Colnago’s carbon G3-X gravel bike is set to finally get its first full season of dedicated gravel racing, as Nathan Haas leaves a decade of pro road racing behind for a new focus. The Australian has retired from Cofidis and professional road racing, with Colnago, Campagnolo & Deda supporting him as he goes solo to try his legs at the biggest gravel races around, aboard the G3-X and Ekar 1×13…
Colnago G3-X gravel race bikes for Haas
The G3-X isn’t exactly new, it’s been in the Colnago line-up since 2020. It was even ridden to an Unbound Gravel 200 win last year by Lauren De Crescenzo.
(Hint: scroll down for the actual gravel bike tech…)
But the bike has still taken a backseat to its more popular and ultra long-running Prestige cyclocross racing sibling – which of course had been earning rainbow stripes since before the advent of disc brakes.
An interesting mixed-surface bike combining features of both the aero road V3RS and the Prestige cyclocross bike, the Colnago G3-X gravel bike seems a bit like a happy medium for riders looking to go fast.
It will serve as the race platform of Nathan Haas‘ full 2022 campaign on the newly established UCI Gravel World Series calendar.
And it’s also his platform to spread the gospel of gravel to anyone willing to hear it…
Tech details & Geometry
More suited for longer days in the saddle and a bit more adventure, the G3-X was conceived of as a slightly slacker and longer bike with a bit lower weight distribution. The name suggests a bit of coming together between gravel & cross, and that seems to sit this bike into that fast gravel middle ground.
Tire clearance is adequate for a fast bike at 42mm with room for mud. But it’s definitely not an adventure gravel bike that would need more tire volume for riding rougher terrain or hauling fully-loaded bikepacking bags.
The bike also features a bolt-on rubber downtube protector, over an extra set of bottle cage bosses, plus a replaceable chainstay protector to silence chain slap. The frame also gets top tube bosses for a direct mount snack bag.
It is of course flat mount disc brake specific (160mm rotors only) with 12mm thru-axles, and gets a hidden wedge-style clamp for the proprietary aero seatpost. The frame features conventional internal cable routing, entering the top of the toptube, and a tapered steerer fork.
G3-X Customization
Colnago says they will custom paint five different G3-X gravel framesets for Haas this season as he targets the big names of the new Gravel World Series. We’re left to guess which races on his schedule will deserve their own custom paint, but I’d think Unbound, Belgian Waffle Ride, Migration Gravel, The Rift & SBT GRVL might get the nods?
For now, the custom frames are Haas-only. We’ll have to wait and see if Colnago issues some special limited editions that we can actually buy?
In the meantime, there are a few stock G3Xes that you can already pick up from your local Colnago dealer.
