BMC expands gravel line with Kaius 01 performance racing bike

For its newest gravel model, BMC is turning up the dial on speed.

The BMC Kaius 01 is a lightweight performance racing bike that looks a lot like any other speedy drop bar road racer. Take a closer look, however, and you’ll notice wider tires and a host of features designed to ride over rough roads as fast as possible while retaining comfort.

Aerodynamics

BMC is no stranger to making fast road bikes, and some of those features have found their way into the Kaius 01. Whether it’s the one-piece bar-stem, integrated bottle cage system, internal cable routing, this bike is full of features meant to cheat the wind. 

The cockpit keeps things narrow at the handlebars, just 360mm at the hoods, but widens out to 420mm in the drops with 12.5-degrees of flare. It is surprisingly light too, a claimed 315 grams. 

Geometry

But despite that speedy profile, the bike has a gravel focused geometry to improve handling and comfort across gravel roads. It has tried and true gravel features including a longer reach and front-center to improve stability coupled with a shorter stem to maintain quicker reactivity.

Comfort

BMC has given the Kaius 01 its Tuned Compliance Concept (TCC) tech, building in compliance and comfort into the carbon layup. Room for up to 44mm tires helps with comfort as well. 

Low Weight

The Kaius frame tips the scales at 910 grams, while the fork adds a further 400 grams. The seatpost adds another 160 grams, and it can be swapped with a dropper post. 

Models and Pricing

At launch there are three models available: the 01 ONE, 01 TWO, and 01 THREE.

The top end 01 ONE features a 1x SRAM Red and Zipp 303 Firecrest wheels and retails for $11,999.

Next is the 01 TWO with a 2x SRAM Force group and Zipp 303 S wheels for $8,999.

Finally, the 01 THREE is built with 2x SRAM Rival AXS and BMC CRD-400 carbon wheels for $5,999.