Unreleased Shimano GRX and new bikes from Canyon and Santa Cruz spotted at Unbound Gravel 2023

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(Photo: Ben Delaney/The Ride)

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Unbound Gravel 2023 is the biggest gravel bike race of the year, with riders of all kinds converging to the Flint Hills for a whole lot of racing, riding, and walking through mud. These conditions make the race a true test of equipment for everyone riding.

While there were a number of tech trends on sight at Unbound Gravel, there were three notable pieces of equipment spotted: a new Shimano GRX drivetrain, potentially a new Canyon Grail gravel bike, and an unreleased Santa Cruz Stigmata gravel bike. Let's dig in.

Canyon riders Pete Stetina, Carolin Schiff, and Tiffany Cromwell – the latter of which won the Elite Women's Unbound 200 and Unbound 100 races respectively – were out riding what appeared to be unreleased Canyon Grail gravel bikes.

This bike looks to be quite a bit different from the existing Canyon lineup; racier than the Grizl and without the fork mounts, but also without the distinctive Hover handlebar of the current Canyon Grail. Even without the Hover bar, the cockpit of this new gravel bike looks to be a departure from the current lineup.

The bike looks to have internal cable routing around a unique one-piece handlebar and stem combination with cable routed under the stem and into the bike's headtube.

The bar and stem have a downward sweep from the stem faceplate that flares out from the hoods to the drops. While this might be to improve comfort to some degree, we suspect it might be more about aero positioning than outright comfort.

This isn't the first time we’ve seen unique things going on at the handlebars on a race gravel bike. Besides the existing Canyon Grail gravel bike, the top-spec BMC Kaius gravel bike offers a narrow 36 cm bar on every size before flaring to 42 cm in the drops. This doesn't even include the myriad suspension systems that gravel bikes employ at the stem or headset.

Additionally, Jasper Ockeloen's bike featured a SRAM XX T-type transmission derailleur, meaning the frame is compatible with SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger.

Unbound 200 winner Keegan Swenson finished the race on a bike labeled the Santa Cruz Stigmata. He outsprinted the rest of the seven-rider lead group aboard what looked like a new Stigmata gravel bike.

This potential prototype Stigmata offers a few key differences compared to the existing Stigmata. The front of the bike is perhaps the most noticeable difference, as the fork legs seem to jut forward and ahead of the bike's headtube.

Based on the use of a chain catcher, it looks like this Stigmata frame is compatible with a front derailleur.

Like the Canyon gravel bike above, The new Stigmata looks to use a SRAM XX T-type transmission derailleur, meaning the frame is compatible with SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger.

Unlike the Canyon, however, everything looks to be standard spec with no notable proprietary components. A standard 1 1’8" stem without any integration, plenty of tire clearance, and a standard round seatpost.

Independent cycling journalist Ben Delaney spotted what appears to be an unreleased 12-speed Shimano GRX drivetrain on Taylor Lideen's Pivot Vault gravel bike.

Lideen looks to be using a new Shimano GRX rear derailleur, a 12-speed-specific 1x chainring, and a 12-speed Shimano XTR mountain bike cassette, here in a 10-45t configuration.

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The derailleur looks to be a substantial change from the current generation of Shimano GRX. Current-generation GRX always felt like it was road bike components changed just enough to work well in gravel, but this new derailleur draws much more inspiration from their mountain bike lineup.

First off, the top pulley wheel of this GRX derailleur appears larger than a current GRX derailleur to make each pulley 13t rather than the 11t/13t combination of existing GRX. One could guess it has bigger 13t pulleys similar to Shimano's mountain bike derailleurs, though it is hard to tell from photos and video.

This latest generation of Shimano GRX sees a few changes around how it mounts to a frame and the derailleur hanger. Current-generation GRX uses the same direct-mount style as Shimano road derailleurs continue to use today which makes the derailleur quite a bit longer front to back. This derailleur uses just a standard mount – again similar to their mountain bike derailleurs as well as Shimano CUES – that makes the derailleur look quite a bit more compact.

The derailleur cage here looks to be 1x-specific judging by its shorter length.

Aesthetically, the derailleur looks not dissimilar to the latest generation of Shimano Cues rear derailleurs, with more of a flat face to the derailleur parallelogram rather than the more intricate cutouts of the current generation derailleurs.

What about the rest of the Shimano GRX drivetrain? All told it looks relatively similar to existing applications across the Shimano lineup.

From what little we’ve seen, we can hardly tell a difference between existing GRX RX-810 1x mechanical shifters and these. Further, the cranks look the same as the current GRX, though the 1x chainring has a ‘12s designation,’ presumably to match the narrower tooth profile of 12-speed chains.

The setup seems to be using a 12-speed Shimano XTR cassette, here in a 10-45t configuration. If that is the case, it would indicate that Lideen's bike is using a Shimano Microspline freehub.

Shimano hasn't made much of a push toward using Microspline freehubs on drop bar bikes. Nor have hub and wheel companies indicated any availability of Microspline freehubs. At the very least, this bodes well for folks who want to use Shimano's MTB cassettes with drop bar bikes.

A 10-45t cassette option is a welcome addition to the GRX lineup to match the range and smaller gear jumps on offer from SRAM and Campagnolo's gravel drivetrains.

Things we don't know? We don't quite know what chain was being used, but based on Shimano's current use of the same 12-speed chains across road and mountain, we assume these chains are no different from what's used currently.

Will Shimano GRX continue to use the existing 11s lever shape and crank arms? Hard to say; Lideen's bike sure does. If it ain't broke, don't fix it I suppose.

Further, we don't know if this update to Shimano GRX will include 2x gearing. But considering 2x drivetrain popularity among pro gravel riders, we suspect there will be a 2x gearing option coming as well using the 11-36t cassette from the new Shimano 105 Di2 drivetrain.

Will that come with electronic Di2 shifting? Will 10-speed Shimano GRX continue? We hope to answer these questions and more when Shimano feels the time is right. As of now, here's what they have to say:

"Shimano is constantly in development of new products but does not comment on rumors, innuendo, or speculation about products whether they are in development or not."

As they say on Instagram, #thanksshimano. Stay tuned.