A first look at Mondraker's Arid Carbon, a bike for 'whatever your idea of gravel is'

Mondraker, a Spanish brand well-known for its innovative approach to mountain biking, is making a significant move into the gravel market with the release of its first non-assist gravel bike, the Arid Carbon—four years in the making.

Known for pushing boundaries with its advanced frame technologies, including the modern Forward Geometry in frame design, Mondraker’s venture into gravel represents a natural evolution of the brand’s offerings while remaining strictly off-road.

“We are entirely an off-road brand. We don't make any road bikes,” said Andrew Dodd, Mondraker’s Global Brand Communications Manager, introducing the company’s ethos.

Dodd revealed that the demand to make a gravel bike came from within the company.

“We are lucky that we have got loads of great riders that work at the company, and many of them ride gravel. They were giving our product and design team a lot of hassle because we didn't have a gravel bike. So the design team did what they always do, and they became experts in the subject before they got invested,” said Dodd.

This meant buying a number of different gravel bikes from various brands, and even taking some mountain bikes to gravel events and races. Through this process, the Mondraker team discovered that the design needs of gravel bikes align more closely with mountain biking than with road cycling. And so the team took what they’d learned in a decade-plus of mountain bike design and came up with a titanium prototype that was then tested and proven at races at the bigger races in Spain.

And that’s where the project stalled. The year was 2020 and between the market conditions, the pandemic and other products in the pipeline, Mondraker decided to hold off.

Four years later, Mondraker is ready to introduce what it calls its “truly authentic” approach to a gravel bike.

“In a segment made up of riders with very different ideas about just what makes a great gravel bike, we specifically designed Arid Carbon to be the mould breaker,” Mondraker promises. “The bike to bridge that gap between differing ideologies thanks to its enormous capacity for adaptation. Because when it comes down to it, gravel biking is simply a very personal discipline.”

Meet the Mondraker Arid Carbon, a mountain biker’s gravel bike

Mondraker describes the Arid Carbon as ‘the perfect ride, whatever your idea of gravel may be,’ and while it’s certainly built from the brand’s mountain bike DNA, it does so without the obvious cues like a suspension fork or a dropper post.

While the Arid Carbon frame is designed to be compatible with both a suspension fork and a dropper post, the Arid Carbon range offers neither. Instead, Mondraker engineered compliance directly into the frame through an optimised carbon layup and thoughtful design elements.

Constructed from Mondraker’s elite Stealth Air Carbon, the Arid takes some cues from the Dusty gravel e-bike, released last year. This influence is evident in the low seat stays, the incredibly slim top tube, and the distinctive fork dropout design. However, Mondraker aimed to instill a livelier ride characteristic in the human-powered gravel bike with its minimalist lines and overall thinner tube profiles.

“We optimised every tube and every joint to best meet the design criteria, whether to increase stiffness and responsiveness from the bottom bracket or headtube areas, or to improve compliance from the rear triangle for better grip and comfort,” Mondraker says.

The rear triangle compliance is largely achieved through the junction where the seat post and seat stays meet. The split-tube design, which makes another appearance in the bike’s seat post, is meant to increase ride comfort and offer small-bump compliance.

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“The compliance of the seat stays combined with the stiffness of the frame equal greater average speed over unforgiving terrain,” Mondraker promises. “It’s something you’ll notice from the very first time you turn the cranks.”

The brand’s mountain bike DNA is perhaps most apparent in the beefy 50mm tyre clearance, the wide handlebars and the bike’s geometry.

Mondraker is often credited for popularising the long/low/slack trinity of modern mountain bike geometry, defined by a long reach, a low bottom bracket, and a slack headtube angle. Design features that optimise stability, control and comfort over rough terrain. Mondraker pioneered this geometry in its mountain bikes in the early 2010s and appears to have carried it over into its gravel bike frame geometry.

The Arid Carbon is available in five unique and fine-tuned frame sizes, all featuring a long reach, uncommonly short (aluminium) stems and a 70-degree headtube angle. With the Arid, Mondraker is also introducing a new M/L size designed to ‘reduce the jump between sizes while also making the smallest model a little less rangy and the largest a little more spacious.’

Five frame sizes are, however, still fewer than its competitors like Trek and Giant, which offer six, and Specialized, which offers its popular Diverge in seven size options. But just as Mondraker’s mountain bike designs once reshaped industry standards; who’s to say they won’t again in the gravel market?

“More than 10 years of development of Forward Geometry shine through when riding the Arid Carbon; that trademark blend of aggressiveness, control and fun that mark every Mondraker regardless of discipline,” says Mondraker.

Looking at the numbers, the frame geometries are most notably different from its competitors in the longer reach, short stems and wide handlebars. For example, the new M/L size offers a 411mm reach and comes specced with a 70mm stem and 44 cm-wide handlebars. In contrast, a 56cm Specialized Diverge has a 392mm reach with a 90mm stem and 42cm-wide handlebars. The largest Arid size, XL, boasts a 446mm reach, a 90mm stem, and 46cm-wide handlebars, compared to the Diverge’s largest model (size 64), which has a 401mm reach, 110mm stem and 44cm-wide handlebars.

That is all to say: be sure to study the frame geometry before buying your Mondraker bike.

Thoughtful Details

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Mondraker may be known for producing one of the lightest carbon cross-country bikes on the market, but weight savings were not the primary focus for the Arid Carbon design.

The medium-sized frameset, without hardware, tips the scales at 1,250 grams, while the top-tier build—featuring SRAM’s 13-speed XPLR drivetrain and a Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheelset—has a claimed weight of 7.9 kg for a medium-sized complete bike.

“We could have gone substantially lighter if we wanted to, but there's a reason for this,” said Dodd, adding that the bike was designed with room for refinement and a commitment to ride feel and rider-first details, such as:

• In-frame storage with a latch system that allows the cover to remain attached to the back at all times
• A threaded T47 bottom bracket for maximum stiffness, less creaking, easy maintenance and versatility
• Six mounting points across frame and fork
• Rack and fender mounts
• 50mm tyre clearance
• UDH interface for compatibility with the latest groupsets on the market
• Internal cable guides for a clean look and easier installation
• Safety standards: Mondraker has applied the same safety standards to the Arid Carbon as it does to its mountain bikers, ensuring the frame meets ISO standards plus an extra 20 per cent.

The Arid Carbon is designed exclusively for 1x drivetrains, and is offered in four build options as well as a frameset-only configuration. Pricing begins at $2,199 / £1,799 for the frameset and ranges up to $9,799 / £8,499 for the top-spec Arid Carbon RR SL, which boasts SRAM’s new 13-speed XPLR drivetrain and Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheels.

The Mondraker Arid Carbon is now available through Mondraker’s direct channels and authorised retailers.

The Montraker Arid Carbon is made for 1x drivetrains only. The range on offer consists of four builds and frameset-only. Pricing starts at $2199 / £1799 for the frameset, $3299 / £3199 for the entry-level Shimano GRX 610 build, all the way to $9799 £8499 for the top-end Arid Carbon RR SL build which comes with SRAM’s new 13-speed XPLR drivetrain and Zipp 303 XPLR SW wheelset.

The Arid Carbon is now available directly from Mondraker and its retailers.

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