Lauf Úthald: Average Joe Review
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- An Average Joe Review of the brand new Lauf Uthald. A road bike review from a gravel rider's perspective.
The Lauf Uthald is truly an incredibly capable roadbike. While it comes alive on pavement, this bike is very capable of doing hard gravel and even some single track with a simple change of tires. The Lauf Úthald is great for road cyclists who ride gravel a little bit or for riders looking to add a capable road bike to their stable.
Order yours today at www.LaufCycles.com
I am sooo happy with my 4 month old Lauf Seigla Rigid. I use it for gravel, small gravel races, and group rides on the road. After seeing this new Uthald, I hope to be ordering one in the next few months, despite my wife telling me to get a part time job to fund it...(I start my part time job the day after tomorrow)
Heck yeah! N+1 for life!
I’m 3 rides into my Seigla Rigid and couldn’t be happier. Out the box, I have the race build and the bike is as lite as my Tarmac SL7 comp w RovalC38s. It’s crazy. The value is fantastic. Only note I would give is for people who want “one bike to rule them all.” Can you ride it on the road, sure. But for me, it’s a true gravel bike, built for shredding on gravel, focused all the way. It feels so perfect on the rocks and dirt roads, the climbs and the downhills, the mud. But as soon as you get on the Tarmac, it’s a little bouncy in the back for my taste. Maybe it’s the low air pressure I run or the 45 tires that comes on the bike. Maybe it’s because I’m a bigger rider. Maybe some stiff 38 tires running high pressure would help, but then you take away the jam of the bike made for gravel. I would just caution that you aren’t getting something along the lines of a stiff cyclocross like the Crux. My experience with the Seigla rigid is that you’re buying the best value, epic gravel bike and you will not want for more.
I really don't dig the aesthetics of Lauf's bikes, but it's great to see more higher end bikes with non-proprietary, serviceable seat posts and handle bars, especially for a great price.
Agree on making a bike with serviceable parts and using formats that allow for easier swaps of parts.
What aesthetically are you looking for? Or don't like on the Laufs? Just curious.
I think it's mostly the mix of aero- and non-aero features, like the tear drop shaped steerer tube that just doesn't match the otherwise pretty slim features of the bike. Also the seat stays are dropped way to low :D I like very classical looking bikes like the Aethos or full on aero designs (even though I wouldn't buy them), but everything in between looks kind of strange to me.
That’s fair. I will say the dropped seat stays are more aero dynamic, but most importantly it creates way more comfort in the rear of the bike. It’s drawn from the gravel side of things and it’s way more comfortable. One of their phrases is “Comfortable is Fast” and it shows on this bike.
I'm somewhat sceptical about dropped seat stays making a bike more comfortable. It's hard to tell for me because I haven't had any similar enough frames, one with regular seat stays, one with dropped, to compare, but just from a logical stand point I don't see how a tube that is fixed in three places is supposed to allow more flex than a tube that is fixed in only two.
That's fair. But if you push on the seat like you would to test a rear shock, there is about 15mm of flex in the seat that's very noticeable coming from older bikes with older carbon technologies. @@nekekaminger
I didn't think much to it when I saw this on their website. (i have a Lauf Truegrit in the gorgeous Gravelnauts colourway) However seeing it here it looks awesome. I really like this blue too! hopefully they bring out some naughtier colours and I might be tempted.
Seriously considering this bike as I don't have a dedicated road bike. I've got a Trek Checkpoint that I swap out wheels with road slicks when I'm on the tarmac. The price of this bike compared to the other brands with similar specs is almost impossible to believe.
The price point really is incredible. But it really is a top tier road back and I would be shocked to find a better built and more capable road bike for the price.
What tires did you ride on the gravel?
I was using the Panaracer Gravel King 35c. I was riding the slick gravel kings. So looks like a road tire, but has good tire protection and is tubeless from the gravel king side.
Great review! I saw down below that this is a medium; how tall are you and did you feel it fit you well? I ordered a medium myself but am almost to the height for a large and I'm hoping I made the right choice.
I'm 5'9"/5'10" on a good day. I have average legs with long arms than average. It feels really good and I don't have the stem slammed as much as usual so there's plenty more aero in bike fit if I wanted faster.
Can you please shoot videos horizontally?
I always record the reviews vertical to better fit other platforms. I would upload it as a "short", but youtube has a 90 second limit.
Which size is the bike that was reviewed? And what is the weight without addons and pedals?
Size Medium. Full pound lighter without cages, pedals, and mounts. So about 17.5 lbs out of the box. This is the Higher of the 2 current spec builds so that includes the carbon wheels on the higher build.
When you say unofficially 38mm. Is that 38mm WAM? how much clearance do you have left? What tires are on there in this video?
I have 32s on in this video. I spent most of the time riding with 35s. With 38s there is about 2mm of clearance on each side in the back. So it would have essentially no mud clearance if you were riding gravel.
I didn't use a caliper to measure actual width. These are all measurements on the tire of the Panaracer Gravel King Slicks.
Im 6'2" - at this height I'm at the top end of the range for a Large frame. Is it best to size up to XL or stick with the L?
Great question! Some of this will be personal preference if you like your frames to be on the small or large size. I'd recommend messaging Lauf on their live chat on www.Lauf.com. They are usually really responsive on there.
Or I'd recommend messaging on the "Lauf Owners Club" on facebook. There is an awesome community there that might have someone in your exact situation on which to get. :)
Best of luck!
I'm really said that by the time it reaches my doorstep, it would end up costing around 7k USD for the Force model :(.
It's $4,690 for the Force model. I'm pretty sure they're building them in Virginia, so it's not like you're stuck with crazy import taxes.
@@robd003 I live in Hungary :)
Shipping prices have been updated on the website. Not sure if it benefits you on the shipping side now.
Maybe comfy but that is by far and away the ugliest carbon road bike I have ever seen.