Long-time builders of adventure-ready expedition bikes, new Tout Terrain Vasco GT gravel bikes turns their world touring chops to exploring those backroads closer to home. Gravel bikes are the modern mixed-surface all-rounders, so it seems natural for Tout Terrain to offer steel bikes tailor-made to opening up new routes to ride local dirt & gravel, too.
Tout Terrain Vasco GT steel gravel bikes
The new Vasco falls into the Tout Terrain X.Over crossover series of everything from Pinion hardtail bikepacking mountain bikes to drop bar all-road tourers to… well, gravel bikes. Much like they’ve done on touring and expedition bikes, the Tout Terrain Vasco GT gravel bikes come with your choice of wheel size to suit your style of adventure – pick 275 for rougher terrain or 28 for more speed.
Ready for after work mini adventures, or multi-day bikepacking tours, the Vasco builds on Tout Terrain expedition expertise to create a no-nonsense versatile performance gravel bike platform.
Adventure & bikepacking-ready gravel geometry
“Quick, yet comfortable, with… unmatched adaptability”, much like their expedition bikes, the Tout Terrain Vasco gravel bikes are built blend speed and comfort, to take on just about any riding over hard-packed terrain. Both 27.5″ builds with 47mm tires and 28″ (700c) builds with 40mm tires share the same frameset, so the same geometry – in four stock sizes.
But the difference in tire diameter does have some minor impacts that will tweak the ride feel in either mode. The 28″ setup will both increase standover and raise the bottom bracket off the ground by more than 1cm vs. the smaller 27.5″ tires, also lengthening trail by about 4mm for an ever-so-slightly more stable ride.
Vasco Gravel – Tech details
The gravel Tout Terrain Vasco frames are welded in Taiwan from Stratocrom double-butted chromoly tubing, then customized in Germany. The steel frames feature tons of mounting points for bags & accessories, with a pair of conventional cage mounts inside the front triangle, another set under the downtube, direct bag-mounting under the toptube, and full rear rack & fender mounts.
The Vasco is built for flat mount disc brakes with 12mm thru-axles, and includes Tout Terrain’s integrated Ergo-Stop II headset steerer stop to protect cables & the frame when you are loaded down. The steel frame has a claimed weight of 2160g (unpainted Medium), and has clearance for up to 700x47mm (1.75″) or 650x54mm (2.1″) tires.
The Vasco features classic standards like a threaded bottom bracket, external cable routing with downtube stops, 27.2mm seatpost, and external headset cups for a straight 1 1/8″ steerer fork.
Three different forks are available depending on the build you select, including the basic steel Allroad Fork with dynamo routing/light mount & fender tabs; the steel Expedition Fork that adds 3-pack anything cage mounts to each leg, plus full rack, fender & dynamo lighting compatibility; or the full carbon Cinq Touring Fork II with all of the same mounting options, slightly larger tire clearance and interchangeable 12mm/15mm thru-axle dropouts at less the half the weight of either steel fork options.
Tout Terrain Vasco GT – Options, pricing & availability
While there are two basic models based on wheelsize, there are “numerous options” of each with plenty of opportunity to customize your complete bike further. All of the frames are painted and then built up one-by-one in Gundelfingen in the southwest corner of Germany, so you get exactly what you need.
The most affordable Vasco GT Select 21.1 complete builds starts at 1890€ with either wheelsize, the Allroad fork and a Shimano 105 2×11 groupset.
And they top out with Vasco GT Select 21.3 builds featuring a GRX RX600 1×11 build with the carbon Cinq Touring Fork II and DT Swiss alloy wheels.
Tout Terrain says all models are available for pre-order now through their dealer network, with the first complete bikes landing on your shop’s floor at the start of 2021.
