Cyclist
The new Lauf Úthald road bike is built different
Icelandic gravel specialist Lauf has just released its first road bike, the Úthald, which it calls a ‘fast-fit’ road bike, going all in on comfort to boost speed.
Lauf is best known for its innovative Grit suspension fork and the Seigla gravel bike, raced by gravel pros including Brit Annabel Fisher, who won the Gravel Earth Series in 2023, and the brand has now turned its hand to the road, but obviously approached it from a different angle to most road bike brands.
Taking the same philosophy it used when developing its first gravel bike, the True Grit, Lauf set about trying to produce a bike that doesn’t just feel fast. To achieve that, the status quo and general consensus needed to be questioned – that meant making a bike that increases confidence through stability, smoothness and getting the details right.
The first part of that was doing away with the idea that nervous handling through steep head angles and short trails is what fast feels like – stable handling inspires confidence, that’s why it’s a key characteristic of slower ‘endurance’ bikes, yet it’s equally true that when you’re stable and confident, you ride faster.
Next it’s compliance, a word often associated with compromise on fast bikes, something to make stiffness more bearable, but Lauf knew from the Seigla how important compliance was for a smooth ride, and that a smooth ride is a fast ride – even though it may feel slower. And it’s not just in the tyres – although they definitely help, with 32mm fitted as standard and 35mm accepted (and Lauf believes we haven’t yet reached the conclusion of the road cycling’s understanding of the optimum tyre widths). The Úthald’s frame actually provides the same level of travel you’d get from 20-23mm tyres, and that’s on top of what the fitted wide tyres provide.
This wasn’t achieved through complicated suspension technology, though. Lauf calls its system Integrated Compliance Engineering, ICE (yes, ice like Iceland). ICE provides smooth ride quality where it’s required without extra tech. Up front it’s seen in the Smoothie Road handlebar, with impact-resistant glass fibres used in the central part of the bar to smooth out bumps in the road and keep all power pushing forward.
At the rear, the Úthald has a series of features like the Seigla that give the bike a pivot-free rear suspension. The back portion of the top tube is slim and, combined with the standard seat clamp, creates a virtual pivot, while the seatstays are vertically slim and are dropped, which bends the seat tube slightly, making the saddle move back and down with any force coming from the ground. The tilted seat tube gives a better downward path for the saddle and the long exposed seatpost provides a lever arm for that virtual pivot below.
That’s comfort and confidence dealt with, so what about speed?
The Úthald has the shortest chainstays possible (405mm) for its drivetrain and tyre clearance, which Lauf says gives the rider the ‘maximal sense of involvement’ because the rear doesn’t need the same stability as the front and short chainstays are lighter, stiffer and increase agility.
It’s wireless-shifting only to save on weight but Lauf hasn’t fully integrated the remaining cables because the aesthetic gain wasn’t worth the hassle it adds for mechanics, travelling and adjusting, and the brand found the aero benefits of full integration to be negligible.
The bike is built with Impact Resistant Modulus (IRM) carbon fibers, which may not sound as fancy as high-modulus fibers used by some other brands but, as Lauf will tell you, high-modulus fibers are very fragile and not a wise compromise. Yes, you can easily shave some grams off a frame by using high-modulus fibers, but at the expense of robustness and compliance.
It’s aero where it matters, such as at the front end through a slim and deep head tube and the front section of the down tube. The back part of the down tube is wider, adding airflow shelter for bottles and increasing bottom bracket stiffness. The fork balances strength and aerodynamics with a slightly deep profile.
All of that considered, Lauf was still trying to make a truly light bike, and the brand claims a fully painted size medium frame is just 985g, a fully painted fork 265g and a 40cm wide Smoothie Road handlebar 270g. There aren’t many rival bikes in the category as light as that.
‘Úthald’ means ‘endurance’ in Icelandic, so it’s primed to slot into the endurance (or all-road) category. At the same time, it also breaks down to the words ‘út’ and ‘hald’, which together directly translate to ‘go out’, a perfect fit for Lauf’s ‘Just Ride’ motto.
What are you waiting for?
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