Rondo launches super slack ‘descent oriented’ MYLC gravel bike

Polish gravel specialist Rondo has released its MYLC gravel bike that’s designed to extend what’s rideable on a gravel bike, with a new off-road offering that’s “playful, yet stable and descent oriented.”

Amongst the very best gravel bikes, there are those which are heavily influenced by road bikes and those that are not too dissimilar from cross-country mountain bikes.

Rondo’s latest release certainly falls into the latter category and is said to be the ideal bike for “riders who are mountain bikers at heart and want a familiar feeling when on their gravel bike”.

The MYLC is Rondo’s gravel bike for wide doubletrack gravel with long sweeping corners and straight lines. The super progressive geometry is claimed to be confidence inspiring on rough descents.

The MYLC contrasts with Rondo's RUUT, which – although having capacious tyre clearance – has faster, more responsive steering and is better suited to multi-surface routes, with a mix of on and off road riding. 

“Washed out gullies, steep drops or challenging rough surfaces have not exactly figured in the comfort zone for gravel bikes and their riders,” Rondo acknowledges, “until now...”

The reach has been greatly increased on the MYLC, coming in at 40mm longer than the RUUT in the same frame size. Also, the head tube angle has been severely slackened all the way down to 68 degrees – significantly lower than most over gravel bikes and increasing the front centre by 20mm.

The upshot of these changes should be the increase in control and stability that Rondo has been talking about.

There has been a recent trend towards slacker head angles. Last month, MTB brand Nukeproof redesigned its Digger gravel bike, and made it two degrees slacker, bringing it to an even slacker 69 degrees.

All models receive Rondo’s TwinTip Carbon front fork and so the MLYC's super slack head tube angle is one this axle is set to the LO position.

Increased tyre clearance up to 700c x 47mm is surprisingly ungenerous – even the new Pinarello Grevil can take 700c x 50mm, and that's billed as a racing gravel bike. 

Still, anything over 45mm is pretty chunky and there might be the possibility of squeezing in something wider on a 650b rim. The stock tyres are a narrower still 40mm Vittoria Terreno Mix.

A shorter seat tube has been chosen for better dropper post compatibility, more flex for added comfort on the rough stuff and lower standover height.

Of course, it's also dropper post compatible, to help with getting the most out of the bike on the descents. 

Rondo is launching the new MYLC in four models with the pricing as follows:

 - MYLC Alloy, £2,199

 - MYLC Steel, £2,999

 - MYLC Carbon 2, £3,499

 - MYLC Carbon 1, £4,499