Real gravel racers choose ALUTO

Jonas Lindberg, former mountain bike pro and current Key Account Manager at Konggaard, Factor’s distributor in Denmark and Sweden, loves the ALUTO. Though working full time, Jonas also races gravel at an elite level. You may recognise him as the rider in our very dramatic Iceland ALUTO photoshoot. He and his gleaming white gravel shoes made the trip to race The Rift, and Factor’s film team joined him to capture those amazing images. The volcanic background suited the occasion, since the name ALUTO comes from a famous stratovolcano in Ethiopia.

“I was a professional mountain biker for several years. I stopped my career after the 2021 season. After I stopped cycling, I got a job here at Konggaard where we have the distribution of Factor bikes in Denmark and Sweden,” Jonas explained. “I started working here in 2022. It quickly turned out that I really liked this job so the first year in 2022, I didn’t do so much cycling, but cycling soon started to pull on me again, so I wanted to get back into riding seriously.”

Photo credit: Jonas Lindberg

Since Jonas started working with the Danish Factor distributor the same year that we released the LANDO, he was a natural early tester. “When Factor launched the LANDO, I was one of the first to have it, so I was able to give a lot of feedback in the early days,” Jonas explained. “But now gravel is the thing I do the most. My interest in gravel racing started at the end of 2022. That year I stopped my career, but I actually won two Danish championships in mountain biking. So it was a funny coincidence. I also went to the World Championships and I was 7th in the Elites, so I was still racing fast. But I was a little more free-minded.”

Racing gravel in 2023 on the Factor LS, Jonas had a lot of success with several victories in Danish gravel races. The winter between 2023 and 2024, he focused more on training for gravel events. “I put in a little bit more work over the winter, so the 2024 season was very good. I was several times on the podium in gravel world cups and 12th at the World Championship in Leuven last year in Belgium. That was a super nice season,” Jonas explained. “I loved racing on the LS, but got an OSTRO Gravel in the summer of 2023. To be honest, one of the only reasons I wanted to go away from the LS to the OG was, for sure the draw of a new bike, but also the cable routing and the tire clearance were the main attractions. Also at that point, I would say the gravel races were not as technical as they are now becoming. The OG is a faster bike if you are going in a straight line, but it’s a completely different feeling over the more technical courses.”

Photo credit: Jonas Lindberg

Handling is key

As gravel courses, especially some of the more famous European races like Traka and The Rift, find more and more technical courses, being able to keep your speed on sketchy sections becomes at least as important as being fast in a straight line.

“I would say the handling is one of the key improvements for me because the ALUTO just handles so well. It is easier, when you are riding, it feels more like you are connected to the ground,” Jonas explained.

“The little higher stack height makes it more agile. I would say the first day I rode on it, I just had to get used to it, but the next day, it felt like a bike that I had been riding all my life. It feels a little more like an endurance bike but with the race agility.”

Considering the OSTRO Gravel is the marquee aero-gravel frame with a stiffness level comparable to our WorldTour road bikes, the ALUTO’s focus on supple agility translates into a supremely smooth-handling ride.

“I would say the key factor is the ALUTO’s cornering speed,” Jonas said. “I raced the ALUTO a few weeks ago in Denmark and won. My two teammates took 2nd and 3rd while riding the OSTRO Gravel. And I could see compared to my teammates, I was taking the corners way faster. It’s easier to lean the bike down in a corner and use the knobs on the side of tires. And since the ALUTO has a lower bottom bracket than the OSTRO Gravel, it means my centre of gravity is right where I want it, even with bigger tyres.”

That Jonas won on the ALUTO in the very first race he rode it, in the Danish National Gravel Series, is testament to how well the bike can compete in elite gravel races. Though there are still a wide variety of gravel events where the OSTRO Gravel will excel, like Unbound and SBT GVL, the growing number of technical courses opens up the need for something a little more forgiving and capable.

“With gravel racing becoming a little more technical, I would say for most gravel races where you are not going more than 35km/h, then having a bike like the ALUTO which might not have some aero features, but corners and handles so well, it fits the types of races that are more technical. And in future, there will be more and more of those events, especially in Europe,” Jonas said.

Jonas’ ALUTO set-up

As with many of our athletes, Jonas plays an important role as an early test rider. His experience with multiple models makes it possible for him to give informed feedback, comparing and understanding the various feature focuses among the models. “My set-up for the ALUTO is the same as I use for the OSTRO Gravel. I ride a 1x SRAM Red 50 tooth front ring and 10-44 at the back. Now I have the new HB05 handlebar with the ALUTO and I like that a lot. I was afraid to be honest of how the stiffness would be compared to the AB02, but I don’t feel the difference,” Jonas said.

“And I like the handlebar with the flare, it feels much nicer for gravel. But the set up between my OG and ALUTO was otherwise completely the same and I also wanted to keep it that way because I wanted to know that any difference I might feel between the two would not be due to some component difference.”

With similar set-ups, Jonas’ ALUTO is around the same weight as his OSTRO Gravel: “I am riding on the Black Inc SIXTY TWO road wheels because I like this set a lot. So I think with those wheels it weighs around 7.6 kg in a size 54. I would say it’s more or less the same weight as my OSTRO Gravel. And I’m riding pretty heavy tires. They are handmade, but I am also running a tubeless insert, so I would say it is also possible to get the ALUTO a little lighter.”

What does this mean for the OG?

Just because Jonas loves the ALUTO, the OSTRO Gravel will continue to be a bike he relies on for his fast gravel events. As with every Factor bike, there is no compromise on quality between the bikes. It’s simply a question of use-case-scenario.

“I will absolutely still be racing the OSTRO Gravel. There are so many courses that are super fast where that is the perfect bike to use,” Jonas confirmed. “But there are also a lot of races where the ALUTO is what will be best. I will definitely ride it at the Danish gravel nationals in september. It ticks all the boxes and is a more playful bike so it makes me smile a little more while I’m riding because it reminds me of my old days on the mountain bike.”

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