FAST BIKE FRIDAY – BMC URS 01 THREE 2021

Today for Fast Bike Friday we’re taking a look at the URS 01 THREE from premium Swiss brand BMC. Wheelbase have only recently begun stocking BMC, bringing another highly-desirable, cutting-edge range of road and gravel bikes into our road department; on BMC’s arrival to our Lake District store the model that we couldn’t wait to unbox and build first was definitely the URS with a lot of fans amongst our shop staff. The URS 01 THREE instantly catches your eye, thanks to its hot colour, BMC’s iconic angular tube profiling and the relaxed-angle fork hinting at this gravel bike’s progressive geometry and potential for fun, technical off-road riding.

This is one good looking Gravel Bike, with BMC’s iconic angular tube profiling featuring throughout the frame…

So why is this BMC Gravel Bike named URS? BMC explain that URS stands for UnReStricted a signature that basically signs this bike off to endless off-road adventures and rowdy riding at your local spot. Right now there is a veritable sea of gravel bikes out there, with each bike brand interpreting the design brief in different, nuanced ways; when you start looking in more depth to the type of gravel bikes currently on offer you soon discover that there are ‘sub-types’ within the gravel bike genre – super-lightweight aero race machines, tough utilitarian bike-packing machines, affordable alloy bikes with geometries that are closer to more traditional road bikes, playful burly options with 650b wheels & dropper posts and carbon gravel bikes with cleverly engineered technology designed to isolate you from rough terrain. The BMC URS almost stands alone as a carbon gravel bike that is both super lightweight and race ready while also having a confidence-inspiring wild side, unlike a lot of its competitors the URS really is UnReStricted.

The ‘URS’ model name reflects the Unrestricted ability of BMC’s Gravel Bike…

While the URS gives off the appearance of a responsive, lightweight climbing machine that’s capable of stealing KOMs on every ride (which of course it is!) it is also a very playful, agile gravel bike that’s ready for fast, fun riding through tight singletrack. How is this done? Well, it’s mainly thanks to BMC’s clever tweaking of the bikes geometry; optimised for modern, aggressive gravel riding the URS features a slack 70° head angle, a long, roomy front triangle combined with a short stem to give you room to move freely about the bike while keeping steering sharp and a slightly longer wheelbase for enhanced stability on steep descents.

The BMC URS features some really progressive geometry for enhanced handling on technical trails…

A gravel bike with this kind of geometry will inevitably encourage you to push harder on tight, technical off-road terrain. With this in mind BMC have included their MTT system on the rear of the frame; MTT stands for Micro Travel Technology and as the name suggests this system provides a small amount of travel to take the sting out of riding in the saddle when off-road. This is a clever system that was first used on BMC’s range of lightweight cross-country mountain bikes, providing 10mm of travel between the seatstay and seat tube. The carbon frame has been cleverly engineered to flex vertically to accommodate this movement while retaining lateral stiffness so that your pedaling input and power transfer through the frame is not compromised in any way. The movement of the MTT system is clearly visible even when you are simply pressing down firmly on the saddle on the showroom floor and it seems a like a really simple but efficient design solution to staying comfortable in the saddle on rough terrain.

BMC’s MTT (Micro Travel Technology) adds 10mm of travel at the rear of the frame…

BMC’s clever engineering of compliance into the URS frame doesn’t just stop at the MTT system; the frame features BMC’s TCC (Tuned Compliance Concept) to give the highest level of compliance through a dedicated carbon layup combined with dropped seatstays which facilitate more flex as well as a D-shaped seatpost designed to flex when you’re in the saddle for hours and hours negotiating mixed terrain.

Dropped seatstays, BMC’s MTT and a D-shape seatpost all enhance comfort in the saddle…

With a keen eye for functional detail the Swiss brand has painstakingly analysed each element of their gravel bike, factoring in all of the sort of riding conditions that their bikes will encounter. With carbon frame and fork protection in mind BMC have included some neat rubber fork blade guards at the dropouts – a brilliant addition that will come into their own when your bike is in transit with the front wheel out or when you’re fixing a front wheel puncture at the trail side; similarly these guards provide protection from flying debris with additional protection on the downtube towards the bottom bracket as well as on the chainstay.

A nice addition to the URS carbon fork is the protective rubber covers on the fork ends…

The URS sub-range of gravel bikes is split into two different groups URS 01 and URS; it’s important to point out that the grade of carbon is exactly the same for both sub-ranges with the only difference being that the URS01 models feature BMC’s ICS integrated fork, bar, stem combination with fully concealed hydraulic brake hoses while the URS models do not. So in this case the URS 01 THREE features BMC’s ICS (Integrated Cockpit System) with gravel-specific stem dimensions; this is an aesthetically pleasing setup keeping the brake hoses in their place, out of sight with the front hose running though the stem, fork steerer and down into the fork and the rear hose running through the frame to the rear brake caliper.

The URS 01 THREE features some slick cockpit integration…

Hydraulic disc brake hoses are routed through the stem and into the frame & fork…

Like all good modern Gravel Bikes the URS includes bolt-on bosses on the top tube to allow you to run a top tube pack…

BMC have married up the URS 01 THREE frame and fork to SRAM’s excellent gravel / cyclocross specific SRAM Rival 1 groupset. When SRAM first launched their purpose-built 1X drivetrain groupsets they were well ahead of the curve. Things in the cycling industry move on quickly but it’s important to remember that they were the first component manufacturers to produce gravel-specific groupsets that featured the simplicity of a 1X setup – one chainring at the front combined with a wide ratio cassette at the rear; this simple solution provides a lightweight, easy to maintain, functional drivetrain with no need for a front derailleur that still provides all the gear ratios you’ll need to negotiate a mix of gradients both on and off-road.

The URS 01 THREE features SRAM’s simple, functional Rival 1X groupset…

The SRAM Rival long-cage rear derailleur features a clutch – technology that was first seen on their mountain bike groupsets – this clutch keeps the chain in tension regardless of what gear ratio you have selected; when you’re riding over rough terrain this tension helps keep the chain secure preventing it from unshipping from the cassette or chainring. BMC have spec’d a gravel-friendly SRAM cassette with a 10-42T range of gears so you won’t be spinning out on fast road descents or running out of gears on the steepest off-road climbs.

An 11 speed SRAM Rival long cage derailleur with clutch keeps your chain secure…

SRAM Rival 1 chainset with 38T narrow / wide chainring is simple and efficient…

SRAM Rival 1 shifters are simple and effective; with a left mechanical gear shifter combined with a hydraulic brake lever and a right hydraulic brake lever only with no gear shifter (because there’s no front derailleur) the brake / shifter setup is simple and intuitive to use. Gear shifting is taken care of by one small shift-lever tucked behind the brake lever; when pressed lightly the chain shifts down the block, when pressed more firmly (further inward) the chain moves up the block. If you’re used to Shimano or Campagnolo shifters it will take a moment to get your head around this, but it’s amazing how quickly you adapt to this system which feels a bit more ‘definite’ in its shift when compared to Shimano which can feel a bit light; this is a good thing when you’re making multiple gear changes while you’re negotiating technical terrain and everything happening at once. Another positive aspect with these shifters is the large hoods which are made that way to accommodate the brake’s hydraulic fluid reservoir but also provide a more secure feel when riding on the hoods, negating the risk of slipping and losing grip particularly when you’re riding in wet off-road conditions.

The SRAM Rival 1 hydraulic brake / mechanical shifter is comfortable and intuitive to use…

Braking is taken care of with SRAM Rival 1 hydraulic disc brakes matched with a 160mm rotor at the rear of the bike and a 180mm rotor at the front – another hint towards how BMC see this type of gravel bike being ridden – rowdy; the hydraulic flat-mount brake caliper is neatly tucked into the rear triangle to shield it from any potential crash damage.

Flat mount SRAM Rival hydraulic brake calipers are compact, neat and powerful…

Swiss brand BMC have rightfully spec’d a wheelset from their national contemporaries DT Swiss. The DT Swiss G1800 wheelset has been designed and constructed specifically for gravel biking duties; they strike that perfect balance between being lightweight and quick to accelerate while being robust enough to handle long days over rough off-road terrain. The wheels feature 25mm deep alloy rims which are tubeless ready combined with durable hubs with sealed bearings and centre lock interface for the disc brake rotors.

BMC have spec’d a light but tough DT Swiss wheelset on the URS…

DT Swiss G1800 wheels feature durable hubs with sealed bearings…

Tyre choice on your gravel bike is all important with riders keen to strike a balance between having tyres that roll fast on tarmac and smooth gravel sections while providing enough grip to retain traction on lose or muddy surfaces, especially when you’re throwing the bike down technical off-road trails. The 40mm wide 700c WTB Raddler gravel tyres hit that sweet spot, with a very shallow square tread running down the middle of the tyre the URS 01 THREE won’t be held back on the road; when you head out onto the gravel there’s still enough grip to bite on steep, lose climbs and when you point the bike downhill you can be confident that the larger square blocks that run along the outside of the tyre will dig in and keep you upright on sweeping downhill turns.

40mm wide WTB Raddler gravel tyres are fast rolling but grippy…

The URS 01 THREE has clearance for up to 700c x 45mm wide tyres…

The BMC URS 01 THREE comes fitted with gravel-specific alloy Easton EA70 AX handlebars with slight flare on the drops; nothing too excessive or over the top, just a sensibly shaped bar with a shallow drop and a little flare making them perfect for fast road miles as well as slow, tight turns when you want to spread your centre of gravity too retain control at slow speeds. A WTB SL8 Chromoly saddle fitted to BMC’s own carbon d-shaped seat post is not too narrow, making it comfortable over long distances spent in the saddle; a nice little touch is the scuff-protection trim to help prevent damage to the saddle in crashes or even when you’re just leaning the bike against abrasive surfaces.

A WTB SL8 Chromoly Medium saddle includes extra protection on the edges to prevent gravel-induced scuffs…

The BMC URS 01 THREE really stands out within the sea of gravel bikes now available. It’s no exaggeration to say that in the short time we’ve had this bike on the shop floor it has garnered A LOT of attention from staff and customers alike. The URS 01 THREE is stunning to look at, with its hot yellow colour and iconic angular tube profiles as well as its clean and efficient integration this bike is worthy of all the attention it is getting. That said, this bike is not all style and no substance; as I’ve highlighted in this Blog the URS 01 THREE stands out from the crowd for other, arguably more important reasons – it’s lightweight, fast, comfortable and thanks to its modern geometry is playful and agile making it one the few truly UnReSticted Gravel Bikes out there.

The BMC URS 01 THREE is fast and efficient BUT more importantly it’s very fun to ride…

Check out the BMC URS 01 THREE 360° view below…

If you want to find out more about the other URS gravel bikes in the BMC range or want to explore the full collection of 2021 BMC road and gravel bikes take a look at our recently published BMC Brand Spotlight…

 

Blog written by Johnny Dodgin

All photos by James Vincent