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All-new Lauf Anywhere road bike smooths any ride with “Just A Fork”

new Lauf Anywhere all road and gravel bike with normal fork and smoothie carbon handlebar
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The new Lauf Anywhere all-road bike brings the brand’s character and ride quality on a new adventure, using a traditional unsprung fork and (finally, officially) introducing their fantastic Smoothie carbon handlebar. Created to expand their reach to more surfaces and more riders, the new Anywhere is a glossy way to ride any kind of road. Here’s the details…

It starts with “Just A Fork”

new Lauf Anywhere all road and gravel bike with normal fork and smoothie carbon handlebar

We’ll start at the front, because the most obvious “new” thing for something from Lauf is the lack of their trademark composite leaf spring fork. Called JAF (for “Just A Fork”), the carbon fork provides three bolts on each leg to hold a variety of mini-racks, accessory mounts or bottle cages.

new Lauf Anywhere all road and gravel bike with normal fork and smoothie carbon handlebar

The fork will be sold separately, too, with a retail of $540, in a gray/black colorway. Features include 700x45mm or 27.5×2.1″ tire clearance, 400mm axle-to-crown, and 45mm rake. Aftermarket, it’ll be offered with both 15×100 and 12×100 thru axle options (distinct forks for each, no inserts or swappable parts), a 160mm max rotor, and has a rider weight limit of 243lb (110kg). Claimed weight is 435g with 200mm 1.125-to-1.5″ tapered carbon steerer tube.

But will it blend?

Up top is their new Smoothie handlebar, which we were the first to test as a prototype all the way back in fall 2017. What sets it apart is the shape, using an uncharacteristic-for-carbon 90º bend at the ends, making an abrupt turn out to the hoods. Not only does it look good (to us, anyway), it’s incredibly comfortable. The result is a nice, straight bar to grab hold of when standing and sprinting, but also a larger effective platform to rest your palms that (for us, anyway) resulted in less hot spots or pressure points.

lauf smoothie all-road gravel bike drop bar handlebar with ergonomic flat top

It’s called Smoothie because it blends S2 glass fibers into the bar’s center, helping to damp vibrations and bumps before they reach the stem. The shape has a 16º flare to the drops for solid wrist clearance, a mild 3º backsweep for a good hand position on the tops, and 80mm reach and 125mm drop. Claimed weight is ~240g, also available separately for $220. Options are 40/42/44cm widths with corresponding drop widths of 47/49/51cm.

About that bike…

new Lauf Anywhere all road and gravel bike with normal fork and smoothie carbon handlebar

The frame borrows the aesthetic of their True Grit gravel bike, then makes a few changes to give it a more road-worthy demeanor. That said, the geometry uses their “Long For Speed” concept that takes a cue from modern trail bike design by marrying a longer effective top tube with a shorter stem. They say this, plus the rest of the geometry, makes for a bike that’s both stable at speed and able to pick its way around tight stuff when necessary.

new Lauf Anywhere all road and gravel bike with normal fork and smoothie carbon handlebar

The frame uses internal guides to make cable and hose routing easy…just slide them into the headtube’s ports and they’ll magically pop out at the rear brake and derailleurs. Speaking of which, all complete bikes will be sold as 1x builds, but…

lauf true grit and anywhere road gravel bike bottle opener front derailleur mount

You can remove the included bottle opener and add a front derailleur mount if you wanted to make it a 2x road bike. Along the frame are three bottle cage mounts, but that’s about it…it’s meant to be a speedy bike that could take a frame and saddle bag plus a few fork carriers, but not a full on bike packing rig.

new Lauf Anywhere all road and gravel bike with normal fork and smoothie carbon handlebar

If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s sharing the same frame as their True Grit gravel bike, just without the Grit suspension fork. This changes the geometry to more of a road bike (3mm lower stack, 4mm longer reach, 0.5º steeper head and seat angles), but allows you to swap in the Grit fork when it’s time to get rowdy.

The bike ships with a 12×142 rear and 15×100 front thru axle and will come in four complete bike builds ranging from $2,690 up to $5,340 before paint options. Stock colors include Black/Red, Black/Blue and Black/Gray, or you can customize it:

lauf anywhere custom colors paint upgrade options

Or go full custom for $2,000 plus additional shipping.

Lauf Anywhere geometry, pricing and specs

lauf anywhere all road gravel bike geometry chart and size options

complete bike build options and component specs for 2019 Lauf Anywhere gravel road bike

Bikes are starting end of March in the “Race” and “Weekend Warrior” builds, with the “Core” models following in April. Click images to enlarge specs and geo charts. Which gives you plenty of time to train on it you’re looking for somewhere to push them (and you) to the limits, head over to Iceland this summer for their inaugural The Rift gravel epic. Or just find an event closer to home where they’ll be demoing bikes, they have a full list under ‘Events’ on their website.

LaufCycling.com

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RightSadFred
RightSadFred
5 years ago

“It’s called Smoothie because it blends S2 glass fibers into the bar’s center, helping to damp vibrations and bumps before they reach the stem.”

Yeah all that ride discomfort your bike is feeling comes from the rider.

Big Randy
Big Randy
5 years ago

Lauf not putting their signature fork on their own bike doesn’t speak very well for that component… I get the need to appeal to the mass market but to me that sends mixed messages.

Good looking bike though..

mudrook
mudrook
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Randy

Just because they made their name with the sprung fork doesn’t mean they have to stick with that. Obviously the complete bike was a success, and they want to run with it.

David
David
5 years ago
Reply to  Big Randy

The grit fork tracks well cornering and soaks up vibrations so well you can ride longer and faster. It’s well worth the .9lbs

Greg
Greg
5 years ago

Bike should ship with the 12mm fork. No road bikes use 15mm forks. The use of 15 up front will limit wheel options as well.

Edward Ng
Edward Ng
5 years ago
Reply to  Greg

My 2017 Raleigh RXC is a road bike (okay, it’s a cyclocross bike) and it came with a 15mm front thru axle.

-Ed

Jim E
Jim E
5 years ago

Wow, those head tubes sure are short relative to the top tubes.

Kayce
Kayce
5 years ago
Reply to  Jim E

It would be nice if there was an entire paragraph explaining why the bikes have a longer top tube than most at that size. It would be really cool if that paragraph said “That said, the geometry uses their “Long For Speed” concept that takes a cue from modern trail bike design by marrying a longer effective top tube with a shorter stem. They say this, plus the rest of the geometry, makes for a bike that’s both stable at speed and able to pick its way around tight stuff when necessary.”

Re-ride66
Re-ride66
5 years ago
Reply to  Kayce

Kayce maybe you could translate that back in Icelandic? Second languages don’t always translate.

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
5 years ago
Reply to  Kayce

Are you serious with the “Long For Speed” concept / theory. Because those are some long-ass top tubes. What makes a bike even faster than a top tube length based on enduro hype, is a bike that actually fits properly.

Earl
Earl
5 years ago
Reply to  Eggs Benedict

The top tubes are not overly long. In fact they are within a couple mm of nearly every frame on the market. 588mm for a Large is spot on.
Or…if that isn’t good enough…
Possibly people in Iceland have longer upper body dimensions and are also more flexible than the rest of the world. I’ve heard it has something to do with the earth being flat and Iceland being in the realtive center of mass.

Eggs Benedict
Eggs Benedict
5 years ago
Reply to  Earl

The medium size is about 25mm longer than a typical medium sized top tube.

That being said, your Icelandic torso hypothesis is probably the correct answer.

Seraph
Seraph
5 years ago

Not sure where you’re getting the 90 degree bend figure, but those don’t look more flared than the 12 degree Whiskey bars I’ve been running for a while now.

Celest Greene
Celest Greene
5 years ago
Reply to  Seraph

The 90 degree elbow is as viewed from above, a tight bend from flat to hood area. The Enve G Series is very similar, comfortable in my experience but kind of a bear to wrap cleanly.

Gary
5 years ago
Reply to  Celest Greene

Would have been nice if they included a pic in the article that actually showed the unusual bend mentioned.

briannystrom
briannystrom
5 years ago

They should also have mentioned that the only front derailleurs that can be used on this bike are the SRAM wireless models. There is no provision for mechanical or wired electronic front derailleurs. As with the True Grit, they’ve severely limited options for potential buyers, which seem idiotic.

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