building a gravel bike Allied ABLE SRAM Force AXS Mullet Bike

building a gravel bike Allied ABLE SRAM Force AXS Mullet BikeThe ABLE is our premier gravel race bike, purposefully engineered to meet the demands of modern race courses. From the start, the original ABLE proved itself by dominating Unbound 200. We knew we were on the right track. Today, gravel racing is faster than ever, pack oriented, and over even harsher terrain. The engineering behind the new ABLE is all about creating and controlling speed off road to conquer those conditions. Keen eyes will pick up the

The ABLE is our premier gravel race bike, purposefully engineered to meet the demands of modern race courses. From the start, the original ABLE proved itself by dominating Unbound 200. We knew we were on the right track. Today, gravel racing is faster than ever, pack-oriented, and over even harsher terrain. The engineering behind the new ABLE is all about creating and controlling speed off-road to conquer those conditions.

Keen eyes will pick up the lowered chainstay, compared to the raised stay on the original ABLE. Our engineers knew that fitting the largest tire possible on the new ABLE was essential—in this case, it’s a gargantuan 700x57mm width—to give riders the performance to steamroll turtleheads and bigger rock gardens or, worse, take a pothole at 35mph without catastrophe. To maintain race-first geometry and high-speed stability, we lowered the chainstay to carve out the real estate for the 57mm tire. Our not-so-incognito, real-world testing resulted in this setup flatting zero times and snagging podiums to boot, proving wider is faster. 

Speed gains are made through the air, too, with a deeper headtube section and fully integrated cables for a streamlined front end and aerodynamic efficiency you’ll appreciate century after century. Typically, internal cabling limits fit adjustments, but on ABLE, you can change stem rise between two positions (-8 and 0 degrees) without recabling, thanks to our ST03 stem design, which comes with an out-front mount made by K-EDGE.

ABLE is lightweight and visually lean, with complete builds as low as 16.25 lbs (RED XPLR with Industry Nine SOLIX wheels and Continental Race King 2.2” tires). Its low weight is due in no small part to the feathery-light SP02 seat post, which features user-friendly, two-way independent adjustability for tilt and fore/aft positioning. Ease-of-use extends to the new internal frame storage. The magnetic hatch is located lower to the bottom bracket interface, not directly under the bottle mounts, which we know endure utter carnage during gravel racing. We did this to save weight and add strength to the door, removing any hinge mechanisms that can fail under the load of a heavy bottle.  

ABLE is Direct Mount/UDH compatible and fits suspension forks (up to 40mm—though we recommend running 30mm), giving you the shifting stability of the latest wireless setups and the extra travel to take on gravel’s biggest challenges.

The SRAM FORCE AXS MULLET Build

Our Force Mullet build is equal parts business and party with a 1x ring up front and a wide mountain cassette out back. Personally, we love the mullet setup as it gives us both the high-speed gears needed for racing and the monster gears to spin up super steep, low-speed climbs without bursting our patellas. It’s the perfect drivetrain to roll if you want your ABLE to be able to do it all. Paired with the Industry Nine 1/1 Ultralite Carbon Gravel wheelset, this build is lightweight, race-ready, and made for epic days off-road.