I must admit, I once was skeptical of the dedicated gravel bike category that has recently emerged, characterized by strange chainstays, oversized tubing and seemingly do-it-all ride feel without doing one thing really well. Another bike characteristic I waffle over is women’s specific design. This “feature” is widely interpreted; some to be applauded and some to be dismissed.
For these reasons, I was a little hesitant when offered an opportunity to test the new Checkpoint SL 5 WSD 49cm gravel bike. At the same time, I am supportive of bikes that encourage people, especially women, to ride more, explore more and fall back in love with child-like adventure. That’s an experience that the gravel bike category surge is either preceding or chasing. Regardless, a do-it-all (or, at least, do-most) bike is compelling and I had to try her out.
I’m a small rider with non-cyclist proportions (short legs, long torso and long arms). I combed through the Checkpoint 49cm’s geometry, focusing on numbers that often give me trouble: 165mm cranks on the small frames, check. Nice moderate reach that’s easily accommodated in both directions, check. Bars with a proportional width, check. Women’s saddle that’s made for women who ride real miles, check. Spin-able compact 50/34 upfront and 11-34 in the rear, check. My saddle height is 64cm and, luckily, the seat mast allowed for the saddle to go low enough (Trek’s seat masts are not designed to be cut). There I had it, an out-of-the-box bike ready for a high desert adventure.
First Ride
Being familiar with Trek’s proven Boone CX, I expected this all-road girl to fly. And she did, right after I slammed the stack. I found the bike stable and easy to accelerate on the paved roads enroute to the trailhead. The Schwalbe G-One tires rolled super nice on pavement. Shimano 105 is trusty, tried and true and felt just as that – an approachable groupset than can do no wrong. It should be said that I’m on the fence with 2x vs 1x drivetrains for gravel bikes. In a perfect world, there is no paved roads between dirt or burning legs into headwind. In this perfect world, 1x rules; simple and clean. But in reality, gravel rides often include long stretches of road, with headwind and long sustained climbs. Here, the small jumps in gear ratios of 2x is awfully nice. I also thought of this bike’s feel with loaded bags. Again, 2x is marginally better for this application.
Once arriving at the trailhead, the Checkpoint spun up the double track climb. No surprises here with with spinny 34×34. The Checkpoint was secure and stable on the dense and smooth doubletrack. A few power moves accelerated the bike with ease. Baby heads and switchbacks emerged as the climb ensued. As I predicted, the Schwalbe G-One 35c tires did not do this bike justice. What was once stable now felt fragile. Don’t get me wrong, the G-One is a great tire, but save it as your road and light gravel set. This bike deserves some 45c WTB Nanos for real adventures. Around the switchbacks, the bike was not quite as nimble as an equally sized ‘cross bike even with the stays shortened via the horizontal sliding dropout. I suppose that’s the price you pay for all-day off-road comfort – a little longer wheelbase is comfortable but not necessarily agile.
Overall Impression
Trek’s IsoSpeed frame design does a great job of muting harsh bumps and vibrations.
Who I Would Recommend This Bike To?
Specs and Features
- Shimano 105 2 x 11-speed
- 500 Series OCLV carbon frame with carbon armor
- Rear IsoSpeed Decoupler
- Full carbon fork
- Schwalbe G-One Tubeless ready tire
- Flat mount disk brakes
- Top tube bag mount, fork mount, rear mount, and vanishing fender mounts
- Tested size holds up to three bottle cages, larger frames can hold up to four
- Asymmetrical drop-stay to fit up to 700×45 tires
- Horizontal sliding dropout accommodates single speed drivetrains as well as 15mm of chainstay length adjustment.
