It’s been about a month since I set my mind on —and won the auction for— this ‘19 T-Lab X3 all-road bike, and man, the COVID supply problems have been drawing out the completion of this build and making me feel anxious, so I thought I’d let off a little excitement by offering up this build thread to the forum. There’s not a lot of info out there on these bikes either, so perhaps others will find it interesting for that reason as well.

T-Lab make Ti bikes in Montreal, Canada, and are essentially the phoenix from the ashes of Guru. They’re quite young still, and I think starting their fourth year, but with their engineering, fabrication, and business experience from the Guru years, they’re throwin’ down some sweet, smart bikes right out of the gate. I was really attracted by their tube shaping and sub-frame style dropouts; it’s a different looking frame!

My plan for this bike is, primarily, to handle fast gravel club rides. For me, that means good stretches of pavement and mostly hardpacked dirt roads. I don’t do any of that trail riding gravel thing that’s going on, and don’t really plan to, so the build spec is more focused on the road side of things.

With that, here’s what I’ve got so far:




Spinergy GX wheels - light at 1475g, and wide at 24mm internal. They’re not aero (20mm rim depth), but they’re interesting for their fiber spokes.

Herse Bon Jon Pass Extralight 35c tires — the first pair had pinholes in the sidewall along the mold release lines, but RH replaced them under warranty and quickly for me, so we’re rollin’ with ‘em.

Paul seatpost and stem — in purple! I have a tendency to go kinda wild with color schemes, but the matte black/bead blasted combo on the X3 frame had me thinking to respect the stealth theme, so I’m trying to do that by avoiding my typical fittings like white stems, white bar tape, and color anodized bits and bolts, but I needed a little flair! The Tall & Handsome seatpost and Boxcar stem both fit the rugged, gravel theme and satisfy my nostalgia for ‘90s MTB.

Easton EA70 AX handlebar — my first flared drop bar. I wanted to check out the style; will the drops feel too wide when I’m struggling to keep the fast kids in sight? Will it be super comfy and allow me to put down an extra 100w? Who knows!

A Fizik Argus Vento in their Les Classiques finish and purple Supacaz Fly cages round out the kit so far. Well, there are some purple anodized bolts in there, too.

I’m awaiting a complete SRAM Force eTap groupset, and will wrap the bars in grey Supacaz Kush. Aside from an expander wedge and top cap, that’s it. Hopefully I’ll get the final bits soon and be able to hit the road in a couple of weeks to give my first Ti bike a whirl!

Thanks for letting me get some of my excitement off my chest!