A while back, 3T introduced a new flat mount road bike fork called the Fundi. While the fork was definitely meant for road bike usage and not gravel bikes, it did hint that flat mount changes were on the way for other 3T products as well. Products like the new 3T Exploro Flat Mount. Along with the new frame, the bike gets a new Fango LTD fork to complete the transformation.
Other than the change in brake standard and the new fork, little has changed for the Exploro other than a new, more user friendly seatpost wedge collar. It’s still a very unique bird with a gravel frame that’s meant to accept both 650b and 700c wheels and tires – all in an aerodynamically tuned package. The result seems to work pretty well as the new Exlporo Flat Mount just notched its first victory under Mat Stephens at the Land Run 100 (Mat also won the DK200 on the post mount Exploro). 3T actually points out that to them, flatmount is hardly big news and that they were perfectly happy with the standard but when Shimano pushes a new standard, it’s hard to not follow along.
Italian for mud, the new Fango fork offers a complete redesign with more aerodynamic Sqaero fork legs, internal cable routing, flat mount brake tabs for 140 or 160mm rotors, and dedicated 12mm thru axle dropouts with a Syntace X-12 axle. They also mention that there will be full fender options coming in fall 2018, making us think it will be a custom fender set for the frame and fork.
The Exploro still offers clearance for 700 x 40mm road tires or 650b x 54mm tires for multiple build options based on your preference or needs. Interestingly, 3T lists the Flat Mount frame as 40g heavier than the post mount version at 990g for a medium vs. 950g. However, the new Fango fork is 400g compared to 425g for the Luteus II, meaning there’s only a 15g difference between the two.
The geometry of the bike stays the same with just four sizes offered. Both the Exploro Flat Mount and Exploro will be offered with the Flat Mount versions priced at $200 more per frameset – $3,200 for the Exploro Flat Mount Team, or $4,400 for the Exploro Flat Mount LTD. That makes the complete Exlporo Team post mount Rival build at $3,990 seem like a bargain.
