Taking your gravel bike to the bike park: Gravel? Gabriel Wibmer saw a downhill bike

“I wanted to find out just how much a gravel bike can really take”

BIKE: In your video Gravel Mania You ride a gravel bike as if it were a freeride bike. Four-metre drops, bike park lines, massive doubles. How on earth did you come up with that idea?

Gabriel Wibmer: Curiosity. I wanted to find out what a gravel bike is really capable of – and, above all, how much it can take. It’s precisely this sort of project that appeals to me. However, I would never have thought at the start that the whole thing would get this out of hand. Ending up doing jumps on this scale with it was definitely not the plan.

BIKE: Be honest: how many frames and wheels have you scrapped?

Wibmer: The crazy thing is: nothing at all. No frame damage, no broken rim. Nothing. And yet I was tearing through the bends as if I were riding a freerider.

BIKE: Pardon?

Wibmer: Yes, it sounds absurd. We had two bikes for the shoot. After more than 30 days of filming, we returned both of them in full working order.

BIKE: Not even a rim?

Wibmer: No. Sure, they didn’t run quite as smoothly afterwards as they did before. But nothing’s broken. I’ve only had two or three punctures, in fact. And that’s without tubeless tyres. I always ride with inner tubes.

BIKE: Special design?

Wibmer: Just standard production wheels. Canyon Grizl CF SL 7 Throwback. No special parts, no reinforcements. Pedals on, saddle on – and off we went. Canyon jokingly remarked afterwards that we could now move up a category: bike park approval.

The four-metre drop that changed everything

BIKE: The huge drop in Serfaus really sticks in the memory. Four metres high, with a flat landing. Even on an enduro bike, you take quite a knock.

Wibmer: Before the drop, I was incredibly tense. At the time, that was the craziest stunt in the project. I simply had no idea what was going to happen. Would the wheels hold out? Would the impact rip my hands off the handlebars? I had no idea.

BIKE: No suspension. Narrow handlebars. A riding position that leans forwards. What a nightmare!

Wibmer: Exactly. Because of the geometry, you’re sitting much further over the front wheel. When I landed, it really sent my head crashing downwards – just like a headbanger. That’s why my heart rate was at its peak as I rolled over the drop-off. I wouldn’t have been able to brake anyway, as I’d have had to change my grip to do so.

BIKE: Even so, wasn’t that the biggest test of courage yet?

Wibmer: No. The biggest jump was the double jump in Innsbruck, where the Whip-Off Contest takes place. Even on a downhill bike, that one’s no walk in the park.

BIKE: What was going through your mind?

Wibmer: Honestly? I had no idea whether it would work. After the Serfaus drop, I at least knew the bike could handle the landing. That’s why I took the second bike there – the one that hadn’t been through as much yet.

BIKE: And then?

Wibmer: I was too slow on my first attempt. I had to jump off. It was a right mess.

BIKE: Because you couldn’t brake here either.

Wibmer: Exactly. I was holding the narrow handlebars in the upper grip. There was no way to stop. I flew straight into the dip between take-off and landing.

“The ironing board was my biggest opponent”

BIKE: What was the hardest part about switching from a freeride bike to a gravel bike?

Wibmer: It’s definitely the hand position. In the lower handlebar position, you’re practically lying on the bike – far too low. In the upper handlebar position, it’s too narrow. And above all: you can’t reach the brakes. You’d have to change your grip.

BIKE: It’s not exactly that quick, is it?

Wibmer: You’re practically riding without brakes. That was particularly sketchy during the backflip.

BIKE: And then, of course, the geometry.

Wibmer: Absolutely. You’re sitting really far forward. It looks as if you’re constantly flying through the air headfirst. Once, the front wheel slipped out from under me and I hit the ground head first. That’s never happened to me on a mountain bike.

Whips, Scrubs and the whole talent thing

BIKE: Even so, your manuals, wheelies and whips look alarmingly easy.

Wibmer: Not at all to begin with. I’d never ridden a gravel bike before. But I got used to the bike surprisingly quickly. It got better with every day of filming.

BIKE: Why?

Wibmer: The basics are the same. If you can do manuals and wheelies on a mountain bike, you can apply those skills here. Because your centre of gravity is further forward, it’s harder to lift the front wheel at first. But you’ll get the hang of it eventually.

BIKE: Your scrub over the shark fin looks as if you were sitting on your big bike.

Wibmer: By that point, I’d already got used to the bike. It was only the first three or four days of filming that were a bit bumpy; after that, I found it easy to style the smaller jumps. After all, I do have that sense of being in the air – ‘airwareness’.

BIKE: It’s a bit frustrating for us amateur freeriders, too. You’re showing us up. We can’t manage it on a big bike with plenty of suspension travel, and you’re whipping it around like a god on a gravel bike.

Laughs. Yes, thank you!

BIKE: It’s frustrating for us amateur riders. We’re battling it out with a freerider just to stay in the race, whilst you’re nailing the jumps on a gravel bike.

Wibmer: (laughs) Yes, thank you.

Is Gravel Mania II on the way?

BIKE: Your video was a huge hit. Gravel cycling is booming. So the question is: will there be a second instalment?

Wibmer: When we were with Gravel Mania Once we’d finished, I was honestly glad to be able to go mountain biking again.

BIKE: That doesn’t sound like a sequel.

Wibmer: Back then, I also thought I couldn’t improve any further. Steeper drops? Bigger jumps? It didn’t make sense to me.

BIKE: And today?

Wibmer: I see things differently now.

BIKE: Why?

Wibmer: Because there’s still a lot of potential in this topic. Not necessarily back in the bike park, though. But in cities, for example. We even filmed in Paris back then. In the end, the footage didn’t make it into the film because it didn’t fit the concept.

BIKE: So is there hope for a sequel after all?

Wibmer: Let’s put it this way: I wouldn’t rule out a second instalment entirely.