar, Dt Swiss Fork 120mm with SRAM Transmission 12x32-52 Tires Schwalbe Racing Ralph, 2,35” Dt Swiss Wheels, Aluminium

Key items of kit: Framebag from 7R Bags from Ukraine Saddlebag Apidura und a long Top Tube Light Supernova + Sons Dynamo 2l Apidura drinking Bagpack

Sleeping System: Winter Sleeping Bag, Thermarest Iso and Helium Bibi.

Mathias

Age: 40

Location: Hanover, Germany

Bike: Custom build Stevens Gavere

Key items of kit: I bought a used Stevens Gavere 2017 60cm frame from a friend (too big for my size...) - and the journey of building my bike for Sneak Peaks begun. The bike originally had a 105 setup, but as I was expecting loads of elevation, I was looking for a different groupset. The gravel groupsets besides being expensive did not offer enough range (apart from the electronic ones that are $$$). A mullet seemed to be the best option, as I really wanted drop bars. But again it was difficult to find the right group set combination, and adapters seemed to sketchy for this adventure. I found a Chinese groupset, the Sensah SRX 1x11 and with 34x52 gearing it seemed like the best option. After collecting it myself from customs and fiddling a lot with internal cable routing, I got it mounted onto the bike, even though shifting is sometimes a bit off still. As for the wheels I was looking for a bit wider rims for my planned tubeless setup (Conti terra trail 40mm) and went for the trusted DT Swiss R500db. Combined with a shutter precision dynamo hub, I hope to be prepared to ride through the nights with a 75lux LED frontlight. I soldered a dynamo USB charger to charge my devices on the go, but cooling the circuit did not work out, so I ended up buying a dynamo charger for that reason. For the brakes I went for a hybrid disc brake solution: cable actuated but oil pressured. Finding the right ones to fit the frame was difficult though (flat mount vs post mount on this older frame). With mountain bike pedals and lots of water (bottles are missing in the picture), I am looking forward to climb the mountains. Building the bike was fun (and I know every screw and how to fix it), but riding it is even better!

Lukas Eger

Age: 36

Location: Munich

Bike: Nordest Sardinha Ti + Rigid Carbon Fork, GX Eagle mixed with 9-50 e*thirteen Helix Cassette and Absolute Black 30t oval ring, Carbon Newmen Advanced SL X.A. 25 Wheels, Vittoria Mezcal 2.25 front, 2.1 rear, Formula Cura brakes, Syntace P6 High Flex Seatpost, Beast Components Flat Bar 740mm, Ergon SM Pro Saddle, Ergon GS2 Grips, Shimano XT Pedals

Key items of kit: Bags: Miss Grape Il Coso + Sea to summit drybag (sleep system), Apidura Racing Top Tube, Apidura Back Country 2.5L frame pack, Restrap 7L Adventure Race Saddle Bag (clothing) Sleeping Kit: Alpkit Kloke Bivi, Thermarest Neoair, Sea to Summit Spark 0, Tyvek ground sheet Lights: Lezyne Macro 1400+, Cateye Volt 800 (backup), Lezyne Zecto Drive rear light, Catey Rapid Micro rear light (backup) GPS: Wahoo Roam V1 Hydration: 750ml bottle + Uswe Outlander 2 hydration vest

Mario Kraussler

Age: 44

Cap number: Sneak Peaks - Classic

Location: Austria - Graz

Bike: Scott Spark 910 Carbon Frame MTB-Fully, Shimano XT, Continental SpeedKing 2.2 on Pancho Wheels, SQlab Saddle, Ergon Grips

Key items of kit: SON28-Dymano with Supernova M99/Busch&Müller Backlight, USB-Werk, Garmin 530, Mixed Bag-Setup/Trail vest, Cumulus Sleeping Bag, Mammut Bivi

Luca

Age: 28

Location: Berlin

Bike: Focus Raven 2011, 3x9 VEE Tire Co - Misson 26x2.1 Busch und Müller Dynamo lights

Key items of kit: Reisefix framepack Nordisk sleeping equipment

Matthias Pawliczek

Age: 32

Location: Leipzig, Germany

Bike: I'll ride my second had bought 2019 Trek Procaliber SL. The drivetrain is upgraded to a 170mm 32t Truvativ Stylo chainset and SRAM GX Eagle AXS rear deraileur with 10-52t XX1 cassette. Wheels are stock with a tubeless Mezcal/Barzo tire combo. Despite all the elevation, I opted for aerobars and innerbar ends for a variety of hand positions. My most loved parts are the Ali Express Ryet 3d printed saddle and the bigger 202mm/180mm Shimano XT discbrakes for much improved stopping power

Key items of kit: I rely on my trusty Apidura 17l saddlebag, fullframe and top tube bag. Below the aerobars is a drybag with clothes for cold/wet weather. One bottlebag contains my powerbank and cables for charging my phone or lights. Water will be carried by apiduras 1,5l water bladder in the framebag and an additional Fidlock bottle below the top tube. My sleeping gear will be an Outdoor Research bivy, sleepingbag and a thermarest matress, as i dont want to ride too much through the night and enjoy much of the mountains in daylight. But for the few night hours I will use my Sigma Buster 2000 HL and Lupine SL Mono wich is mounted on the aerobars. On the stem is also a small packable bagpack to carry additional food and drinks for the evenings/mornings. My lucky Item will be a small photo of my beloved dog Monty to remember the good stuff during hard times =)

Helge M.

Age: 45

Location: Earth [GER]

Bike: Curve GMX+, drivetrain 32/50 by Ingrid, shimano xt components. Hunt 29” wheels SONdynamo-setup with Vittoria Mescals lightning a kLite and garmin edge. Cockpit with kojote bar, sqlab and VAPcycling Butterfly3. canecreek seatpost.

Key items of kit: Witslingers framebag and Tailfin aeropack half packed swallows all the gear. VAP Butterfly3 carry sleep-setup. Food pouches from Witslingers and gramm tourpacking for snacks and a 2Liter Hydrationbackpack. My spezial items are UL stormshelter for the evening thunderstorms in the dolomites, one israelbandage for emergency and of course a s2s aeros UL-pillow.

Michael Welker

Age: 39

Location: Berlin

Bike: Pinarello Grevil

Key items of kit: Tailfin / Gramm bags / Lupine Piko & Rotlicht / Rene Herse Oracle Ridge 48mm

Jörg Furnivall

Age: 45

Location: Braunschweig

Bike: I ride the Sneak Peak with my beloved Cannondale Topstone, with a 2x11 GRX drivetrain, 28/44 front and 11/46 rear. It rolls on 50 and 45 mm G-One Bite, GR531 rims and 350/SON hubs. The Fox 32 suspension fork and the KingPin suspension, paired with the EC70 seat post, ensure more comfort.

Key items of kit: The Supernova M99 DY, which is powered by a SON dynamo, brings light into the darkness. I charge my Wahoo and phone via my old Busch and Müller E-Werk, which hopefully makes me independent of sockets. All of my bags come from Revelate Designs, which gives me more space than I need. An Uberlite, a Vesper 32F, an E-Bivy and my Micropuff jacket allow me to sleep anywhere, hopefully restfully.

Giacomo Mugnai

Age: 31

Location: Bologna (Italy)

Bike: Megamo West 15 Gear Shimano grx 46/30 front with 10 speed (11-40) Wheels Cinturato Pirelli 45 mm

Key items of kit: 18l Saddle bag 4l frame bag A small bag in the front

• 13l backpack with a 3l camelbag

Bivy bag + airbed for sleep

Markus Winter

Age: 50

Location: Dittelsheim-Heßloch

Bike: Ridley Kanzo Adventure Custom Wheelset Aerycs GCX Terra Tires Vittoria Mezcal 29x2,1 Shifting System Sram X01 AXS / Sram Force 2 Brakes Sram Force 2 / Trickstuff Dächle Seatpost Ergon CF Allroad Saddle Selle Italia Flite Gravel Stem / Handlebar Ritchey WCS

Key items of kit: Tailfin Aeropack Carbon Tailfin Half Frame Bag 6,5l Tailfin Top Tube Bag 1,5l Cyclite Handle Bar Roll 2xCyclite Food Pouch Frontlights: Magicshine Monteer 6500 / MOH 55 with Enerprof Battery Pack Rearlights: Garmin Varia 515 / Lupine Rotlicht

Clemens Peti Melms

Age: 34

Cap number: 15

Location: Kaltland

Bike: Ridley Kanzo Adventure

Sram Rival/GX Mullet

Continental RaceKing 29“

Key items of kit: Cyclite Toptube, Tailfin Framebag, Acepack Saddlebag, Supernova Lights

Boulois

Age: 49

Location: Sélestat ( France )

Bike: ADRIS ( L'Aventure ) Grx 820 48/31, cassette Sram XPLR 11/44 Roues Lùn Grapid Carbon Pneus Maxxis Rambler TR 700x50

Key items of kit: Evoc Tailfin

Marvin Schwarz

Age: 33

Cap number: 40

Location: Stuttgart

Bike: In favor of smaller gears and hopefully more fun on the decents, I decided against a gravel bike and will be riding my Cannondale Scalpel HT 3, almost in stock configuration except for the Ergon saddle and the Mezcal tyres.

Key items of kit: Ortlieb saddle pack, carrying my sleep setup (bivi, down quilt and inflatable body pad) and clothes. An Ortlieb frame pack for spares, electronics, first aid kit and other small stuff. To increase snack capacity I added a DIY toptube bag and snack bag on the front. I will carry additional water (and even more snacks) an hydration vest.

Christoph

Age: 28

Location: Dresden

Bike: Rose Backroad AL - 2022.

Key items of kit: Garbaruk 50 - 11 Cassette and Tailfin.

Haydn Ward-Streeter

Age: 31

Cap number: ?

Location: Bristol, UK

Bike: Plant X - On-One 45650b (The Batman) - Self-build

Here we have a lovely old school hardtail mountain bike (gravel convert) rigid fork with suspension stem, flat bar bike. It's running a 32 oval chain ring on the front and an 11-51 on the back. 27.5 rims with 2.25' tubeless set up.

Key items of kit: My flower power tool bag and my army snack pack, got to have your snacks close to hand and the right tools in between your legs. The Penguin Classic William Shake Speares Sonnets will be coming with me on the ride, never without something to read, especially in nature.

Harry Boyle

Age: 41

Cap number: Sneak Peaks

Location: Arnstein, Germany

Bike: Bmc two stroke. Custom painted. SRAM xx eagle groupset, Sid ultimate, Newman beaker 30. Goodyear Peak sl tires. Time Special Pedals. SRAM axs dropper.

Key items of kit: Bags are SKS Explorer EXP. Lights are Sigma. Hammerhead Karoo head unit and turbolito spare inner tubes

Anno Sebbel

Age: 45

Cap number: 13

Location: Buchholz, Germany

Bike: Pipedream A.L.I.C.E with RockShox Rudy 40mm suspension fork

Key items of kit: Revelate Designs Spinelock 10l Saddle Bag Miss Grape Ilcoso Harness Custom- Made Frame- and Toptube Bag GRX 11-Speed with 11-50 Garbaruk Cassette and 34 Chainring Sinewave Beacon with SON Dynamo Cumulus Quilt and Therm- A Rest Neoair Uberlight, MYOG Tyvek- Bivi

Robert Krügel

Age: 42

Location: Dresden Germany

Bike: -Mason Bokeh V1, has seen maaany Gravel Paths in maaany years - thx Dom ;-) -since years - Beast Components GR25 Wheelset 650b, Rene Herse 48mm Juniper Ridge Standard Tires - love them -Beast Components Gravel Bar & Beast C. MTB Stem - best Gravelbar/Flare Combi - no numb hands -Sram Force Brakes / Chainset - 11 speed 42, Oval Chainring, Ergon Saddle, old Shimano Road SPD Peddals

Key items of kit: -good Mp3 Selection, Cumulus down Sleeping Bag xtralite, Cumulus Bivy Bag -Therm A Rest Neo Air X-Lite -Lupine SLX Light, Nitcore Powerbank, Trinking Vest, Chimpanzee Gels & Bars -Sudocrem against AssPain, -Full Velocio Apparel Kit sice years, love them! -Repair Kit, TPU Tubes, Medicin Stuff, 1 spair BoxerShort -Fuji X-100V Camera for all these beautiful views & people

Arne Köhler

Age: 31

Location: Hamburg, Germany

Bike: Custom Klein Attitude Comp 2002 - Conti Race King 27,5x2,2" tubeless on Custom Wheel Set with Hope Pro4 Hubs - Ritchey MTB Carbon Fork - Ritchey Comp Kyote Bar - Mix of XT/XTR 1x12 Group with 34x10/51T - Magura MT5 Brakes - Hope Headset and Seat Clamp - ergon Carbon Suspension Seatpost - Selle Italia SLR Saddle - Garmin Rally XC200 pedals

Key items of kit: blackburn frame bag - capsules top tube bag - topeak handlebar and seat bags - camelbag hydration pack with 2l capacity - down jacket for the cold peaks and nights - for a good sleep: big agnes sleeping pad, down sleeping bag and ortovox emergency bivy

Martin Konrad

Age: 56

Location: Imst, Austria

Bike: Open up, Sram Force eTap AXS, X01, Eagle, Notubes ZTR Crest MK3 29, WTB Byway TCS 28“ 40-622

Key items of kit: Apidura Expedition Saddle Pack, Bolt-On Top Tube Pack, Food Pouch, Handlebar Pack, Lupine SL AF 7

Julian Koschik

Age: 38

Cap number: 11

Location: Leichlingen, Germany

Bike: I’ll ride my Storck Grix 2 Pro as a Mullet. 1x12 SRAM Red XPLR groupset, a 36T chainring and a 10/50 XX1 cassette, waxed chain. Zipp 303XPLRSW wheels fitted with tubeless 45mm WTB Vulpine S.

Key items of kit: Full Restrap Race kit bags, Garmin Edge 840 solar, Sea to Summit SP0, Nitecore Carbo 10000 Powerbank, Evoc Hydration Vest 1,5L, Oakley photochromic sunglasses, Lupine Piko mount on the helmet + Blika on stem mount for riding.

Philipp Böckmann

Age: 27

Location: Münster

Bike: Rose Bonero Tank 2

Key items of kit: Down pants Pokémon Deck Healing stones Full set of spokes

Martin Knapp

Age: 36

Location: Freiburg, Germany

Bike: Having started cycling in the hilly Taunus in 2016 and living at the foot of the black forest for 3 years, now, I am no stranger to inclines. Shifting my focus on and off the road to longer and longer day rides and introducing bikepacking to the game in 2019 started my obsession with route planning. Consider me a komoot ultra. Having helped to make the Orbit360 routes even more enjoiable, I had an early glance at Rapha's newest project and the hype never let me go. I have ridden a few Orbits and enjoyed a couple of trips of up to seven days (e.g. Route des Grandes Alpes) in central Europe over the years, but the SNEAK PEAKS ENTRÉE is going to be my first bikepacking race and surely also my biggest challenge so far.

I built this bike just recently, so I unfortunately do not have a better picture, yet. This bike is specifically built for adventures. It is a Genesis Vagabond drop bar MTB steel frame with a fully mechanical Apex 1*11 groupset (30t) that I tweaked with a Deore 11-46 cassette to get me up to those SNEAK PEAKS. The wheels are heavy and somewhat wide aluminium DTSwiss Gravel LN I lifted from my Canyon Grail AL and they do the job. They get stopped by TRP Spyre brakes with 180/160mm discs. I run 2.25" Mezcals - with tubes - and about 1.2/1.3bar. As a roady I could not resist to fit 40cm wide, only slightly flared bars and slam that 100mm stem. The ride is still more than comfy, though. Another roady thing might be my Favero Powermeters. This bike is not light, but it suits my demands. It is a finisher and I love it!

Key items of kit: I fitted a mix of my old Ortlieb bags and my two newer frame bags from Apidura's Backcountry series plus a tool bottle under the downtube. It can still carry three 950ml bottles on the fork and seattube and for supermarket pillages I will borrow my girlfriend's Apidura musette. I navigate with a Garmin Edge 530 supported by Garmin's powerbank mounted to its bottom. For SNEAK PEAKS I will ride Vaude AM Tsali Mid STX shoes for long-term comfort, wheather protection and hike-a-bike-ability.

Richard Schroeder

Age: 34

Cap number: 1

Location: Ingolstadt

Bike: Cervelo Aspero 5, SRAM AXS Mullet 36t x 10-52t, Fulcrum Rapid Red Carbon and Panaracer Gravelking SK 43C, Control Tech Sirocco Aero Bars

Key items of kit: Apidura 1l Toptube Bag, Apidura 5,6l Frame Bag, Apidura 17l Saddle Bag, Apidura Hydration Vest, Lupine Piko R4 and LEZYNE Strip STVO35. MSR E-bivy, Forclaz MT500 air mattresses, Sea to Summit Spark sleeping bag

Markus Kauf

Age: 36

Cap number: 29

Location: Berlin

Bike: I'll be riding my precious Fairlight Secan 2.5 in my not very light Gravel Randonneuring setup, going for the Party Pace!

Key items of kit: Equipped with 50 mm Tires with TA Specialite Chain rings 44/28 in the front and 11-42t Cassette in the back, hoping to have a okay-ish gear ratio to tackle the climbs. I have a broad mix of bike packing bags from Ortlieb and Restrap, but also a self made Frame bag and Rando-Frontbag for the Snacks.

The sleeping-kit is stored in the fork packs with a tent on the rear-rack. For the lighting I'll be relying on my SP Dynamo-Hub and Decathlon HL 900 Headlamps.

I'll be also carrying a hydration backpack with 2.5l and for additional capacity two 750 ml bottles.

Maya Christofori

Age: 32

Location: Berlin

Bike: 8bar Ti Drachenberg HT Mountainbike

DT Swiss F232 One suspension fork DT Swiss XR 1700 29" Rims Front: Schwalbe Racing Ralph / Back: Schwalbe Thunder Burt Shimano XT 32 / 52

Key items of kit: complete custom made ultra-light GRAMM TOUR-PACKING rig (front roll, top tube bag, full frame bag, seat bag)

Jona Riechmann

Age: 37

Cap number: 44

Location: Munich

Bike: Bombtrack Cale AL in Monster Gravel Mode For Party Pacing:

32 oval paired with 10-51. WTB Ranger 2.25 tubeless . SQ Lab 614 saddle, innerbarends and grips. Aerobars. Seido Carbon Fork.

Key items of kit: Set of Ortlieb Bags. Sleeping system (Exped Ultra 1R mat, Spark SP 1 Down Sleeping bag, SOL Emergenc Bivy). Supernova Dynamo Lights M99 DY pro, E3 taillight. Stoots Headlamp. Rain Gear. Hydration Vest.