People ask about the bike a lot. Partly because Ventum is a name that gravel riders are increasingly curious about, and partly because when your season involves riding 360km through Catalonia and then 800km across an Andalusian desert, the choice of equipment stops being academic.
I’ve been riding Ventum since I committed to making 2026 a full gravel season. Here’s what I ride, how it’s set up, and what I’ve found over months of racing and training on it.
Why Ventum
Ventum Racing’s background is in aerodynamic engineering — the company built its reputation in triathlon, where marginal gains from aerodynamics are obsessively quantified. That technical rigour carries into their gravel bikes. The geometry and the finishing kit are designed to work across long days in varied conditions, not just to look fast at a launch event.
What convinced me, practically, is how the bike behaves in the situations that matter most in long-distance gravel racing: technical descents, sustained climbing at threshold, rough surfaces over many hours, and the kind of fatigue-driven sloppiness that creeps in after hour six when you’re not riding as cleanly as you were at the start. A bike that demands precision from a fresh rider but punishes you when you’re tired is not a bike for this kind of racing.
The Ventum doesn’t do that. It has a planted, predictable feel that I trust on loose descents and rough tracks in a way that I think is genuinely confidence-building rather than just marketing.
The Setup
The 2026 race setup is tuned for events that span multiple terrain types and many hours. Here’s how it breaks down:
Tyres are the single most important decision in gravel racing and one of the most variable. For UCI Gravel World Series events on mixed terrain I’m running tubeless with a slightly narrower, faster profile. For the Traka and longer events where the surfaces get more aggressive, I move to something with more volume and protection. Getting caught with the wrong tyre choice on a 360km route is a long way to ride a problem you made for yourself at the start line.
Cockpit is set up for long days rather than for short race efforts. Slightly more upright than a pure road position, with enough reach that I’m comfortable after hour eight without the position breaking down. This matters for Badlands more than anywhere else — you do not want to be fighting your bike fit at kilometre 600.
Gearing is a topic I’ve changed my view on this year. I ran a standard race setup for the early-season UCI events, which was fine. For the Traka and beyond, the climbing demands something lower, particularly late in a long day when you’re managing fatigue and the terrain has been relentless. I’ve gone lower than most people would consider for a “race” setup and I don’t regret it.
Bags and carrying capacity — yes, this is part of the setup. Badlands is self-supported. The Traka has feed stations but a long stretch without. How you configure the frame bag, the seat bag, the top-tube bag, and still maintain a ride quality that doesn’t make you miserable is a real design challenge. I’ve done a lot of testing here and I’ll write about it in more detail before Badlands.
The Season So Far
I’ve raced the Ventum at Santa Vall in Girona, Turnhout in Belgium, The Hills in Italy, and Sea Otter in California. Different countries, different surfaces, different weather conditions ranging from warm Catalan winter sun to a cold Belgian March morning.
The consistent thing is that I’ve never lost confidence in the bike. On the technical descents through the Prosecco Hills vineyards in Italy, I was pushing into sections where I could feel the surface changing, and the bike just handled it. In Turnhout, on flat Belgian roads with a lot of pack riding, it felt completely different — faster, more direct — but equally comfortable. The adaptability across very different race types is what you need from a bike in a season this varied.
A Word on Sponsorship
Ventum Racing are a sponsor and I want to be transparent about that. What I can also say transparently is that I chose to work with them because the bike is right for the racing I’m doing, not the other way around. When I’m at kilometre 300 of the Traka in April, the bike either does what I need it to do or it doesn’t. Sponsorship doesn’t change physics.
It does what I need it to do.
Ventum Racing — find out more about the full range. Full 2026 sponsor support from Merlin Cycles, OGT, Gravaa, Questa Financial Planning, and JT Performance Coaching.