Rock Lobster Team Gravel Racer

Built for a race that never was.

This one’s been hanging in the rafters for the last 18 months. I probably would not have built it up if I didn’t have a day to myself this Memorial Day weekend. Luckily, I had ordered all the parts for it nearly two years ago, because you can’t even get an 11-speed chain these days. I was just short one Di2 wire!

This Rock Lobster was originally built for my friend Ron. I saw it for the first time at Terún, while sipping an espresso. I think I was riding the Garbage Gravel bike for that ride. I was more than a little bit jealous of Ron’s new ride.

Turns out, Ron doesn’t like gravel as much as us old mountain bikers.

He ended getting yet another high-end road bike, and moved the SRAM Red AXS parts over. I traded him my Campagnolo Record kit and a bit of cash for the frameset. We’re basically the same height, so it was like getting a custom-made frameset for half off. The rest of the build budget went towards the latest Shimano GRX Di2 groupset. I had the Giant SLR-0/1 carbon wheelset, and got the limited-edition 2020 green tires from the fine folks at Panaracer.

Funny enough, the Shimano XTR Di2 rear derailleur, display and battery came off my as-yet-unfinished mountain bike. I decided to go with SRAM’s new wireless AXS kit on that to simplify routing. A new rainbow cassette for the MTB means this Shimano XTR titanium cassette goes on the gravel bike.

The celeste w/blue stripe saddle was a rare find, probably from an older Bianchi. Finishing kit is all S-Works; carbon Hover bars, stem and carbon seatpost. I used a few ‘bling bits’ that I like, from the gold top cap, gold BB, DKG collar, MASH spacers and black bolts for all three bottle cage locations.

Even if I’m never going to do a gravel race, “Unbound’’ was a good excuse to build up a ridiculous fifth gravel bike. I think I’ll end up selling the other ones.

This Lobstah’s all mine now!