New 2023 Diverge

[robbosmans]

I think its a fair comparison. You can easily put drops on a mtb. People do it a lot here in Belgium/ Nederlands. Mainly for beach racing. Lael wilcox also does it.
The diverge is supposed to be the comfort oriented gravel bike for long adventure or rough trails. I think a setup like this comes very close

[RDY]

I know that usual response from some people to gravel bikes is "just buy a hardtail" but in the case of the new Diverge, I'm just not sure what it does that a hardtail wouldn't be better at? A hardtail would have less proprietary stuff on it for one.

At the RRP you can get a hardtail that is lighter and cheaper then this Diverge or get the Crux, it just doesn't make much sense to me.

How many times have you seen someone on a hardtail drop a field of drop bar bikes in a gravel race?

On pretty much every slightly gnarlier one, ones with even non-technical singletrack, ones where there are long technical climbs, ones where grip is a major issue. Except there are usually hardly any drop bar bikes in these races, let alone a field of them. All the contenders run MTBs on these courses, despite XC MTBs being massive overkill in terms of travel and ability to handle gnar .. though obviously most run short travel FS rather than short travel hardtails - mainly due to not many people owning the latter nowadays.

See the 'MTB race' which Jasper Verkuijl just published. About as non-gnarly as you could get, and large sections of road, bike path and smooth gravel. But very few were riding gravel bikes, because grip (mechanical and tires) is way better on MTBs, and over the few rough sections in a long race, it really helps not to get shaken around. 7 hours and over 30kmh average speed, and as flat as you'd imagine in NL, yet MTBs ruled the roost. Gravel bikes can be faster 90% of the time, then lose minutes on 5 or 10% of the course. It's one of the reasons why you see a lot of gravel races but technical / singletrack / low traction areas shortly before the finish. Because if it was early - I.E. where selections are made - the majority of people would be running XC bikes, and that isn't what the industry and sponsors want. They want to sell higher margin gravel bikes, and 'gravel' is sexier than 'endurance MTB'.

When I get my XC bike built up, I'm expecting to decimate the KOM on a local flat 20km gravel loop. It's bumpy, some areas strewn with rocks, some pretty loose, though the majority is smooth gravel - average speed over 30kmh and elevation gain about 8m. Yeah you're losing gearing efficiency and a small amount of aero efficiency (very small with an XC bike with inner bar ends), but the rougher sections and loose off camber corners are where the big time is made or lost. But by the same token, this assumes that I don't have a huge headwind and then a huge tailwind, in which case the gravel bike would be much faster as I'd run out of gears on the MTB. And it might be a one and done, because I don't want to do 40km (round) on roads on the MTB, so will almost always ride the gravel bike there.

Anyway, XC bikes frequently are faster on gravel. Just not smoother-than-asphalt 'hero gravel'. But this Diverge appears to be a severely compromised gravel bike, with none of the advantages of an XC mtb.

Straight 1.5" steerer tubes are getting more and more common on XC bikes. That way you have cable integration if you want it, and can run drop bars on a bike that can handle low traction and technical stuff way better.

[spartacus]

IDK man the reality of the situation is gravel bikes are faster on mixed surface races/rides and that's why so many gravel races are won on gravel bikes, not mountain bikes. IMHO it's hubris to expect to crush a KOM on an XC bike that someone got with a gravel bike. We have some gravel races around here that pros show up on and for the most part thy're going as fast as a strong amateur XC racer on all but maybe the most extreme parts of the course; then doing 22+ mph on pavement. I know for a fact that it becomes a huge issue to maintain peloton speeds on a MTB.

[RDY]

IDK man the reality of the situation is gravel bikes are faster on mixed surface races/rides and that's why so many gravel races are won on gravel bikes, not mountain bikes. IMHO it's hubris to expect to crush a KOM on an XC bike that someone got with a gravel bike. We have some gravel races around here that pros show up on and for the most part thy're going as fast as a strong amateur XC racer on all but maybe the most extreme parts of the course; then doing 22+ mph on pavement. I know for a fact that it becomes a huge issue to maintain peloton speeds on a MTB.

1) They're demonstrably faster on a lot of 'gravel' rides. Also as I already mentioned, 'gravel' course designers tend to avoid selections where gravel bikes are slow ... so many have singletrack just before the finish, where it's too far in to matter re: bike choice. This is not a coincidence.

2) The someone who holds the KOM is already me. If there's no wind, or light wind, I should shatter it on the MTB. Head and tailwind (where I make up time with tail) won't be possible as I'd need to be going too fast on some sections for the MTB gearing.

[spartacus]

So the moral of the story is get a MTB if you're riding mostly off road, get a gravel bike if you plan on riding on pavement at high speeds but also want to be able to ride off road.

[RDY]

So the moral of the story is get a MTB if you're riding mostly off road, get a gravel bike if you plan on riding on pavement at high speeds but also want to be able to ride off road.

The Diverge STR is a badly compromised and probably unreliable gravel bike at a huge cost, pretending it offers some of the benefits of an FS bike when in reality it offers close to none, along with a host of drawbacks they won't suffer from ...

[OnTheRivet]

IDK man the reality of the situation is gravel bikes are faster on mixed surface races/rides and that's why so many gravel races are won on gravel bikes, not mountain bikes. IMHO it's hubris to expect to crush a KOM on an XC bike that someone got with a gravel bike. We have some gravel races around here that pros show up on and for the most part thy're going as fast as a strong amateur XC racer on all but maybe the most extreme parts of the course; then doing 22+ mph on pavement. I know for a fact that it becomes a huge issue to maintain peloton speeds on a MTB.

Did Rebecca's private Idaho in 2015. Group of 10 racers ( two mtb's) fighting for 5th place heading toward the climb out on a fast downhill dirt road. Both mountainbikers were dropped as they spun out as we pushed the pace.

[maquisard]

It looks like the sort of bike I would like to hire and ride on a gravel bike vacation. It does not look like the sort of bike I would like to own - too many things to break!

[oldmac]

It looks like the sort of bike I would like to hire and ride on a gravel bike vacation. It does not look like the sort of bike I would like to own - too many things to break!

I get the same idea with you. I would like to hire this Diverge STR for some vacation riding，but I won't buy it. It is too expansive and complicated, it will be hard to service it.

[satanas]

A Shockstop stem and Ergon post would be way more cost effective, require virtually zero service, and fit most existing bikes...

[yinzerniner]

A Shockstop stem and Ergon post would be way more cost effective, require virtually zero service, and fit most existing bikes...

That or a Cane Creek post and stem setup would probably cost the same and be roughly as effective as the Specialized nonsense.

Gotta love that you can get a Crux, an outgoing Diverge and an Epic for the same price of the S-Works Diverge, and all three will spank it whatever discipline or surface you decide to ride.

[JHeiro]

After a couple of rides with my S-Works Diverge STR (including one 120km of full gas on pretty rough surfaces), I can say that the suspension works as advertised. You really don't feel it at all when riding. When climbing off the saddle there's a slight bob on the front Future Shock, but nothing too dramatic. Didn't feel any need to lock the suspension, even when riding on tarmac, and this is from someone coming from a road background.

The best way to describe the feeling of the suspension is conversation with your ride buddies during the rough sketches. They complain about teeth-rattling washboards, and you wonder what they're talking about.

The bike seen here is a 54cm S-Works frameset, built with SRAM Red AXS 42x10-44, Beast Components wheels, stem & gravel bar, Rene Herse Manastash Ridge 700x44 tyres. Weight 8270g without pedals, bottle cages or Garmin mount.

For reference, I also have an S-Works Crux, Ridley Kanzo Fast, 3T Exploro Racemax & Exploro LTD. For anything rougher than Cat3 gravel this would be my bike of choice.