Monarch grind 2025 bike set-up & recap
By: Trent Roberts, winner of 2025 Monarch Grind
As long as the monarch grind race has been happening and I’ve worked at the shop, it’s always been the question of what bike to ride. With it being part of the Panhandle Gravel Series, it seems obvious to bring the gravel bike, but after a quick look over the course of asking anyone who has ridden it, it becomes a much harder question.
With many sections being very rough washed out, old logging roads turned into roads mostly used by ATVers and little to no maintenance, they have become quite the experience to take a gravel bike on — the experience being very hard on the neck, back, arms, legs, the list goes on and on. It may seem like any easy choice to just take the mountain bike out for the race, but the really rough section is only a third of the course — the rest is fast, smooth gravel with over 7,000 ft. of climbing. This makes it very hard to justify bringing the mountain bike out.
So, that brings up the question of what bike to ride for the monarch grind, which, as you can imagine, is a very popular question we get asked at the shop in the weeks leading up to the race.
This year being my first year being able to race the grind, I also asked myself the same question.
I gathered info from my co-workers at Syringa Cyclery, ideas from the racers at Unbound gravel, Leadville 100, and many other places. After pre-riding the course with co-workers and friends on my fully ridged gravel bike that I intended to race, I realized the gravel bike would need more give. Also, during that ride, there were a few different set ups being used:
Charles (owner of syringa cyclery) who had just recently put a suspension fork on his gravel bike
David (friend of the shop and strong rider in the community ) had put a light XC mtb race tires on his bike for more cushioning. Grip, and better puncture resistance.
After making it to the bottom of the main descent and seeing how they didn't seem as beat and battered as I was, it seemed like a good option. Not too soon after I found myself purchasing a Suntour gvx gravel bike fork and some Continental Race King tires to add to my Canyon Grizl which already had dropper set-up from Canyon.
The reason I chose the Suntour gvx was mainly price with it being also half the price of a rock shox rudy (rock shoxs gravel fork) while only being about 500 grams heavier than rock shox’s and having very similar performance.
My other purchase was the coni race kings which this year have become very popular in gravel racing for the puncture resistance, speed, and comfort. I mainly chose them because of their reviews from pro racers gave them as their main gravel tire so I knew they were a tire that would be as fast as a gravel tire while offering a smoother ride and better puncher resistance.
My race day set up:
2022 Canyon Grizl
11-speed GRX group set
Suntour gvx 60mm travel fork
Canyon 90mm dropper
DT swiss G1800 wheel set
Conti race king tires
After racing the course, I felt like I had a very solid bike for the race. The fork felt like it absorbed a lot of the bumps along with the tires which also helped with grip while also being fast. The gravel bike itself, being better geared then a mountain bike, gave me a higher top end speed thanks to the bigger chain ring but also keept me in a more aero position.
I would definitely bring the same bike next year because of its speed and comfort.
