With 159 color choices obtainable, Chris settled for gray. Nonetheless, the Spot does look very cool.
(Picture credit score: Future)
I’m a late convert to gravel. I’ve moved on from considering they’re simply hybrid bikes with drop-down handlebars, repackaged within the title of promoting, however I’m nonetheless sceptical. Certainly they can’t be as quick on the street as, you recognize, street bikes, and absolutely they can’t be pretty much as good on trails as mountain bikes.
So after I acquired supplied the chance to check a do-it-all gravel bike from Guava for a month, I knew this was the second after I’d both make peace with the thriving self-discipline that isn’t so new anymore, or additional place myself as a late-20-something dinosaur, immune to development.
To the shock of nobody who has a gravel bike, it solely took me one spin to be satisfied. And the Guava Spot Power AXS is so good that I’m now asking myself why on earth I even want a street bike after I can simply swap street wheels and tyres in for his or her gravel equal. Secure to say, I’ve been gained over.
There’s a bit rise and flare on the bars, however nothing too drastic, which fits its versatile character. The WTB tyres are 45mm.
(Picture credit score: Future)
Development
Don’t fear, you’re not the one one who’s by no means heard of Guava. Launched in March 2022, they function out of Barcelona and Girona in northern Spain, the creation of two buddies, one American, one Spanish. Their three fashions are common sights on Catalan gravel, however up to now they’ve not but breached the broader worldwide market. That’s in all probability about to vary.
I examined a medium Guava Spot Power AXS (the model’s costliest of their three fashions) in a gray/black colourway, however I may have chosen one other 159 color choices. Driving a 40T entrance chainring and carbon cranks, the bike comes outfitted with the Sram Power AXS, a drivetrain that provides an enormous vary for steep gradients; there are 12 sprockets on the again, the biggest counting 50T, in any other case recognized in biking parlance as a dinner plate.
Threaded with inside cables and hydraulic disc brakes, it’s each bit a modern-day bike as you’d hope for, packaged collectively in a easy, neat and good design. The body, handlebars (that aren’t so flared) and Volte carbon wheels are all designed in-house, reinforcing the native bike store really feel to the bike.
Chris’ bike was outfitted with 12-speed Sram Power AXS, with a 40t chainring on the entrance. The most important rear sprocket is 50t.
(Picture credit score: Future)
Able to working a dropper publish and with a tyre clearance of 50mm (I had 45mm WTB tyres), it’s arrange for probably the most tough of mountain bike terrain, whereas concurrently being mild sufficient at 8.8kg that it will possibly eat up the street very quickly. For a lot of, gravel driving equals bikepacking, and the Guava Spot comes outfitted with three bottle mounts, and prime tube, rack and fender bolts. The cargo door, with a magnetic latch field on the down tube, cleverly hides fundamental instruments and pumps.
There are many good little touches on the bike, too. ‘Made in Barcelona’ is written on the decrease body; ‘freedom machine’ and different art work are printed on the seat publish; a number of small skulls are positioned on the stem; and the ‘G’ emblem is emblazoned throughout the entrance.
Characterful touches abound, such because the message on the down tube
(Picture credit score: Future)
The experience
My first expertise driving the Guava was with one of many firm’s two co-founders, Nacho. Instantly upon leaving their flagship Barcelona retailer, he took us to a set of steep ramps flanked by steps on both aspect. “Fancy driving up right here?” he requested me. No, no I didn’t. A forty five-degree angle is barely meant to be ridden down, by no means thoughts up. Nacho, although, cruised up. Huh, I believed, that 50T actually does let you spin up probably the most horrible of gradients.
Over the next two hours, Nacho had me ascending and descending some fairly gnarly single monitor round Barcelona’s doorstep Sierra de Collserola, terrain so slender and sketchy that it was positively made for enduro riders. However the Guava dealt with it with aplomb, leaping over and gliding via branches, rocks, puddles and muddy patches. On wider, much less uneven floor, it floated alongside breezily, and when asphalt turned the bottom beneath, it rode as deftly as most street bikes. The one criticism I may degree at it was that cornering on wider wheels of 45mm wasn’t as easy and as quick as their street equivalents, and I by no means felt like I may correctly throw my physique weight over the bike. However that’s to be anticipated.
The subsequent day, Canadian professional and Guava ambassador Ben Perry threw me down much more technical descents in close by Girona, bunny-hopping up and over ditches, divots and streams, and every time the bike responded with a figurative shrug-of-the-shoulder. The next month, as I examined the Guava on a combination of sandy, rocky and damp surfaces, my preliminary ideas had been solely bolstered: this bike can do all the things. I actually hadn’t envisaged that it might deal so effectively with such tough descents, the body absorbing all of the obstacles in my path, and consuming up the little jumps I dared to submit it to.
The bars are designed in home by the Guava workforce
(Picture credit score: Future)
On the street, in the meantime, it glided. Not fairly on the pace as my street bike, however fairly rattling near it. After I added some Schwalbe Professional-One TLE tyres to it on a street driving journey in Slovenia, the bike instantly transformed itself right into a fully-functioning, fully-raving, fully-compliant street bike.
Whether or not on the tops or within the drops, I used to be frequently altering my place with ease, relying on the floor beneath my wheels. The set-up was comfy, the stem size applicable, however I did discover driving within the drops for a sustained time frame harassed my again greater than on my street bike. Nonetheless, the one time I used to be capable of take the Guava out for greater than 5 hours, I by no means had any consolation points.
Disappointingly, I didn’t have the time to take the Guava out on a bikepacking journey as was my unique intention, however I’m satisfied it might be the proper companion on multi-day adventures, backed up by its many bolts to connect baggage. Anecdotal tales from others driving Guava set-ups confirmed my assumption: this bike adapts to the rigours of bikepacking in addition to it does to the calls for of quick racing.
Down tube storage is de rigueur nowadays however it’s effectively executed on the Spot
(Picture credit score: Future)
Worth and conclusion
At £4,950/ €5,299 (all transport and taxes included), the Guava Spot Power AXS is in the identical worth vary because the highly-rated Large Revolt. Shorthand for: on the costlier aspect, however you’re shopping for a bloody nice bike.
What impressed me – and the hordes of Spanish gravel riders who’ve been shopping for from the start-up since their inception in 2022 – is how effectively the Guava Spot adepts to no matter is thrown its means. It simply doesn’t take care of quick asphalt, rocky terrain, sandy stretches and damp circumstances, however it excels throughout them. It’s quick, aggressive, nimble, steady, and above all compliant.
When you want a motorcycle that may do all the things, and be as reliable on a fast hour-long spin as it’s throughout a number of days in a race or extra leisurely bikepacking journey, the Guava Spot Power AXS needs to be thought-about as a lot, if no more, than fashions by the far larger manufacturers. And better of all, not solely are you able to design it within the color you need, however for those who choose it up in Barcelona, the house owners will even take you for some tapas, some beers and a spin round Girona’s well-known gravel tracks.
