Bikeanalytics: Bikes Sneak Peaks 2024

So far, I have mostly limited my analyses of bikes and equipment to the more well-known bikepacking ultra races, such as the Atlas Mountain Race, Silk Road Mountain Race, Tour Divide or Hellenic Mountain Race.

But there’s really no reason for this, apart from my personal interest in these races. And so I am expanding my Bikeanalytics series with another new race: the Sneak Peaks.

This is essentially the ‘Orbit360 race’, organised and hosted by Raphael Albrecht, the man behind the Orbit360 gravel series, the Gravity Festival and RideFAR.

He has always wanted to organise his own race and has now done so with Sneak Peaks. The route leads from Bolzano through the Italian Dolomites into the Triglav Mountains.

And this race has a few special features that set it apart from others: firstly, there are three routes to choose from, aimed at beginners (Entree), advanced riders (Classic) and experienced riders (Adventure).

The Sneak Peaks has a lot of vertical metres on its routes:

The Entree has 487 km with 16,890 vertical metres (= 3,468 vertical metres per 100 km)
The Classic with 764 km and 28,340 vertical metres (= 3,709 vertical metres per 100 km)
The Adventure with 1,086 km with 36,760 metres of climbing (= 3,385 metres of climbing per 100 km)

There are currently 43 people on the course for Adventure, 57 for Classic and 61 for Entree.

This makes the race one of the races with the most metres in altitude. So there’s a lot of climbing involved. The adventure participants already started yesterday and as far as I could see, it was very beautiful, but the climbs and the weather were quite demanding.

On the other hand, the Sneak Peaks team is providing a group of bikepacking-experienced people to help the participants on the Entree route in the form of the ‘Party Pace Patrol’ (PPP).

The PPP act as pacemakers and provide mental and practical support. They ride at a defined speed, offer help with mechanical problems, are partners in case of mental difficulties or offer a little more security for those who don’t like to bivouac or ride alone at night. I like that.

And then, of course, there are the checkpoints: eleven rifugios, i.e. mountain huts, have been lovingly selected to offer participants some comfort and a warm welcome. These rifugios are hand-picked and their operators are looking forward to welcoming the many people with their bikes.

Bikeanalytics Sneak Peaks 2024

You can follow the race live on Follow my Challenge. And the team from Dotwatcher.cc has compiled an overview and details of 40 Sneak Peaks bikes in advance.

This overview is the basis of my analysis, which represents 25% of the participating bikes.

And you should bear in mind that this is the first edition of the race and therefore it is not yet entirely clear which bike type and equipment is the most suitable. According to Sneak Peaks, all bike types are suitable, but after the race we will see what the participants say and we may see changes here next year.

In terms of bike type, the majority chose gravel bikes, followed by MTBs. However, there are also Monster Gravel bikes, i.e. hybrids of both worlds. The Salsa Fargo, the Curve GMX+ or the Kocmo Tiger are examples of such monster gravel bikes.

When it comes to frame material, the majority favours carbon, as in the other races, followed by steel.

Suspension is ideal for the route. 33% therefore ride with a suspension fork and only 7% with a fully.

As we have a majority of gravel bikes in the field, the proportion of drop bars is also higher. At other races, we see a majority of flat bars (81% at the SRMR). 30% also have an aerobar mounted on the bike, which is low in comparison (70% on the SRMR).

In terms of gear brands, Shimano and SRAM are equally represented. However, the proportion of electronic drivetrains is very high at 38% (26% for SRMR).

In terms of drivetrain models, the majority favoured the Shimano GRX gravel drivetrain, followed by the Shimano XT. However, some multi-gear systems have also been installed, i.e. a combination of road at the front and MTB at the rear.

When it comes to the number of gears, 12 gears are the most common, followed by 11 gears. This is also due to the high proportion of gravel bikes, where most are still using 11-speed cassettes.

In terms of cassettes, 10-52 is used the most, followed by 10-51, which makes sense given the gradients and gives enough range for the tough climbs.

12 gears at the rear and 1x at the front. 80% of participants ride with a chainring at the front. 22% use a 32t chainring. In combination with the MTB cassettes, this seems to me to be ideal for the requirements of the race.

For the rims, as in other races, the majority favoured carbon as the material of choice. However, this time 29‘ and 28’/700cc almost balance each other out, which is not surprising given the high proportion of gravel bikes. And it’s basically the same size anyway. 10% are still travelling with 27.5″/650B.

Vittoria also took first place in the Sneak Peaks, followed by Conti and Schwalbe.

The Vittoria Mezcal is also the most used tyre here. For the Schwalbe G-One tyres, I have grouped together the Overland, Bite and Ultra-Bite models.

In terms of width, 2.25 inch tyres are the most popular, followed by the gravel bike tyre widths 40 mm and 48 mm.

In terms of power supply, 25% rely on a hub dynamo. The majority again use SON models.

Interestingly, Ortlieb panniers are used the most on the Sneak Peaks, at least in this selection. They are followed by Apidura, Tailfin and Restrap. This order is usually the other way round.

But this is not surprising, because just as Ortlieb comes from Germany, most of the participants also come from this country.

At 38.3 years, the average age is slightly higher than at this year’s SRMR (37.5 years). The participants are older than at the Hellenic Mountain Race (34.4 years), but younger than at the Atlas Mountain Race (39 years).