Shave the hairs off your tyres: Dylan Johnson's Unbound Gravel bike is a Frankenbike of the highest order

Dylan Johnson's Felt gravel bike.

Among the veteran riders of the elite fields at the Unbound Gravel, equipment choice is key. There’s an understanding that durability outweighs marginal gains to succeed over the 200 miles of rugged terrain. 

For anyone unfamiliar with the evolution of gravel bikes over the last decade, tyre clearance and compliance numbers have increased to better meet the demands of rough roads like those featured throughout the Flint Hills of Kansas. It’s generally agreed upon that the most important aspect of any setup is tyre choice. For most pros, tyre selection depends on the course conditions but due to the aggressively sharp flint gravel at Unbound, puncture protection is a major consideration.

Felt-UN1TD rider, Dylan Johnson, put together one of the most striking, well-thought-out builds that led him to finish in 10th, comfortably with the main chase group behind race winner Lachlan Morton. Using the Felt Breed Carbon frameset, Johnson pieced together a robust frankenbike rig complete with Reynolds road wheels, narrow aero bars, a combination of SRAM and Shimano, and 29 x 2.2in Continental Race King mountain bike tyres, which he claimed to be shaving the hairs (aka vent spews from manufacturing) off the night before the race. 

We met up with Johnson along with former British gravel national champion, Dani Shrosbree, and Paris-Roubaix winner, Niki Terpstra, at the Felt-UN1TD compound to get an up-close view of their gear choice ahead of race day. 

Johnson is running relatively large gearing for gravel, Shimano Ultegra 52/36 chainrings to remain in the middle of the cassette and improve drivetrain efficiency. 165mm SRAM Red cranks are equipped with the Shimano-compatible Quarq DFour power meter. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

A CeramicSpeed OSPW setup is used to further improve drivetrain efficiency alongside an 11-speed Shimano GRX cassette. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Measuring in at 53mm wide the Race Kings offer low rolling resistance with low profile tread and increased punctured resistance with Continental's Black Chili compound. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

After a round of testing at the ARC wind tunnel to determine the most beneficial rim/tyre combination, Johnson selected Reynolds Black Label 60 Expert road wheels that feature a 21mm internal rim width and 60mm depth. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Felt claims the Breed Carbon has up to 50mm of tyre clearance. Of course that is merely a recommendation, and Johnson pushed the limits as you can see. He also admitted in a pre-race bike check video posted to his Instagram that he would be spending the evening before the race shaving the vent spews (little hairs) off the tyres, saying they're "worse than leg hair." (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

A Lauf Grit SL fork further improves overall rider comfort. The leaf carbon spring design provides 30mm of progressive suspension. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

A 140mm Enve stem 35mm wide bars allow Johnson to achieve a lower and narrower frontal profile and improve rider aerodynamics. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

To add more traction when in an aero position with elbows on the tops of the bars, a bit of Cat Tongue rubber grip tape is used. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Aside from all of Johnson's personalized gear, we are impressed with the amount of mounting points Felt included in the gravel race bike. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Niki Terpstra

Terpstra was aboard this sleek Felt Breed Carbon. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Competitors were under strict instructions to nod modify number boards (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

45mm Schwalbe G-One Overlands were the tyre of choice for the Dutchman. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

A SRAM Red AXS drivetrain with a 48T 1x chain ring and a 10-46 rear cassette propelled Terpstra to a 51st place finish. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

An unsupported race is unfamiliar territory for the former roadie but he was ready with some easy access CO2 (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Terpstra was ready for the all-too-common occurrence of a flat with this sleek handlebar-integrated tyre plug storage system. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

"What is 2.2 Bar in PSI?" Welcome to America, Niki. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Dani Shrosbree

Dani Shrosbree set out to improve upon her fourth-place finish from last year's edition of the race. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

45mm Kenda Alluvium Pro tyres were mounted to a set of Hunt Limitless 42 gravel wheels. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)

Plenty of tyre clearance up front on the stock Felt fork. (Image credit: David Kennedy, Cyclingnews)