3T Exploro Flatmount Team Frame

The 3T Exploro is designed to fit road, cross, and even mountain bike tires following the GravelPlus standard. The road and cross tires are 700c and the mountain bike tires use the 650b size, ensuring that all of these have virtually the same overall wheel diameter, and therefore the same predictable handling.

With road wheels and tires, the Exploro is a very fast aero road bike—and comfortable, as it fits any size tire. Switch to monster 2.1” (54mm) tires and it soaks up anything that gravel, dirt or singletrack can throw at you. Stay with a mid-size tire to mix on- and off-road segments on every ride.

Why is aerodynamics important on allroad (asphalt, gravel, fire roads, single track) rides?

- You may go slow off-road, but on the connecting asphalt sections, you need road riding speed.
- If you’re slow because of gradients, aero doesn’t matter much. But if it's due to head- or crosswinds, you're slow relative to the ground but very fast relative to the air, and that’s what determines the resistance you experience (that’s exactly why you’re slow).

We didn’t want the Exploro to be fast in theory, but fast in the real world. So we tested at a realistic 20mph (32kmh) instead of the standard 30mph (48kmh) and optimized the frame for water bottles (tough to do long, epic rides without). We even designed the Sqaero shape to work well when covered in mud! The result? A muddy Exploro with 40mm knobby gravel tires and 2 water bottles is faster than the equivalent clean round tube bike is with 28mm slick road tires and without bottles.