Initially deliberate for a 2023 launch, Enve Composites at present formally launched its poorly saved secret, The Fray.
After bringing to market a customized highway bike, a WorldTour-capable highway racing bike and a gravel steed within the span of simply three years, the Fray is supposed to fill the one remaining hole within the American producer’s drop bar line-up: an endurance bike.
However not simply any endurance bike. The Fray is Enve’s imaginative and prescient of ‘the definitive all-road machine’ – designed for these “who got here from highway racing and at the moment are searching for broader two-wheeled goals however efficiency remains to be essential.”
As Jake Pantone, Enve’s VP of Product and Model, put it: the Fray is “lots roadie, a little bit groadie” and goals to satisfy the calls for of the fashionable highway rider by pairing a highway racing pedigree with all-road options like wider tire clearance, in-frame storage and a match snug for all-day adventures within the saddle.
Whereas labeled as an ‘all-road’ or ‘endurance’ bicycle, Enve emphasizes that the Fray is in no way a slouch.
“The Fray is for riders who need pace, versatility, and max efficiency,” Pantone says. “It is a [Personal Best] bike, not a sleepy consolation highway bike. It is a efficiency bike in each manner.”
Enve is so assured within the efficiency side of the Fray that it supplied the bike up for crew TotalEnergies to journey finally week’s Paris-Roubaix. However for the reason that Melee clears35mm tires simply nice, the riders opted to stay with their designated race bikes.
Let’s meet The Fray.
The Fray’s Key Options
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
- Geometry optimized for 31-35mm tires however will match max 700 x 40mm tires on a 1x groupset or 700 x 38mm tires on a 2x construct.
- Light-weight and sturdy carbon building weighing in at 900 grams +/- 2% on a painted 56cm body sans {hardware}
- Hidden hoses and wires by way of Enve’s IN-Route System and elements
- 1x or 2x drivetrain compatibility
- Threaded T47 backside bracket
- SRAM UDH appropriate
- Options the Enve cargo bay and baggage for in-frame storage
The Fray sports activities Enve’s cargo bay and baggage for in-frame storage (additionally seen on the MOG)
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
- Accent mounts on toptube and downtube
- Fender compatibility
- Aerodynamic tube shapes and design
- Identical cam-tail seatpost as seen on the Melee
- First Enve bike to launch with three colorway choices
- 7 body measurement choices starting from 47cm to 60cm with 4 distinctive fork rakes amongst them.
- A la carte construct choices
- Frames are backed by Enve’s manufacturing unit guarantee and incidental injury safety
- Worth: the chassis retails for $5,500 / £5.500 / AUD 9,999 / €5,799 and consists of the body, fork, headset, stem, handlebar and seatpost.
NOT a gravel bike
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
Enve entered the frameset market in 2021 with its US-made Customized Street bike adopted by the Melee highway racing bike —manufactured at their abroad manufacturing unit—the next yr. In 2023, Enve made its first foray into gravel with the MOG, and the Fray is slotted someplace between classes. The Fray is Enve’s fourth bike in 4 years, and with it, the Utah-based firm continues its model evolution from aftermarket carbon wheel and part specialists to a full-service bicycle model.
What’s fascinating about Enve’s line-up of bikes is that every mannequin form of blurs the strains of its designated field. Whereas the Melee is presently being raced on the WorldTour by crew TotalEnergies, gravel privateer Alexey Vermeulen proved that it’s also completely able to being raced on the unpaved roads when he gained the 2023 Belgian Waffle Experience California aboard the Melee with 35mm tires. The MOG in the meantime pairs light-weight carbon building, aerodynamic tube shapes and 700c-only wheels with beefy tire clearance, a slacker geometry and fork mounts, making it each a gravel racer and bikepacking companion. And now the Fray, once more, leads with versatility.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
When arrange with a 1x drivetrain, the Fray has clearance for 40mm tires for mixed-surface using (38mm tires on a 2x drivetrain). It additionally sports activities accent mounts and an in-frame storage answer. But Enve is obvious in that the Fray was designed for the highway, stating: “at a look, the Fray could look like equal elements Melee and MOG, however belief us once we say, this apple falls a lot nearer to the Melee’s tree.”
The Melee kinship is clear within the bike’s geometry and dealing with traits, which have been optimized round 31-35mm tires even when the Fray can clear a 40mm tire.
(Picture credit score: Enve Composites)
Geometry-wise, in comparison with the Melee, the Fray is barely barely taller and elongated, sporting a mean of 2cm extra stack for a much less aggressive place and a wheelbase that is simply 1.6cm longer. The headtube angle is sort of simply as steep with a mere 0.7mm differentiating the Fray from the top-end racer.
“The Fray delivers a journey that’s each dynamic and confidence inspiring. That is pure efficiency for the lengthy highway, tough highway, and actually any highway,” Enve states. Key phrase right here being “highway.”
The brief wheelbase and steep headtube angle would actually restrict the bike’s talents to deal with technical off-road terrain and steep pitches, Pantone warns. “If you happen to plan on solely operating a 40mm tire, chances are you’ll wish to give the MOG a glance.”
(Picture credit score: Enve Composites)
As of late, you’ll be able to’t speak about highway efficiency with out mentioning aerodynamics and positive sufficient, Enve took the Fray into the Mercedes GP Wind Tunnel for testing.
The Fray was designed with Enve’s “actual world quick” aero applied sciences, which take a holistic strategy to efficiency, balancing aerodynamic efficiencies with desired journey traits, and evaluating the interplay of the wheels, bike body, and rider each within the wind tunnel and on the open highway.
On the Fray, aerodynamic concerns are seen within the tube shapes, the cam-tail seatpost (similar because the Melee) and the totally hidden wires and cables.
The tip result’s that within the wind tunnel, at 40kph speeds and 0 to fifteen diploma yaw angles, the Fray lags simply 3.3 watts behind the Melee with each frames outfitted with Enve’s the model’s SES line of elements, wheels and tires.
Using the Fray
North American Editor Anne-Marije Rook and Enve’s Jake Pantone aboard the all-new Enve Fray
(Picture credit score: Josh Wray)
I obtained to check the Fray on the winding roads of California’s central coast. For 3 days, we resided close to the city of Paso Robles with its sprawling rolling hills adorned with ranches, vineyards, oak groves, and golden grasslands. The rugged coast inside attain of a 40-mile bike journey.
Solar-cracked and weather-worn, the roads right here may be tough but additionally pleasantly low-trafficked. Paired with some gravel, they served as the right testing floor for this all-new, all-road bike.
The 50cm Fray chassis for testing was kitted out with a Shimano Ultegra Di2 groupset and Enve’s SES line of elements together with SES 4.5 wheels wrapped in 35mm SES tubeless tires.
Even in California, the climate does not at all times play good and so, hoping to dodge the worst of the springtime rain, we tackled our massive journey first. After a 30-mile shakeout journey upon arrival, we set out for a 75-mile journey the following morning. With 80 p.c of the way in which paved and 20 p.c not, some decently lengthy climbs, steep pitches, speedy pacelines alongside Freeway 1, good camaraderie and a mid-ride espresso store cease —at the present time completely encapsulated what the Fray was made for.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
With its tall stack peak, the Fray’s geometry is definitely much less aggressive than a race bike, however it does not power you in an all-out, wind-catching upright place both. The geometry basically accomplishes what many (non-racing) riders are inclined to create with using headset spacers and stem angles: a place that eases the pressure on the decrease again, neck, and shoulders for all-day using consolation and a extra evenly distributed weight throughout the bike for assured dealing with. However as a substitute of an ugly stack of spacers or, worse, riser stems, you get the glossy front-end aesthetics individuals love about speedy highway bikes.
Not that this bike is not speedy. Enve was proper in hammering residence the truth that the Fray was made to carry out, regardless of its endurance bike distinction. Whereas some endurance-oriented bikes can really feel a tad vanilla, the Fray affords a pleasantly full of life journey; the entrance finish might even be described as twitchy. And the responsiveness is there when known as upon to go after a metropolis restrict signal or to rise up and over a steep pitch. It holds tempo in a gaggle journey setting and with its light-weight carbon building, will not hold you again on any climbs both. Even on one significantly testing gravel climb, the one factor retaining me again (my health apart) was the highway gearing.
North American Editor Anne-Marije Rook and gravel professional Alexey Vermeulen using the Enve Fray
(Picture credit score: Josh Wray)
The flexibility to run wider tires is clutch on mixed-terrain rides or in areas the place pavement upkeep has been uncared for for years. Whereas conventional highway tires could have you bouncing within the saddle, the 35mm tires added each consolation and grip throughout cracked pavement and graded gravel.
Our third journey was a fast 52-mile totally paved loop inland, which felt very very similar to some other weekend group outing with a conversational tempo, a pair sprints for no obvious purpose, and that collective beehive sounds of two dozen carbon wheels rolling alongside in sync Right here, 30s would have sufficed however 35s did not appear to carry us again an excessive amount of both.
These totally different rides successfully showcased the well-roundedness of the Fray. No it is not a race bike however it’s a quick and succesful bike with added conveniences like fender and accent mounts and in-frame storage so you may by no means be stranded with out fix-a-flat requirements and a rain jacket.
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
Together with the Specialised Aethos or Canyon Endurace, I’m a giant fan of this fast-but-not-racey class. It merely is smart. I understand that my opinion could also be unpopular however most of us should not be using a purebred racer.
Race bikes are enjoyable, completely, however they have been purpose-built to be quick with much less regard to consolation and conveniences. What number of high-end race bikes have you ever seen on membership rides with 3 inches or extra of spacers on them? In the case of bicycle ridership, even amongst avid riders, the very fact is that solely a small share journey competitively. I perceive that race bikes showcase what’s attainable with the newest applied sciences and we, as an trade, are massive followers of the ‘lightest’, ‘quickest’, ‘most aero’ superlatives however personally, a motorcycle just like the Fray excites me.
Admittedly, I’m, additionally, very a lot its target market: a former highway racer who loves nothing greater than all-day mixed-terrain adventures on the weekend. On the similar time, I nonetheless prefer to go quick and problem myself. As such, the Fray ticks all of the containers for me.
Worth and availability
(Picture credit score: Anne-Marije Rook)
Just like the Melee and the MOG, the Fray is accessible from Enve and its retailers as a “chassis” solely.
The chassis consists of a body, fork, headset, handlebar, stem and seatpost and retails for $5,500 / £5.500 / AUD $9,999 / €5,799.
A “rolling chassis” can also be accessible which incorporates an Enve SES, G-Sequence or Basis wheelset. Worth varies primarily based on wheelset chosen.
The Fray is the primary of Enve’s bikes to launch with multiple colour possibility. You may get the frameset in three colorways: Salt (off-white), Venom (an iridescent inexperienced) and Ash (darkish grey).
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