TIME ADHX: THE ULTIMATE ALL-ROAD BEAST; FULL IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS AND LONG-TERM REVIEW
I’ve had ADHX for a little over 6 months now. It arrived at the end of December, and to be honest, I spared no expense in the build: The spec list looks like this: ENVE gravel bars and 3.4 AR wheels with Chris King Ceramic bearings, there’s more ceramic goodness from BBInfinite underneath bracket and I went with a SRAM Red AXS 1-by groupset. It was a very wet winter here in California, so I put on my Schwalbe G1 Bite tires, but since then I’ve bounced around between a lot of different tires, including some really nice Rene Hearse. Eventually, I landed on the Tufo Speedero – which turns out to be the holy grail tire for BWR San Diego and all the other local gravel rides and races. And it’s also fast on the road. I started with an ENVE dropper post but recently switched to an Ergon CF Allroad because the dropper was too stiff, too heavy and I only used it on about 3% of my rides. Also, I’m going to be commuting regularly with the bike in Orucase, and that requires removing the seat post. Oh, and since I’m marginally oldschool (and spend most of my time in no country), I opted for a RIDE FARR carbon aero clip.
The ergon post is, honestly, the best upgrade I’ve ever made to a gravel bike. When installed correctly, it provides a pretty amazing amount of cushioning, especially on dirt roads with a wash – of which we have A LOT out here. Anyway, back to the bike…
The reason I spared no expense on the build is because my goal for this bike was to break the 5 hour mark on the BWR Wafer ride this year – I’ve been hovering in the 5:20-30 range for the last few years and I thought I’d try crack the top 20 in my age group while I was at it. And I’ve been chasing the perfect BWR setup since 2018. After riding in the 30’s in 2019 and 2021 I knew I needed something with clearance for slightly wider tires that was more of a road bike than a gravel bike because a lot of the wafer track is paved.
My first test of ADHX was a local event called Gravel and Whine. This is WHINE with a WH…which is a fantastic 70 mile ride here in my backyard in Temecula wine country (that’s wine, as in the kind you drink), and it was about 2 months before BWR. So it gave me a chance to understand my settings and get a feel for the bike under race day conditions. And man, ADHX did NOT disappoint: I thought I knew all the roads on the route, but it turns out the organizer is a bit of a sadist and sent us some of the most brutal climbs he could find: like things you’d question coming down on your mountain bike ! The former rose from 10-20 percent. In the soil. I had chosen the Rene Hearse Bon Jons, which are essentially 35c road tires with a tread like a vintage vittoria. They did admirably, but what really blew my mind was how the ADHX felt at low speed and low gear on those steep climbs: inexplicable power transfer, bordering on the feeling of having a pedal-assist motor, and grip and stability for DAYS. And guess what? The other sides of these climbs were no better – several of them were very steep and the road quality was HORRIBLE – chipped and sealed roads with giant potholes everywhere.
But ADHX was telepathic. Hands on the drops, fingers on the brake levers, skidding and bunny hopping like I was riding a downhill bike on technical singletrack. I mean, sure – it’s an off-road bike, so there was a lot of vibration, but through it all the bike maintained a level of composure that I really didn’t expect. And so, I got cheeky and double flatted while doing a decent blast at mile 40. After 30 minutes of trying to repair the sidewall rips, I had to call the wife for a ride home. And that was the end of my love affair with Rene Herse tires. I found Tufos and haven’t looked back.
Fast forward two months, and I’m on the starting line at BWR San Diego. A previous ride the day before proved that 39ish PSI front and rear was the perfect choice and everything else was perfectly covered. And it was – I had zero mechanicals, no flats, and was able to maintain higher average speeds through the rough stuff than in previous years. The inexplicable power transfer was magical on every climb and 5 hours and 9 minutes later I knew I had chosen the right bike when I crossed the line 16th in my age group. And now that I’ve cracked the code on the bike, I’m going under 5 hours in 2024. Hopefully that will get me into the top 10!
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