Obed expands their gravel bike lineup with an all-new aero-inspired GRX, a racer at its heart. Developed and tested at iconic gravel bike events like the Unbound XL and Belgian Waffle Ride, the new GVR was designed for riders looking for that aero speed and integrated advantage, without really sacrificing the all-day comfort and affordability of Obed’s direct-to-consumer carbon gravel bikes…
Obed GVR all-new carbon gravel bike
The new GVR is something of a middle ground between an ultra aero gravel race bike and a fully-loaded, fat tire adventure bikepacking bike. In that in-between, the new Obed GVR looks like a solid all-rounder gravel bike with clean aerodynamic optimization and quick-handling geometry, but not at the expense of fun or some adventure capability.
Aero optimized tube profiles, slightly dropped seatstays, no external cables, rack mounts, fender mounts & plenty of bottle bosses, and room for 48mm tires… everything you need for modern gravel racing or a weekend of friendly bikepacking and gravel riding.
Allrounder, All-Day Gravel Geometry
Geometry of the new bike is very similar, but not an exact copy of Obed’s Boundary – head tube angle & fork offset is unchanged.
It generally tries to shift rider weight forward a bit with a slightly steeper seattube to offset the 10mm shorter chainstays, and a resulting slightly shorter wheelbase overall. But the Stack & Reach numbers are almost the same as before, so fit won’t change much.
Tech details
Obed says the new gravel bike is their lightest & fastest yet. The new carbon GVR has a 1525g claimed frame + fork weight, in all likelihood putting the frame just over 1 kilo. The new carbon gravel bike has 700 x 48mm or 650 x 53mm (2.1″) tire clearance and room for a mid-compact 52/36 road double crankset thanks to the dropped chainstay configuration carried over from their Boundary gravel bike.
It also features a stick-on chainstay protector, generous anti-chainsuck protection, and a down tube protector at the oversized tubing at the T47 threaded bottom bracket.
The frame gets fully internal cable routing through an FSA ACR cockpit & 1.5″ headset, and a removable braze-on front derailleur mount for 1x or 2x build, with either mechanical or electronic shifting. The bike is built for flat mount disc brakes with 140 or 160mm rotors, 12mm thru-axles, and gets a 31.6mm seatpost.
The GVR features two regular bottle mounts inside the main triangle with a three-bolt set on the down tube to optimize an aero setup with either one or two bottles. There’s also a third cage mount under the downtube, but no fork accessory mounts.
Getting a set of toptube bosses is also not standard, but a $55 upcharge you can select when configuring your bike. Fender & rear rack compatibility is also an optional add-on, via an extra $30 removable brace across the seatstays.
Obed GVR gravel – Pricing, options & availability
The new direct-to-consumer GVR is available starting today with several customizable drivetrain, wheel & component options via Obed’s online bike configuration tool. The new GVR frames are offered in your choice of 9 colors, plus 9 fork color choices, 12 logo color & even 6 more accent color options.
All bikes are painted, assembled & shipped from Obed HQ in Chattanooga, TN.
Mix & match to get your own unique look.
A new Obed GVR frameset retails for $2449, and complete bike builds start from just $3795 with Shimano GRX. A lightweight GVR built up with Campagnolo Ekar 1×13 & alloy Spinergy GX wheels starts at $4945, or from $4595 with GRX Di2.
S, M & L bikes are available now, but sizes XS & XL have a longer lead-time. Order consumer-direct from Obed and they’ll ship your custom-built bikes to you within a couple of weeks.
